[1] Keep silence before me, islands; and let the peoples renew their
strength: let them come near; then let them speak; let us come near
together to judgment. [2] Who has raised up one from the east, whom he
calls in righteousness to his foot? he gives nations before him, and makes
him rule over kings; he gives them as the dust to his sword, as the driven
stubble to his bow. [3] He pursues them, and passes on safely, even by a
way that he had not gone with his feet. [4] Who has worked and done it,
calling the generations from the beginning? I, Yahweh, the first, and with
the last, I am he. [5] The isles have seen, and fear; the ends of the earth
tremble; they draw near, and come. [6] They help everyone his neighbor; and
[every one] says to his brother, Be of good courage. [7] So the carpenter
encourages the goldsmith, [and] he who smoothes with the hammer him who
strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good; and he fastens it
with nails, that is should not be moved. [8] But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend, [9] you whom I
have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from the corners
of it, and said to you, You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast
you away; [10] Don`t you be afraid, for I am with you; don`t 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. [11] Behold, all those
who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded: those
who strive with you shall be as nothing, and shall perish. [12] You shall
seek them, and shall not find them, even those who contend with you: those
who war against you shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nothing. [13]
For I, Yahweh your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, Don`t be
afraid; I will help you. [14] Don`t 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. [15] Behold, I have made you [to be] a new sharp threshing
instrument having teeth; you shall thresh the mountains, and beat them
small, and shall make the hills as chaff. [16] You shall winnow them, and
the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; and
you shall rejoice in Yahweh, you shall glory in the Holy One of Israel.
[17] The poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue
fails for thirst; I, Yahweh, will answer them, I, the God of Israel, will
not forsake them. [18] I will open rivers on the bare heights, and springs
in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water. [19] I will put in the wilderness the
cedar, the acacia, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree; I will set in the
desert the fir-tree, the pine, and the box-tree together: [20] that they
may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of
Yahweh has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it. [21]
Produce your cause, says Yahweh; bring forth your strong reasons, says the
King of Jacob. [22] Let them bring forth, and declare to us what shall
happen: declare you the former things, what they are, that we may consider
them, and know the latter end of them; or show us things to come. [23]
Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you
are gods: yes, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and see it
together. [24] Behold, you are of nothing, and your work is of nothing; an
abomination is he who chooses you. [25] I have raised up one from the
north, and he has come; from the rising of the sun one who calls on my
name: and he shall come on rulers as on mortar, and as the potter treads
clay. [26] Who has declared it from the beginning, that we may know? and
before, that we may say, [He is] right? yes, there is none who declares,
yes, there is none who shows, yes, there is none who hears your words. [27]
[I am the] first [who says] to Zion, Behold, behold them; and I will give
to Jerusalem one who brings good news. [28] When I look, there is no man:
even among them there is no counselor who, when I ask of them, can answer a
word. [29] Behold, all of them, their works are vanity [and] nothing; their
molten images are wind and confusion.
