5. therefore I declared to you long ago.I announced it to you before it occurred,so you could not claim, ‘My idol caused them;my carved image and cast idol control them.’
6. You have heard it. Observe it all.Will you not acknowledge it?From now on I will announce new things to you,hidden things that you have not known.
7. They have been created now, and not long ago;you have not heard of them before today,so you could not claim, ‘I already knew them! ’
8. You have never heard; you have never known;For a long time your ears have not been open.For I knew that you were very treacherous,and were known as a rebel from birth.
9. I will delay My anger for the honor of My name,and I will restrain Myself for your benefit and for My praise,so that you will not be destroyed.
10. Look, I have refined you, but not as silver;I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
11. I will act for My own sake, indeed, My own, for how can I be defiled?I will not give My glory to another.
12. “Listen to Me, Jacob,and Israel, the one called by Me:I am He; I am the first,I am also the last.
13. My own hand founded the earth,and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summoned them,they stood up together.
14. All of you, assemble and listen!Who among the idols has declared these things?The Lord loves him; he will accomplish His will against Babylon, and His arm will be against the Chaldeans.
15. I — I have spoken;yes, I have called him; I have brought him,and he will succeed in his mission.
16. Approach Me and listen to this.From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time anything existed, I was there.”And now the Lord Godhas sent me and His Spirit.
17. This is what the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says:I am Yahweh your God,who teaches you for your benefit,who leads you in the way you should go.