Isaiah 48:14-16

Contemporary English Version

¹⁴ Gather around me, all of you!
    Listen to what I say.
Did any of your idols
    predict this would happen?
Did they say that my friend^[a]
would do what I want done
    to Babylonia?^[b]
15 I was the one who chose him.
I have brought him this far,
    and he will be successful.
¹⁶ Come closer and listen!
I have never kept secret
    the things I have said,
and I was here
    before time began.

By the power of his Spirit
the Lord God has sent me