| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | New Living Translation |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1“Listen to me, O family of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel and born into the family of Judah. Listen, you who take oaths in the name of the LORD and call on the God of Israel. You don’t keep your promises, |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2even though you call yourself the holy city and talk about depending on the God of Israel, whose name is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3Long ago I told you what was going to happen. Then suddenly I took action, and all my predictions came true. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4For I know how stubborn and obstinate you are. Your necks are as unbending as iron. Your heads are as hard as bronze. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5That is why I told you what would happen; I told you beforehand what I was going to do. Then you could never say, ‘My idols did it. My wooden image and metal god commanded it to happen!’ |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6You have heard my predictions and seen them fulfilled, but you refuse to admit it. Now I will tell you new things, secrets you have not yet heard. |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7They are brand new, not things from the past. So you cannot say, ‘We knew that all the time!’ |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8“Yes, I will tell you of things that are entirely new, things you never heard of before. For I know so well what traitors you are. You have been rebels from birth. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9Yet for my own sake and for the honor of my name, I will hold back my anger and not wipe you out. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10I have refined you, but not as silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering. |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11I will rescue you for my sake— yes, for my own sake! I will not let my reputation be tarnished, and I will not share my glory with idols! Freedom from Babylon |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12“Listen to me, O family of Jacob, Israel my chosen one! I alone am God, the First and the Last. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13It was my hand that laid the foundations of the earth, my right hand that spread out the heavens above. When I call out the stars, they all appear in order.” |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14Have any of your idols ever told you this? Come, all of you, and listen: The LORD has chosen Cyrus as his ally. He will use him to put an end to the empire of Babylon and to destroy the Babylonian armies. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15“I have said it: I am calling Cyrus! I will send him on this errand and will help him succeed. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16Come closer, and listen to this. From the beginning I have told you plainly what would happen.” And now the Sovereign LORD and his Spirit have sent me with this message. |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17This is what the LORD says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow. |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18Oh, that you had listened to my commands! Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19Your descendants would have been like the sands along the seashore— too many to count! There would have been no need for your destruction, or for cutting off your family name.” |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20Yet even now, be free from your captivity! Leave Babylon and the Babylonians. Sing out this message! Shout it to the ends of the earth! The LORD has redeemed his servants, the people of Israel. |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21They were not thirsty when he led them through the desert. He divided the rock, and water gushed out for them to drink. |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22“But there is no peace for the wicked,” says the LORD. |
| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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