Keep silence before
me, O islands; and let the people renew their
strength: let them come near; then let them
speak: let us come near together to judgment.
02 Who raised up the righteous man from the east,
called him to his foot, gave the nations before
him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them
as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble
to his bow.
03 He pursued them, and passed safely; even by
the way that he had not gone with his feet.
04 Who hath wrought and done it, calling the
generations from the beginning? I the Lord, the
first, and with the last; I am he.
05 The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the
earth were afraid, drew near, and came.
06 They helped every one his neighbour; and every
one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
07 So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and
he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote
the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering:
and he fastened it with nails, that it should not
be moved.
08 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I
have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
09 Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the
earth, and called thee from the chief men
thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant;
I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not
dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen
thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold
thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
11 Behold, all they that were incensed against
thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall
be as nothing; and they that strive with thee
shall perish.
12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them,
even them that contended with thee: they that war
against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing
of nought.
13 For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right
hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help
thee.
14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of
Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy
redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
15 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing
instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the
mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make
the hills as chaff.
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16 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry
them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them:
and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt
glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there
is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I
the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will
not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers in high places, and
fountains 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 plant in the wilderness the cedar, the
shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I
will set in the desert the fir tree, and the
pine, and the box tree together:
20 That they may see, and know, and consider, and
understand together, that the hand of the Lord
hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath
created it.
21 Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring
forth your strong reasons, saith the King of
Jacob.
22 Let them bring them forth, and shew us what
shall happen: let them shew the former things,
what they be, that we may consider them, and know
the latter end of them; or declare us things for
to come.
23 Shew the things that are to come hereafter,
that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good,
or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold
it together.
24 Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of
nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.
25 I have raised up one from the north, and he
shall come: from the rising of the sun shall he
call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes
as upon morter, and as the potter treadeth clay.
26 Who hath declared from the beginning, that we
may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is
righteous? yea, there is none that sheweth, yea,
there is none that declareth, yea, there is none
that heareth your words.
27 The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold
them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that
bringeth good tidings.
28 For I beheld, and there was no man; even among
them, and there was no counsellor, that, when I
asked of them, could answer a word.
29 Behold, they are all vanity; their works are
nothing: their molten images are wind and
confusion.
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