9. But for my own sake I will be patient.People will praise me for not becoming angryand destroying you.
10. I have made you pure, but not by fire, as silver is made pure.I have purified you by giving you troubles.
11. I do this for myself, for my own sake.I will not let people speak evil against me,and I will not let some god take my glory.
12. “People of Jacob, listen to me.People of Israel, I have called you to be my people.I am God;I am the beginning and the end.
13. I made the earth with my own hands.With my right hand I spread out the skies.When I call them,they come together before me.”
14. All of you, come together and listen.None of the gods said these things would happen.The Lord has chosen someoneto attack the Babylonians;he will carry out his wishes against Babylon.
15. “I have spoken; I have called him.I have brought him, and I will make him successful.
16. Come to me and listen to this.From the beginning I have spoken openly.From the time it began, I was there.”Now, the Lord Godhas sent me with his Spirit.
17. This is what the Lord, who saves you,the Holy One of Israel, says:“I am the Lord your God,who teaches you to do what is good,who leads you in the way you should go.
18. If you had obeyed me,you would have had peace like a full-flowing river.Good things would have flowed to you like the waves of the sea.