20. The poor, deluded fool feeds on ashes.He trusts something that can’t help him at all.Yet he cannot bring himself to ask,“Is this idol that I’m holding in my hand a lie?”
21. “Pay attention, O Jacob,for you are my servant, O Israel.I, the lord, made you,and I will not forget you.
22. I have swept away your sins like a cloud.I have scattered your offenses like the morning mist.Oh, return to me,for I have paid the price to set you free.”
23. Sing, O heavens, for the lord has done this wondrous thing.Shout for joy, O depths of the earth!Break into song,O mountains and forests and every tree!For the lord has redeemed Jacoband is glorified in Israel.
24. This is what the lord says—your Redeemer and Creator:“I am the lord, who made all things.I alone stretched out the heavens.Who was with mewhen I made the earth?
25. I expose the false prophets as liarsand make fools of fortune-tellers.I cause the wise to give bad advice,thus proving them to be fools.
26. But I carry out the predictions of my prophets!By them I say to Jerusalem, ‘People will live here again,’and to the towns of Judah, ‘You will be rebuilt;I will restore all your ruins!’
27. When I speak to the rivers and say, ‘Dry up!’they will be dry.
28. When I say of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd,’he will certainly do as I say.He will command, ‘Rebuild Jerusalem’;he will say, ‘Restore the Temple.’”