Those who made Cush their hope and Egypt their boast will be dismayed and ashamed.

For the Lord has said to me,
“Go, post a lookout;
let him report what he sees.

Then the lookout reported,
“Lord, I stand on the watchtower all day,
and I stay at my post all night.

Your best valleys were full of chariots,
and horsemen were positioned at the gates.

Your mind will meditate on the past terror:
“Where is the accountant?
Where is the tribute collector?
Where is the one who spied out our defenses?”

There will be no lion there,
and no vicious beast will go up on it;
they will not be found there.
But the redeemed will walk on it,

You will winnow them
and a wind will carry them away,
a gale will scatter them.
But you will rejoice in the Lord;
you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.

“Let them come and tell us
what will happen.
Tell us the past events,
so that we may reflect on them
and know the outcome,
or tell us the future.

Who told about this from the beginning,
so that we might know,
and from times past,
so that we might say: He is right?
No one announced it,
no one told it,
no one heard your words.

The past events have indeed happened.
Now I declare new events;
I announce them to you before they occur.”

“I have kept silent from ages past;
I have been quiet and restrained Myself.
But now, I will groan like a woman in labor,
gasping breathlessly.

“Do not remember the past events,
pay no attention to things of old.

I declared the past events long ago;
they came out of My mouth; I proclaimed them.
Suddenly I acted, and they occurred.

Wake up, wake up!
Put on the strength of the Lord’s power.
Wake up as in days past,
as in generations of long ago.
Wasn’t it You who hacked Rahab to pieces,
who pierced the sea monster?

But you will be called the Lord’s priests;
they will speak of you as ministers of our God;
you will eat the wealth of the nations,
and you will boast in their riches.

In all their suffering, He suffered,
and the Angel of His Presence saved them.
He redeemed them
because of His love and compassion;
He lifted them up and carried them
all the days of the past.

Then He remembered the days of the past,
the days of Moses and his people.
Where is He who brought them out of the sea
with the shepherds of His flock?
Where is He who put His Holy Spirit among the flock?

“For I will create a new heaven and a new earth;
the past events will not be remembered or come to mind.