16Come near to me, and give ear to this; from the start I did not keep it secret; from the time of its coming into existence I was there: and now the Lord God has sent me, and given me his spirit.
17The Lord who takes up your cause, the Holy One of Israel, says, I am the Lord your God, who is teaching you for your profit, guiding you by the way in which you are to go.
18If only you had given ear to my orders, then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea:
19Your seed would have been like the sand, and your offspring like the dust: your name would not be cut off or come to an end before me.
20Go out of Babylon, go in flight from the Chaldaeans; with the sound of song make it clear, give the news, let the word go out even to the end of the earth: say, The Lord has taken up the cause of his servant Jacob.
21They had no need of water when he was guiding them through the waste lands: he made water come out of the rock for them: the rock was parted and the waters came flowing out.
22There is no peace, says the Lord, for the evil-doers.
