| NET Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1Listen to this, O family of Jacob, you who are called by the name 'Israel,' and are descended from Judah, who take oaths in the name of the LORD, and invoke the God of Israel--but not in an honest and just manner. | 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, |
| 2Indeed, they live in the holy city; they trust in the God of Israel, whose name is the LORD who commands armies. | 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"I announced events beforehand, I issued the decrees and made the predictions; suddenly I acted and they came to pass. | 3Long ago I told you what was going to happen. Then suddenly I took action, and all my predictions came true. |
| 4I did this because I know how stubborn you are. Your neck muscles are like iron and your forehead like bronze. | 4For I know how stubborn and obstinate you are. Your necks are as unbending as iron. Your heads are as hard as bronze. |
| 5I announced them to you beforehand; before they happened, I predicted them for you, so you could never say, 'My image did these things, my idol, my cast image, decreed them.' | 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!’ |
| 6You have heard; now look at all the evidence! Will you not admit that what I say is true? From this point on I am announcing to you new events that are previously unrevealed and you do not know about. | 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. |
| 7Now they come into being, not in the past; before today you did not hear about them, so you could not say, 'Yes, I know about them.' | 7They are brand new, not things from the past. So you cannot say, ‘We knew that all the time!’ |
| 8You did not hear, you do not know, you were not told beforehand. For I know that you are very deceitful; you were labeled a rebel from birth. | 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. |
| 9For the sake of my reputation I hold back my anger; for the sake of my prestige I restrain myself from destroying you. | 9Yet for my own sake and for the honor of my name, I will hold back my anger and not wipe you out. |
| 10Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have purified you in the furnace of misery. | 10I have refined you, but not as silver is refined. Rather, I have refined you in the furnace of suffering. |
| 11For my sake alone I will act, for how can I allow my name to be defiled? I will not share my glory with anyone else! | 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 |
| 12Listen to me, O Jacob, Israel, whom I summoned! I am the one; I am present at the very beginning and at the very end. | 12“Listen to me, O family of Jacob, Israel my chosen one! I alone am God, the First and the Last. |
| 13Yes, my hand founded the earth; my right hand spread out the sky. I summon them; they stand together. | 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.” |
| 14All of you, gather together and listen! Who among them announced these things? The LORD's ally will carry out his desire against Babylon; he will exert his power against the Babylonians. | 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. |
| 15I, I have spoken--yes, I have summoned him; I lead him and he will succeed. | 15“I have said it: I am calling Cyrus! I will send him on this errand and will help him succeed. |
| 16Approach me! Listen to this! From the very first I have not spoken in secret; when it happens, I am there." So now, the sovereign LORD has sent me, accompanied by his spirit. | 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. |
| 17This is what the LORD, your protector, says, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you how to succeed, who leads you in the way you should go. | 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. |
| 18If only you had obeyed my commandments, prosperity would have flowed to you like a river, deliverance would have come to you like the waves of the sea. | 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. |
| 19Your descendants would have been as numerous as sand, and your children like its granules. Their name would not have been cut off and eliminated from my presence. | 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.” |
| 20Leave Babylon! Flee from the Babylonians! Announce it with a shout of joy! Make this known! Proclaim it throughout the earth! Say, 'The LORD protects his servant Jacob. | 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. |
| 21They do not thirst as he leads them through dry regions; he makes water flow out of a rock for them; he splits open a rock and water flows out.' | 21They were not thirsty when he led them through the desert. He divided the rock, and water gushed out for them to drink. |
| 22There will be no prosperity for the wicked," says the LORD. | 22“But there is no peace for the wicked,” says the LORD. |
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