The God Who Forgets

¹⁴Thus says the Lord,

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“For your sake I send to Babylon

and bring them all down as fugitives,

even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice.

¹⁵I am the Lord, your Holy One,

the Creator of Israel, your King.”

¹⁶Thus says the Lord,

who makes a way in the sea,

a path in the mighty waters,

¹⁷who brings forth chariot and horse,

army and warrior;

they lie down, they cannot rise,

they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:

¹⁸“Remember not the former things,

nor consider the things of old.

¹⁹Behold, I am doing a new thing;

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness

and rivers in the desert.

²⁰The wild beasts will honor me,

the jackals and the ostriches,

for I give water in the wilderness,

rivers in the desert,

to give drink to my chosen people,

²¹the people whom I formed for myself

that they might declare my praise.

²²“Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob;

but you have been weary of me, O Israel!

²³You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings,

or honored me with your sacrifices.

I have not burdened you with offerings,

or wearied you with frankincense.

²⁴You have not bought me sweet cane with money,

or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.

But you have burdened me with your sins;

you have wearied me with your iniquities.

²⁵“I, I am he

who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,

and I will not remember your sins.

²⁶Put me in remembrance; let us argue together;

set forth your case, that you may be proved right.

²⁷Your first father sinned,

and your mediators transgressed against me.

²⁸Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary,

and deliver Jacob to utter destruction

and Israel to reviling.