1Hear this, house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and who came forth from the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of Yahweh and invoke the God of Israel—but not in truth and not in righteousness.
2For they are called after the holy city and lean upon the God of Israel—Yahweh of hosts is his name.
3The former things I declared long ago; they went forth from my mouth, and I proclaimed them; suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.
4Because I knew that you are stubborn, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your forehead bronze,
5I declared it to you long ago; before it came to pass I made you hear it, lest you should say, ‘My idol did them, my carved image and my molten image commanded them.’
6You have heard; now look at it all. And you—will you not declare it? From now on I make you hear new things, hidden things that you have not known.
7They are created now, and not long ago; before today you have not heard of them, lest you should say, ‘Look, I knew them.’
8You have not heard, you have not known, nor was your ear opened long ago; for I knew that you would surely deal treacherously, and that from the womb you were called a transgressor.
9For the sake of my name I will defer my anger, and for my praise I will restrain it for you, so as not to cut you off.
10Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
11For my own sake, for my own sake, I will act—for how should my name be profaned? And my glory I will not give 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.
13Indeed, my hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand together.
14Assemble, all of you, and listen! Who among them has declared these things? Yahweh loves him; he will do his pleasure against Babylon, and his arm against the Chaldeans.
15I, even I, have spoken; indeed I have called him; I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.
16Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time it came to be, I was there. And now the Lord Yahweh has sent me, and his Spirit.
17Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.
18If only you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19Your offspring would have been like the sand, and the descendants of your loins like its grains; their name would not be cut off or destroyed from before me.
20Go out from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans! With a shout of ringing joy declare, proclaim this, send it out to the end of the earth; say, ‘Yahweh has redeemed his servant Jacob!’
21They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them from the rock; he split the rock, and the waters gushed out.
22“There is no peace,” says Yahweh, “for the wicked.”
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