I Will Do Something New

YHWH continues His declaration through Isaiah to Judah, ‘Thus says YHWH your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, ‘For your sake I have sent to Babylon and will bring them all down as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, into the ships in which they rejoice. I am YHWH, your Holy One, The Creator of Israel, your King.’ God had foretold Hezekiah that Babylon would come again, not as envoys, but to conquer Judah and Jerusalem. This smaller nation would gain great might by the hand of God and take down the wicked of Judah, leaving everything desolate because of their sins. But that would not be the end.

Who brings forth the horses and chariots? The army and might men? God would draw them forth, but one day they would be no more. All of them would lie down in the dust, never to rise again. ‘Do not call to mind the former things, or ponder on the past,’ God told them. ‘Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. The beasts of the field will glorify Me, the jackals and ostriches, because I have given waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people. The people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise.’

Israel and Judah would be exiled many times throughout history, but God would take care of them through it all. They would suffer the calamities promised by the covenant due to their sins, but God would be with them. Even if they were cast out into the desert to find peace from everyone else, God would make rivers flow in the desert to give them waters to drink. He would do this because they are the people He chose for Himself. 
It is true that Israel and Judah have not called on His Name. They became weary of serving God. They stopped bringing offerings and honoring God with their sacrifices. They walked away from the prescribed acts of worship and turned to idols instead. What they did do was burden God with their many sins and wearied God with their iniquities. God is the One who can wipe away their transgressions and forgive their sins, but knowing that they still walked away. Adam sinned. Abraham sinned. Israel sinned. All of them sinned and transgresses against God. So God declared here that He would He would take down the priests, consign Jacob to the ban, and Israel to revilement. 
What is the ban? This term was used of items devoted to God as a sacrifice. The ban denoted total annihilation, often through burning, as a gift devoted to God as a sacrifice. Jericho was under the ban, but Achan took items of value and hid them in his tent. So Achan and his family fell under the same ban. They were brought out and stoned, and a pile of rocks was piled up all over their remains. This type of destruction would come upon Judah, by the Word of the LORD.