“Pay attention, O Jacob, for you are My servant, O Israel. I, the Lord made you, and I will not forget you. I have swept away your sins like a cloud. I have scattered your offenses like the morning mist. Oh, return to Me, for I have paid the price to set you free.
Sing, O heavens, for the Lord had done this wondrous thing. Shout for joy, O depths of the earth! Break into song, O mountains and forests and every tree! For the Lord has redeemed Jacob and is glorified in Israel.
This is what the Lord says – your Redeemer and Creator: ‘I am the Lord, who made all things. I alone stretched out the heavens. Who was with e when I made the earth? I expose the false prophets as liars and make fools of the fortune- tellers. I cause the wise to give bad advice, thus proving them to be fools. But I carry out the predictions of My prophets! By them I say to Jerusalem, ‘People will live here again, and to the towns of Judah, ‘You will be rebuilt; I will restore all your ruins! When I speak to the rivers an say,’Dry up!” they will be dry. When I say of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd,’ he will certainly do as I say. He will command, ;Rebuild Jerusalem’; he will say,’Restore the Temple.'” (vv. 21-28, NLT)