Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands. Do you really think you will be rescued?

Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told to you since the very beginning? Have you not understood from the time the earth’s foundations were made?

Look, my earlier predictive oracles have come to pass; now I announce new events. Before they begin to occur, I reveal them to you.”

“I announced events beforehand, I issued the decrees and made the predictions; suddenly I acted and they came to pass.

Now they come into being, not in the past; before today you did not hear about them, so you could not say, ‘Yes, I know about them.’

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.

Look, the Lord’s hand is not too weak to deliver you; his ear is not too deaf to hear you.

Jerusalem will bring me joy, and my people will bring me happiness. The sound of weeping or cries of sorrow will never be heard in her again.

Before they even call out, I will respond; while they are still speaking, I will hear.

Now listen to what the Lord has to say, you descendants of Jacob, all you family groups from the nation of Israel.

The people cry out, “We have heard reports about them! We have become helpless with fear! Anguish grips us, agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby!

But your ancestors did not listen to me nor pay attention to me. They became obstinate and were more wicked than even their own forefathers.’”

You people of Israel, listen to what the Lord has to say to you.

“Hear the terms of the covenant I made with Israel and pass them on to the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem.

But I will completely uproot and destroy any of those nations that will not pay heed,’” says the Lord.

But if they had stood in my inner circle, they would have proclaimed my message to my people. They would have caused my people to turn from their wicked ways and stop doing the evil things they are doing.

The Lord says, “I have heard what those prophets who are prophesying lies in my name are saying. They are saying, ‘I have had a dream! I have had a dream!’

So, now the Lord says, ‘You have not listened to me. But you have made me angry by the things that you have done. Thus you have brought harm on yourselves.’

“Therefore, the Lord who rules over all says, ‘You have not listened to what I said.

But listen to what I say to you and to all these people.