Hearken unto me - This is a solemn call on the Jews in Babylon to attend to what he was now about to say. It is the commencement of a new part of the argument, containing the assurance that he would deliver them, and utterly destroy the Chaldeans. He begins, therefore, by asserting that he is the only true God, and that he is able to accomplish all his purposes.
My called - The people whom I have chosen, or called.
I am he - I am the same; or I am the true and only God.
I am the first - (See the notes at Isaiah 41:4; Isaiah 44:6).