1“Keep silent before me, O islands, and let the peoples renew their strength. Let them come near, then let them speak. Let us meet together for judgment.
2Who has raised up one from the east who he calls in righteousness to his feet? He delivers up nations before him and makes him rule over kings. He makes them like dust with his sword, like the wind-driven stubble with his bow.
3He pursues them and passes by safely, even by paths his feet had not trod.
4Who has worked and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Yahweh, the first, and with the last, I am he.”
5The islands have seen, and fear. The ends of the earth tremble. They approach, and come.
6Everyone helps his neighbor. They say to their brothers, “Be strong!”
7So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith. He who smooths with the hammer encourages him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, “It is good,” and he fastens it with nails, that it might not totter.
8“But you, Israel my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend,
9you whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth and called from its corners, and said to you, ‘You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you away,’
10do not be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.
11Behold, all those who are enraged against you will be put to shame and humiliated. Those who contended against you will be reduced to nothing and will perish.
12You will seek them but will not find them, those who quarrel with you. Those who war against you will be as nothing, as a nonexistent thing.
13For I, Yahweh your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Do not be afraid. I will help you.’
14Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel. I will help you,” says Yahweh, “and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15Behold, I have made you into a new sharp threshing instrument with teeth. You will thresh the mountains and beat them small, and will make the hills like chaff.
16You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, and the whirlwind will scatter them. You will rejoice in Yahweh. You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17“The poor and needy seek water, but there is none. Their tongue fails for thirst. I, Yahweh, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18I will open rivers on the bare heights and springs in the middle of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water.
19I will put cedar, acacia, myrtle and olive trees in the wilderness. I will set fir trees, pine, and cypress together in the desert,
20that they may see, know, consider and understand together that the hand of Yahweh has done this and the Holy One of Israel has created it.
21“Present your case,” says Yahweh. “Bring forth your strong evidence,” says the King of Jacob.
22“Let them draw near and declare to us what will happen. Declare the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the end of them; and let us know the things to come.
23Declare the things that are to come hereafter, so that we may know that you are gods. In fact, do good or do evil, so that we will be frightened and afraid.
24Behold, you are from nothing, and your work is less than nothing. The one who chooses you is an abomination.
25“I have raised up one from the north, and he comes; from the rising of the sun he will call upon my name, and he will trample on rulers as on mortar, and as the potter treads clay.
26Who has declared it from the beginning, that we may know? And before, that we may say, ‘He is right?’ Surely, there is no one who declares. Surely, there is no one who shows. Surely, there is no one who hears your words.
27I am the first to say to Zion, ‘Behold, look at them,’ and I will give one who brings good news to Jerusalem.
28When I look, there is no man; even among them there is no counselor who, when I ask of them, can answer a word.
29Behold, all of them, their works are vanity and nothing. Their cast metal images are wind and confusion.”
REV Bible
