Isaiah 48:12-22 - Yahweh Frees Israel
12 Listen to me, O Jacob, Israel, whom I summoned! I am the one; I am present at the very beginning and at the very end. 13 Yes, my hand founded the earth; my right hand spread out the sky. I summon them; they stand together. 14 All of you, gather together and listen! Who among them announced these things? The Lord's ally will carry out his desire against Babylon; he will exert his power against the Babylonians. 15 I, I have spoken -- yes, I have summoned him; I lead him and he will succeed. 16 Approach me! Listen to this! From the very first I have not spoken in secret; when it happens, I am there." So now, the sovereign Lord has sent me, accompanied by his spirit.
17 This is what the Lord, your protector, says, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the Lord your God, who teaches you how to succeed, who leads you in the way you should go. 18 If only you had obeyed my commandments, prosperity would have flowed to you like a river, deliverance would have come to you like the waves of the sea. 19 Your descendants would have been as numerous as sand, and your children like its granules. Their name would not have been cut off and eliminated from my presence.
20 Leave Babylon! Flee from the Babylonians! Announce it with a shout of joy! Make this known! Proclaim it throughout the earth! Say, 'The Lord protects his servant Jacob. 21 They do not thirst as he leads them through dry regions; he makes water flow out of a rock for them; he splits open a rock and water flows out.' 22 There will be no prosperity for the wicked," says the Lord.