1Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and have descended from line of Judah; who take oaths in the name of the LORD, and invoke the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness. 2For they call themselves citizens of the holy city, and claim to rely upon the God of Israel; The LORD Almighty is His name. 3I have foretold the former events from the beginning; and they were uttered by My own mouth, and I made them known; then I acted suddenly, and they came to pass. 4Because I knew that you are obstinate, and you are as stiff-necked as is iron sinew, and your brow, bronze, 5I have for this reason declared it to you even from the beginning; before it came to pass I told you; lest you should say, “My idol has brought them about, and my graven image, and my molten image, have commanded these events to occur”. 6You have heard all these predictions; and seen all this; and will you not admit it? Now I will tell you new things from this time, even hidden things that you did not know. 7They are created as of now, and not from earlier times; even before the day when you heard them, lest you should say, “Behold, I knew that”. 8Yea, you have not heard it; yea, you did now know it; yea, from that time that your ear was not opened; for I knew how deceitful you were, and were called rebels from your birth. 9For My Own name’s sake will I defer My anger, and for My praise I will hold it back for you, that I do not totally annihilate you. 10Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. 11For My Own sake, even for My Own sake, I will do it; for how can I allow My name be defamed? And I will not give My glory to another.

12Listen to Me, O Jacob and Israel, My called: I am He; I am the First, I am also the Last. 13 My Own hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand has spread the heavens; when I call unto them, they all stand up together. 14Assemble yourselves together, and hear. Have any of your idols ever declared these things? The LORD has chosen Cyrus as My servant; He will do My pleasure on Babylon, and His arm shall be on the Chaldeans. 15I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him; I will bring him, and he shall succeed in his mission. 16Come near to Me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken this in secret; from the time that it happens, there am I; and now the LORD God, and His Spirit, have sent Me. 17Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the LORD your God, Who teaches you what is best for you, Who directs you in the way that you should go. 18Oh, if only you had obeyed My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea; 19Your descendants would have also been like the sand, and your children like the numberless grains of sand; your name should not have been blotted out nor destroyed from before Me.

20Go forth from Babylon, flee you from the Chaldeans, announce this with shouts of joy and a voice of singing, proclaim this, utter it even to the ends of the earth; say: “The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob”. 21They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He caused water to flow out of the rock for them; He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out.

22There is no peace, says the LORD, for the wicked.

Isaiah 49