A message for you, sons of Jacob, heirs of Israel’s name, sprung from the stock of Juda, that take oath in the Lord’s name, of Israel’s God the memory preserve, but not in faith, but not in loyalty!

Townsmen they are still reckoned of a holy city; still on Israel’s God, the Lord of hosts, lean they for support.

What happened in times past, I had foretold long before; warning was uttered, and in the public ear; then, suddenly, I would set to work, and the prophecy was fulfilled.

I knew well what an untamed creature thou art, neck stubborn as an iron hawser, forehead intractable as bronze;

I would warn thee from the first, tell thee what was coming before it came; never shouldst thou say this was the work of thy false gods, the will of idols thou didst carve and cast.

Consider closely the things I warned thee of, was there any foretelling them? Ever I reveal to thee, long before, things kept secret from thy knowledge;

events that are coming about now, unheard of then.✻ When they are yet beyond knowledge, I reveal them; not thine to boast, it was no news to thee.

And still thou wouldst not listen, thou wouldst be ignorant still; when I prophesied to thee in times past, I could get no hearing; what hope from the traitor but of treason? I know thee a rebel from thy birth.

If I reprieve thee from my vengeance, it is my own honour demands it; curb thee I must, for my own sake, or wouldst thou rush to thy doom.

I have tested thee, but not as silver is tested; even in the furnace of affliction, thou wast already my choice.

Honour, my own honour demands it; how should I suffer my name to be reviled, or the worship that belongs to me given to another?

Listen then, Jacob; listen to me, thou Israel to whom my call was sent. I am still the same; before all, and at the end of all, I am.

My hand fashioned the heavens, my fingers measured the span of earth; it is my command holds them in their place.

Assemble, all you nations, and listen to me; tell me which of your gods has prophesied it,✻ The Lord, in his great love for Israel,✻ means to subdue Babylon to his will, to bare his arm among the Chaldeans?

But I did, I foretold it; it was I that brought the conqueror on his way, so that it lay smooth before him.

Gather round me and listen; from the first I have been telling you this openly enough; was I not there among you long since, before it happened? And now that it is happening, it is the Lord God, it is the spirit of the Lord God, that sends me to you.✻

Here is a message from the Lord, thy ransomer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord thy God, ever ready to teach thee what it concerns thee to know, guide thee on the path thou treadest.

If thou hadst but heeded my warnings! Then had a flowing stream of peace been with thee, a full tide of the Lord’s favour;

thy own race, thy own stock, should have been numberless as the sand or the pebbles on the sea-beach; the remembrance of thee should never have been cut off from my merciful regard.✻

Away from Babylon, have done with Chaldea, let this be your triumphant watchword; make it heard everywhere, publish it to the ends of the earth, tell them the Lord has ransomed his servant Jacob;

they did not go thirsty when he led them through the desert; he could bring water out of the rock for them, cleave the hard rock and make the water flow.

But for the rebellious, the Lord says, there is no peace.