Esias 48

1 Hear these [words], you house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and have come forth out of Juda, who swear by the name of the Lord God of Israel, making mention [of it, but] not with truth, nor with righteousness;

2 maintaining also the name of the holy city, and staying themselves on the God of Israel: the Lord of hosts is his name. The former things I have already declared;

3 and they that have proceeded out of my mouth, and it became well known; I wrought suddenly, and [the events] came to pass.

4 I know that you are stubborn, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your forehead brazen.

5 And I told you of old what [should be] before it came upon you; I made it known to you, lest you should say, [My] idols have done [it] for me; and should say, [My] graven and molten images have commanded me.

6 You have heard all this, but you have not known: yet I have made known to you the new things from henceforth, which are coming to pass, and you said not,

7 Now they come to pass, and not formerly: and you heard not of them in former days: say not you, Yes, I know them.

8 You have neither known, nor understood, neither from the beginning have I opened your ears: for I knew that you would surely deal treacherously, and would be called a transgressor even from the womb.

9 For mine own sake will I show you my wrath, and will bring before you my glorious acts, that I may not utterly destroy you.

10 Behold, I have sold you, [but] not for silver; but I have rescued you from the furnace of affliction.

11 For mine own sake I will do [this] for you, because my name is profaned; and I will not give my glory to another.

12 Hear me, O Jacob, and Israel whom I call; I am the first, and I endure for ever.

13 My hand also has founded the earth, and my right hand has fixed the sky: I will call them, and they shall stand together.

14 And all shall be gathered, and shall hear: who has told them these things? Out of love to you I have fulfilled your desire on Babylon, to abolish the seed of the Chaldeans.

15 I have spoken, I have called, I have brought him, and made his way prosperous.

16 Draw near to me, and hear you these words; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning: when it took place, there was I, and now the Lord, [even] the Lord, and his Spirit, has sent me.

17 Thus says the Lord that delivered you, the Holy One of Israel; I am your God, I have shown you how you should find the way wherein you should walk.

18 And if you had listened to my commandments, [then] would your peace have been like a river, and your righteousness as a wave of the sea.

19 Your seed also would have been as the sand, and the offspring of your belly as the dust of the ground: neither now shall you by any means be utterly destroyed, neither shall your name perish before me.

20 Go forth of Babylon, you that flee from the Chaldeans: utter aloud a voice of joy, and let this be made known, proclaim it to the end of the earth; say you, The Lord has delivered his servant Jacob.

21 And if they shall thirst, he shall lead them through the desert; he shall bring forth water to them out of the rock: the rock shall be cloven, and the water shall flow forth, and my people shall drink.

22 There is no joy, says the Lord, to the ungodly.