1Hear this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, and who came out of the waters of Judah. You swear by the name of the LORD, and you speak of the God of Israel, but not in truth or in righteousness.
2For they call themselves people of the holy city, and they lean on the God of Israel. The LORD of hosts is his name.
3I told the former things long ago. They went out of my mouth, and I made them known. I did them suddenly, and they happened.
4I knew that you are stubborn. Your neck is a sinew of iron, and your forehead is brass.
5So I told you about it long ago. Before it happened I showed it to you. It was so that you could not say, "My idol has done these things. My carved image and my metal image commanded them."
6You have heard it; now look at it all. Will you not tell it? From this time on I show you new things, even hidden things that you did not know.
7They are created now, not long ago. Before today you had never heard of them. It was so that you could not say, "Look, I knew them."
8Yes, you did not hear. Yes, you did not know. Yes, from that time your ear was not opened. For I knew that you would act very treacherously. You have been called a rebel from the womb.
9For my own name's sake I will hold back my anger. For the sake of my praise I will hold back from you, so that I do not cut you off.
10Look, I have refined you, but not with silver. I have chosen you in the furnace of suffering.
11For my own sake, for my own sake, I will do it. Why should my name be made unclean? I will not give my glory to another.
12Listen to me, Jacob, and Israel, whom I have called. I am he. I am the first, and I am also the last.
13My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens. When I call to them, they stand up together.
14Gather yourselves together, all of you, and listen. Which of them has told these things? The LORD has loved him. He will do what he pleases to Babylon, and his arm will be against the Chaldeans.
15I, even I, have spoken. Yes, I have called him. I have brought him, and he will make his way succeed.
16Come near to me and hear this. I have not spoken in secret from the beginning. From the time that it was, I am there. And now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, has sent me.
17This is what the LORD says, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is good for you, who leads you in the way you should go."
18If only you had listened to my commandments. Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19"Your children also would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains. His name would not have been cut off or destroyed from before me."
20Go out of Babylon. Flee from the Chaldeans. With a voice of singing tell it, tell this, send it out to the end of the earth. Say, "The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob."
21They were not thirsty when he led them through the deserts. He made water flow out of the rock for them. He split the rock, and the water gushed out.
22There is no peace, says the LORD, for the wicked.