Dual Panel1Hear this, you house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and have sprung from the seed of Judah; who swear by the name of the LORD and invoke the God of Israel, but not with honesty and sincerity,
2though you call yourselves citizens of the Holy City and lean for support on the God of Israel, whose name is the LORD of Hosts:
3Long ago I announced what would first happen, I revealed it with my own mouth; suddenly I acted and it came about.
4Knowing your stubbornness, your neck being as stiff as iron, your brow like brass,
5I told you of these things long ago, and declared them to you before they happened, so that you could not say, “They were my idol's doing; my image, the god that I fashioned, ordained them.”
6You have heard what I said; consider it well, and admit the truth of it. From now on I show you new things, hidden things you did not know before.
7They were not created long ago, but in this very hour; before today you had never heard of them. You cannot claim, “I know them already.”
8You neither heard nor knew; your ears were closed long ago. I knew that you were treacherous and rebellious from your birth.
9For the sake of my own name I was patient; rather than destroy you I held myself in check.
10I tested you, but not as silver is tested: it was in the furnace of affliction I purified you.
11For my honour's sake, for my own honour I did it; I will not let my name be profaned or yield my glory to any other god.
12Listen to me, Jacob, and Israel whom I have called: I am the LORD; I am the first, I am the last also.
13My hand founded the earth, my right hand spread the expanse of the heavens; when I summoned them, they came at once into being.
14Assemble, all of you, and listen; which of you has declared what is coming, that he whom I love will carry out my purpose against Babylon and the Chaldaeans will be scattered?
15I myself have spoken, I have summoned him, I have brought him here, and his mission will prosper.
16Draw near to me and hear this: from the beginning I have never spoken in secret, and at its time of fulfilment I was there.
17Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the LORD your God: I teach you for your own wellbeing and lead you in the way you should go.
18If only you had listened to my commands, your prosperity would have rolled on like a river, your success like the waves of the sea;
19your children would have been like the sand in number, your descendants countless as its grains; their name would never be erased or blotted from my sight.
20Go out from Babylon, hasten away from the Chaldaeans; proclaim it with joyful song, sending out the news to the ends of the earth; tell them, “The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob.”
21Though he led them through desert places, they suffered no thirst; he made water flow for them from the rock, for them he split the rock and streams gushed forth.
22There is no peace for the wicked, says the LORD.