1.  But now, thus says the Lord—

he who formed you, O Jacob,

he who created you, O Israel:

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you.

I have called you by name; you are mine.

2.  When you cross the waters, I will be with you;

when you traverse the rivers,

you shall not be overwhelmed.

Though you walk through the fire,

you shall not be burned;

its flame shall not consume you.

3.  For I the Lord am your God,

I, the Holy One of Israel, am your Savior;

Egypt I have appointed as ransom for you,

Cush and Seba I give in place of you.

4.  Because you are precious and revered in my eyes,

and because I love you,

I give men in return for you,

peoples in exchange for your life.

5.  Do not fear, for I am with you.

I will bring your offspring from the east

and gather you from the west;

6.  I will say to the north, Give up!

to the south, Withhold not!

Bring my sons from afar

and my daughters from the end of the earth—

7.  all who are called by my name,

whom I have formed, molded and wrought

for my own glory.

8.  Let go the people who are blind, yet have eyes,

who are deaf, yet have ears.

9.  When all nations unitedly assembled,

when the peoples were gathered together,

who among them foretold these things,

or predicted events that have come to pass?

Let them bring their witnesses

and justify themselves,

that those within hearing may say, It is true.

10.  But you are my witnesses, says the Lord,

my servant whom I have chosen,

to the end that you may recognize it and believe me,

and perceive that I was the one who foretold them—

before me no god was formed,

nor shall one exist after me.

11.  I myself am the Lord;

apart from me there is no savior.

12.  It is I who foretold and wrought salvation,

making it known

when there was no strange god among you.

You are my witnesses, says the Lord,

that I am divine,

13.  that from the first I have been present—

from my hand none can deliver;

when I work, who can thwart it?

14.  Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel,

your Redeemer:

For your sake I launch an attack on Babylon

and bring down as fugitives all the Chaldeans,

they who sing the praises of shipping.

15.  I the Lord, your Holy One,

Creator of Israel, am your King.

16.  Thus says the Lord—

who provides a way in the Sea,

a path through the mighty waters,

17.  who dispatches chariots and horses,

armies of men in full strength;

they lie down as one, to rise no more,

they flicker and die, snuffed out like a wick—

18.  Never mind the prophecies of bygone events;

do not dwell on things of the past.

19.  See, I do a new thing; it is now springing up.

Surely, you are aware of it:

I am making roads through the desert,

streams in the wasteland.

20.  The wild beasts do me honor,

the jackals and birds of prey,

for bringing water to the wilderness,

streams to the dry land,

that I may give drink to my chosen people,  ...

21.  ...  the people I formed for myself

to speak out in praise of me.

22.  But you do not call upon me, O Jacob;

you have grown weary of me, O Israel.

23.  Yet I required not that you bring me

offerings from your flocks

or pay me homage by sacrificial slaughter;

I have not burdened you with oblations

or wearied you with burning incense.

24.  Nor have I burdened you to buy me

the fragrant calamus

or sate me with the fat of immolations.

Yet you have burdened me with your sins,

wearied me with your iniquities.

25.  But it is I myself, and for my own sake,

who blot out your offenses,

remembering your sins no more.

26.  Recount for me the past;

let us plead each our case.

Speak up and vindicate yourself.

27.  Your first father transgressed;

your spokesmen sinned against me.

28.  Therefore I let athe holy cities^a be profaned;

I gave Jacob to be ostracized, Israel to execration.