[1] Give ear to this, O family of Jacob, you who are named by the name of
Israel, and have come out of the body of Judah; who take oaths by the name
of the Lord, and make use of the name of the God of Israel, but not truly
and not in good faith. [2] For they say that they are of the holy town, and
put their faith in the God of Israel: the Lord of armies is his name. [3] I
gave word in the past of the things which came about; they came from my
mouth, and I made them clear: suddenly I did them, and they came about. [4]
Because I saw that your heart was hard, and that your neck was an iron
cord, and your brow brass; [5] For this reason I made it clear to you in
the past, before it came I gave you word of it: for fear that you might
say, My god did these things, and my pictured and metal images made them
come about. [6] All this has come to your ears and you have seen it; will
you not give witness to it? I am now making clear new things, even secret
things, of which you had no knowledge. [7] They have only now been
effected, and not in the past: and before this day they had not come to
your ears; for fear that you might say, I had knowledge of them. [8] Truly
you had no word of them, no knowledge of them; no news of them in the past
had come to your ears; because I saw how false was your behaviour, and that
your heart was turned against me from your earliest days. [9] Because of my
name I will put away my wrath, and for my praise I will keep myself from
cutting you off. [10] See, I have been testing you for myself like silver;
I have put you through the fire of trouble. [11] For myself, even because
of my name, I will do it; for I will not let my name be shamed; and my
glory I will not give to another. [12] Give ear to me, Jacob, and Israel,
my loved one; I am he, I am the first and I am the last. [13] Yes, by my
hand was the earth placed on its base, and by my right hand the heavens
were stretched out; at my word they take up their places. [14] Come
together, all of you, and give ear; who among you has given news of these
things? the Lord's loved one will do his pleasure with Babylon, and with
the seed of the Chaldaeans. [15] I, even I, have given the word; I have
sent for him: I have made him come, and have given effect to his
undertakings. [16] Come near to me, and give ear to this; from the start I
did not keep it secret; from the time of its coming into existence I was
there: and now the Lord God has sent me, and given me his spirit. [17] The
Lord who takes up your cause, the Holy One of Israel, says, I am the Lord
your God, who is teaching you for your profit, guiding you by the way in
which you are to go. [18] If only you had given ear to my orders, then your
peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness as the waves of
the sea: [19] Your seed would have been like the sand, and your offspring
like the dust: your name would not be cut off or come to an end before me.
[20] Go out of Babylon, go in flight from the Chaldaeans; with the sound of
song make it clear, give the news, let the word go out even to the end of
the earth: say, The Lord has taken up the cause of his servant Jacob. [21]
They had no need of water when he was guiding them through the waste lands:
he made water come out of the rock for them: the rock was parted and the
waters came flowing out. [22] There is no peace, says the Lord, for the
evil-doers.
