1 Keep silence before Me, O coastlands; and let the people renew their strength; let them come near. Then let them speak, Let us come near together for judgment.

2 Who raised up the righteous one from the east, called him to His foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? Who gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow?

3 Who pursued them and passed by in peace by the way he had not gone before by foot?

4 Who has planned and done it, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, Jehovah, am the First and the Last. I am He.

5 The coastlands saw and feared. The ends of the earth were afraid, and drew near and came.

6 They each one helped his neighbor, and said to his brother, Be strong.

7 So the craftsman encourages the refiner, and he who smooths with the hammer, him who struck the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good. And he makes it steady with nails so that it will not be shaken.

8 But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, My friend;

9 whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called you and set you apart. And I said to you, You are My servant; I have chosen you, and not cast you away.

10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will make you strong; yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness.

11 Behold, all those who were enraged against you shall be ashamed and disgraced; they shall be as nothing. And those who strive with you shall perish.

12 You shall seek them, and shall not find them; the men striving against you shall be as nothing; at an end.

13 For I, Jehovah your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, Fear not; I will help you.

14 Fear not, you worm of Jacob and men of Israel; I will help you, says Jehovah and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

15 Behold, I have made you into a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; you shall thresh the mountains, and beat them fine, and shall make the hills like chaff.

16 You shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and a tempest shall scatter them. And you shall rejoice in Jehovah and shall glory in the Holy One of Israel.

17 The poor and needy seek water, and there is none; their tongue fails for thirst. I Jehovah will hear them, I the God of Israel will not abandon 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 the cedar in the wilderness, the acacia tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree. I will set the fir tree in the desert, and the pine, and the box tree together;

20 that they may see and know, and determine and understand together, that the hand of Jehovah has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.

21 Present your case, says Jehovah; approach to argue your defense, says the King of Jacob.

22 Let them approach, and confess to us what shall happen; let them disclose the former things, what they are, that we may determine a finding and know the final outcome; or proclaim to us things to come.

23 Make known the things to come after this, so that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do good, or do evil, so that we may anxiously watch it together.

24 Behold, you are nothing, and your work is nothing. He who chooses you is an abomination.

25 I have raised up one from the north and he shall come; from the sunrise he shall call upon My name. And he shall come against rulers as in a mortar, and as the potter tramples clay.

26 Who has declared from the beginning, that we may know? And formerly, that we may say, He is righteous? Yea, no one declares; yea, no one proclaims; yea, no one hears your words.

27 First I shall say to Zion, Behold! Behold them! And I will give to Jerusalem one who brings good news.

28 For I looked, and there was no man; and of those there was no counselor, that I might ask and they could answer a word.

29 Behold, they are all wicked; their works are nothing; their molten images are like thin air and vanity.