Isaiah 43:14-28

This is what the LORD, who saves you, the Holy One of Israel, says: “I will send armies to Babylon for you, and I will knock down all its locked gates. The Babylonians will shout their cries of sorrow. I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.” This is what the LORD says. He is the one who made a road through the sea and a path through rough waters. He is the one who defeated the chariots and horses and the mighty armies. They fell together and will never rise again. They were destroyed as a flame is put out. The LORD says, “Forget what happened before, and do not think about the past. Look at the new thing I am going to do. It is already happening. Don’t you see it? I will make a road in the desert and rivers in the dry land. Even the wild animals will be thankful to me— the wild dogs and owls. They will honor me when I put water in the desert and rivers in the dry land to give water to my people, the ones I chose. The people I made will sing songs to praise me. “People of Jacob, you have not called to me; people of Israel, you have become tired of me. You have not brought me your sacrifices of sheep nor honored me with your sacrifices. I did not weigh you down with sacrifices to offer or make you tired with incense to burn. So you did not buy incense for me; you did not freely bring me fat from your sacrifices. Instead you have weighed me down with your many sins; you have made me tired of your many wrongs. “I, I am the One who erases all your sins, for my sake; I will not remember your sins. But you should remind me. Let’s meet and decide what is right. Tell what you have done and show you are right. Your first father sinned, and your leaders have turned against me. So I will make your holy rulers unholy. I will bring destruction on the people of Jacob, and I will let Israel be insulted.”