God Is Lord of the Future
1 Listen to this, people of Israel,
you that are descended from Judah:
You swear by the name of the Lord
and claim to worship the God of Israel—
but you don't mean a word you say.
2 And yet you are proud to say
that you are citizens of the holy city
and that you depend on Israel's God,
whose name is the Lord Almighty.
3 The Lord says to Israel,
“Long ago I predicted what would take place;
then suddenly I made it happen.
4 I knew that you would prove to be stubborn,
as rigid as iron and unyielding as bronze.
5 And so I predicted your future long ago,
announcing events before they took place,
to keep you from claiming
that your idols and images made them happen.
6 “All I foretold has now taken place;
you have to admit my predictions were right.
Now I will tell you of new things to come,
events that I did not reveal before.
7 Only now am I making them happen;
nothing like this took place in the past.
If it had, you would claim that you knew all about it.
8 I knew that you couldn't be trusted,
that you have always been known as a rebel.
That is why you never heard of this at all,
why no word of it ever came to your ears.
9 “In order that people will praise my name,
I am holding my anger in check;
I am keeping it back and will not destroy you.
10 I have tested you in the fire of suffering,
as silver is refined in a furnace.
But I have found that you are worthless.
11 What I do is done for my own sake—
I will not let my name be dishonored
or let anyone else share the glory
that should be mine and mine alone.”
Cyrus, the Lord's Chosen Leader
12 The Lord says,
“Listen to me, Israel, the people I have called!
I am God, the first, the last, the only God!
13 My hands made the earth's foundations
and spread the heavens out.
When I summon earth and sky,
they come at once and present themselves.
14 “Assemble and listen, all of you!
None of the gods could predict
that the man I have chosen would attack Babylon;
he will do what I want him to do.
15 I am the one who spoke and called him;
I led him out and gave him success.
16 “Now come close to me and hear what I say.
From the beginning I have spoken openly
and have always made my words come true.”
(Now the Sovereign Lord has given me his power and sent me.)
The Lord's Plan for His People
17 The holy God of Israel,
the Lord who saves you, says:
“I am the Lord your God,
the one who wants to teach you for your own good
and direct you in the way you should go.
18 “If only you had listened to my commands!
Then blessings would have flowed for you
like a stream that never goes dry.
Victory would have come to you
like the waves that roll on the shore.
19 Your descendants would be as numerous as grains of sand,
and I would have made sure they were never destroyed.”
20 Go out from Babylon, go free!
Shout the news gladly; make it known everywhere:
“The Lord has saved his servant Israel!”
21 When the Lord led his people through a hot, dry desert,
they did not suffer from thirst.
He made water come from a rock for them;
he split the rock open, and water flowed out.
22 “There is no safety for sinners,” says the Lord.
1 Hear yee this, O house of Iaakob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come out of the waters of Iudah: which sweare by the Name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousnesse. 2 For they are called of the holy citie, and staie themselues vpon the God of Israel, whose Name is the Lord of hostes. 3 I haue declared ye former things of old, and they went out of my mouth, and I shewed them: I did them suddenly, and they came to passe. 4 Because I knewe, that thou art obstinate, and thy necke is an yron sinew, and thy brow brasse, 5 Therefore I haue declared it to thee of old: before it came to passe, I shewed it thee, lest thou shouldest say, Mine idole hath done them, and my carued image, and my molten image hath commanded them. 6 Thou hast heard, behold all this, and wil not yee declare it? I haue shewed thee newe things, euen now, and hid things, which thou knewest not. 7 They are created now, and not of olde, and euen before this thou heardest them not, lest thou shouldest say, Beholde, I knewe them. 8 Yet thou heardest them not, neither diddest know them, neither yet was thine eare opened of olde: for I knewe that thou wouldest grieuously transgresse: therefore haue I called thee a transgressour from the wombe. 9 For my Names sake will I defer my wrath, and for my praise will I refraine it from thee, that I cut thee not off. 10 Behold, I haue fined thee, but not as siluer: I haue chosen thee in the fornace of affliction. 11 For mine owne sake, for mine owne sake wil I doe it: for how should my Name be polluted? surely I wil not giue my glory vnto another. 12 Heare me, O Iaakob and Israel, my called, I am, I am the first, and I am the last. 13 Surely mine hand hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heaues: when I cal them, they stand vp together. 14 All you, assemble your selues, and heare: which among them hath declared these thinges? The Lord hath loued him: he wil doe his will in Babel, and his arme shalbe against the Chaldeans. 15 I, euen I haue spoken it, and I haue called him: I haue brought him, and his way shall prosper. 16 Come neere vnto me: heare ye this: I haue not spoken it in secret from the beginning: from the time that the thing was, I was there, and now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me. 17 Thus saith the Lord thy redeemer, the Holy one of Israel, I am the Lord thy God, which teach thee to profite, and lead thee by the way, that thou shouldest goe. 18 Oh that thou haddest hearkened to my commandements! then had thy prosperitie bene as the floude, and thy righteousnesse as the waues of the sea. 19 Thy seede also had beene as the sande, and the fruite of thy body like the grauell thereof: his name should not haue bene cut off nor destroied before me. 20 Goe yee out of Babel: flee yee from the Chaldeans, with a voice of ioy: tel and declare this: shewe it foorth to the ende of the earth: say yee, The Lord hath redeemed his seruant Iaakob. 21 And they were not thirstie: hee led them through the wildernesse: hee caused the waters to flowe out of the rocke for them: for he claue the rocke, and the water gushed out. 22 There is no peace, sayeth the Lord, vnto the wicked.