From the beginning I told you what would happen in the end. A long time ago I told you things that have not yet happened. When I plan something, it happens. What I want to do, I will do.
I will make you and the woman enemies to each other. Your descendants and her descendants will be enemies. One of her descendants will crush your head, and you will bite his heel.”
Kings will come from Judah’s family; someone from Judah will always be on the throne. Judah will rule until Shiloh comes, and the nations will obey him.
When the Lord finishes doing what he planned to Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will punish Assyria. The king of Assyria is very proud, and his pride has made him do these evil things, so God will punish him.
Lord, you are my God. I honor you and praise you, because you have done amazing things. You have always done what you said you would do; you have done what you planned long ago.
Who caused this to happen? Who has controlled history since the beginning? I, the Lord, am the one. I was here at the beginning, and I will be here when all things are finished.”
Who is a god like me? That god should come and prove it. Let him tell and explain all that has happened since I set up my ancient people. He should also tell what will happen in the future.
Tell these people to come to me. Let them talk about these things together. Who told you long ago that this would happen? Who told about it long ago? I, the Lord, said these things. There is no other God besides me. I am the only good God. I am the Savior. There is no other God.
I am calling a man from the east to carry out my plan; he will come like a hawk from a country far away. I will make what I have said come true; I will do what I have planned.
All of you, come together and listen. None of the gods said these things would happen. The Lord has chosen someone to attack the Babylonians; he will carry out his wishes against Babylon.
But it was the Lord who decided to crush him and make him suffer. The Lord made his life a penalty offering, but he will still see his descendants and live a long life. He will complete the things the Lord wants him to do.
The same thing is true of the words I speak. They will not return to me empty. They make the things happen that I want to happen, and they succeed in doing what I send them to do.
A few will escape being killed by the sword and will come back to Judah from Egypt. Then, of the people of Judah who came to live in Egypt, those who are left alive will know if my word or their word came true.
People on earth are not truly important. God does what he wants with the powers of heaven and the people on earth. No one can stop his powerful hand or question what he does.
God wanted to prove that his promise was true to those who would get what he promised. And he wanted them to understand clearly that his purposes never change, so he made an oath.