King James Version KJV
Good News Translation GNT
1 Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.
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Listen to this, people of Israel, you that are descended from Judah: You swear by the name of the Lord and claim to worship the God of Israel - but you don't mean a word you say.
2 For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is his name.
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And yet you are proud to say that you are citizens of the holy city and that you depend on Israel's God, whose name is the Lord Almighty.
3 I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.
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The Lord says to Israel, "Long ago I predicted what would take place; then suddenly I made it happen.
4 Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
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I knew that you would prove to be stubborn, as rigid as iron and unyielding as bronze.
5 I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldest say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them.
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And so I predicted your future long ago, announcing events before they took place, to keep you from claiming that your idols and images made them happen.
6 Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them.
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"All I foretold has now taken place; you have to admit my predictions were right. Now I will tell you of new things to come, events that I did not reveal before.
7 They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.
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Only now am I making them happen; nothing like this took place in the past. If it had, you would claim that you knew all about it.
8 Yea, thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from that time that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.
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I knew that you couldn't be trusted, that you have always been known as a rebel. That is why you never heard of this at all, why no word of it ever came to your ears.
9 For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.
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"In order that people will praise my name, I am holding my anger in check; I am keeping it back and will not destroy you.
10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
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I have tested you in the fire of suffering, as silver is refined in a furnace. But I have found that you are worthless.
11 For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.
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What I do is done for my own sake - I will not let my name be dishonored or let anyone else share the glory that should be mine and mine alone."
12 Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.
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The Lord says, "Listen to me, Israel, the people I have called! I am God, the first, the last, the only God!
13 Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.
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My hands made the earth's foundations and spread the heavens out. When I summon earth and sky, they come at once and present themselves.
14 All ye, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them hath declared these things? The LORD hath loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.
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"Assemble and listen, all of you! None of the gods could predict that the man I have chosen would attack Babylon; he will do what I want him to do.
15 I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.
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I am the one who spoke and called him; I led him out and gave him success.
16 Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.
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"Now come close to me and hear what I say. From the beginning I have spoken openly and have always made my words come true." (Now the Sovereign Lord has given me his power and sent me.)
17 Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
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The holy God of Israel, the Lord who saves you, says: "I am the Lord your God, the one who wants to teach you for your own good and direct you in the way you should go.
18 O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:
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"If only you had listened to my commands! Then blessings would have flowed for you like a stream that never goes dry. Victory would have come to you like the waves that roll on the shore.
19 Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.
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Your descendants would be as numerous as grains of sand, and I would have made sure they were never destroyed."
20 Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob.
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Go out from Babylon, go free! Shout the news gladly; make it known everywhere: "The Lord has saved his servant Israel!"
21 And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
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When the Lord led his people through a hot, dry desert, they did not suffer from thirst. He made water come from a rock for them; he split the rock open, and water flowed out.
22 There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.
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"There is no safety for sinners," says the Lord.
The King James Version is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.