Green Shoots

¹⁴ The LORD your redeemer, the holy one of Israel, says, For your sake, I have sent an army to Babylon, and brought down all the bars, turning the Chaldeans’ singing into a lament. ¹⁵ I am the LORD, your holy one, Israel’s creator, your king! ¹⁶ The LORD says—who makes a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters, ¹⁷ who brings out chariot and horse, army and battalion; they will lie down together and will not rise; they will be extinguished, extinguished like a wick. ¹⁸ Don’t remember the prior things; don’t ponder ancient history. ¹⁹ Look! I’m doing a new thing; now it sprouts up; don’t you recognize it? I’m making a way in the desert, paths in the wilderness. ²⁰ The beasts of the field, the jackals and ostriches, will honor me, because I have put water in the desert and streams in the wilderness to give water to my people, my chosen ones, ²¹ this people whom I formed for myself, who will recount my praise.