But have you not heard what I have done from the beginning? From the days of antiquity, I have formed it, and now I have brought it to be. And fortified cities of fighting men will become piles of ruins.
I have learned that all the works which God has made continue on, in perpetuity. We are not able to add anything, nor to take anything away, from those things which God has made in order that he may be feared.
From the beginning, I announce the last things, and from the start, the things that have not yet been done, saying: My plan will stand firm, and my entire will shall be done.
But they have not known the thoughts of the Lord, and they have not understood his counsel. For he has gathered them together like hay on a threshing floor.
In him, we too are called to our portion, having been predestined in accord with the plan of the One who accomplishes all things by the counsel of his will.