18. Oh, that you had listened to my commands!Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle riverand righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea.
19. Your descendants would have been like the sands along the seashore—too many to count!There would have been no need for your destruction,or for cutting off your family name.”
20. Yet even now, be free from your captivity!Leave Babylon and the Babylonians.Sing out this message!Shout it to the ends of the earth!The lord has redeemed his servants,the people of Israel.
21. They were not thirstywhen he led them through the desert.He divided the rock,and water gushed out for them to drink.
22. “But there is no peace for the wicked,”says the lord.