Read the Bible

¹ Be silent and hearken unto me, O ye Coastlands, lands, And let the Races of Men renew their strength, - Let them approach, then, let them speak, Together, for controversy, let us draw near: - ² Who roused up one from the East, In righteousness, called him to his feet, - Set before him nations And over kings, caused him to rule, His sword, made them like dust, His bow like driven chaff:³ He pursued them passed along safely, - Upon the path of his own feet, entered he not?⁴ Who hath wrought and performed, Calling the generations, in advance? I, Yahweh, who am First, And with them who are last, I, am the Same!⁵ Coastlands have seen, so they fear, The ends of the earth, are in dread, - They have drawn near, and have come:⁶ Every man, to his neighbour, giveth help, - And to his brother, saith Take courage!⁷ So, the carver, hath encouraged, the goldsmith, he that maketh smooth with the hammer, him that smiteth the anvil, - Saying of the welding, It is, good, Then hath he fastened it with nails - it must not totter!⁸ But, thou, Israel, my Servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, - The seed of Abraham my loving one;⁹ Thou whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, And from the extremities thereof, have called thee, - And said to thee, My Servant, thou! I have chosen thee and not cast thee off,

¹⁰ Do not fear, for with thee, I am! Look not around, for, I, am thy God, - I have emboldened thee, Yea I have helped thee, Yea I have upheld thee with my righteous right-hand.¹¹ Lo! they shall turn pale and be ashamed - All they who have been incensed against thee, - They shall become as nothing and perish - The men who have been thine accusers:¹² Thou shalt seek them, but shalt not find them - The men who have contended with thee, They shall become as nothing, and as a thing of nought - The men who have warred against thee;¹³ For I, Yahweh thy God am firmly grasping thy right-hand, - Who am saying unto thee Do not fear! I, have become thy helper!¹⁴ Do not fear, Thou worm Jacob, Ye men of Israel, - I, have become thy helper, Declareth Yahweh, And thy redeemer The Holy One of Israel.¹⁵ Lo! I have made of thee a new pointed threshing sledge, owning teeth, - Thou shalt thresh mountains and crush them, And, hills - like chaff, shalt thou make:¹⁶ Thou shalt fan them and, a wind, shall carry them away, And, a whirlwind, scatter, them, - But, thou, shalt exult in Yahweh, And, in the Holy One of Israel, shalt thou boast thyself.¹⁷ As for the oppressed and the needy. Seeking water when there is none, Their tongue with thirst being parched I - Yahweh, will answer them, The God of Israel, I will not forsake them:¹⁸ I will open, On bare hills rivers, and In the midst of plains, fountains, - I will make The desert, a lake of water, and Parched land, springs of water;¹⁹ I will set in the desert! Cedar, acacia, and myrtle, and oil-tree, - I will place, in the waste plain, Cypress, holm-oak, and sherbin-cedar, together²⁰ That men may see and observe and consider and understand at once, That, the hand of Yahweh, hath done this, That the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

²¹ Bring near your contention, Saith Yahweh, - Advance your defences, Saith the King of Jacob:²² Let them advance them, and tell us, What shall happen, - Things known in advance - what they were, tell ye, That we may lay them to our heart and mark the after-story of them, Or, things yet to come, let us hear:²³ Tell ye the events which shall be here-after, That we may perceive that gods, ye are, - Surely ye must do something - good or bad, That we may be amazed and behold it, at once.²⁴ Lo! ye, are, of nought, And your work is a puff of breath, - An abomination, he that chooseth you!²⁵ I have roused up one from the North, and he hath come, From the rising of the sun, calleth he on my Name, - And he hath come, on deputies, as though they were mortar, And as a potter treadeth clay.²⁶ Who hath told in advance, that we might know, And beforetime, that we might say Right! Nay, there is none who can tell. Nay, there is none who can let us hear, Nay, there is none who can understand what ye utter.²⁷ He who is First, can say , To Zion, Lo! there they are! And to Jerusalem, A herald of good-tidings, do I give.²⁸ So I look, And there is not, a Man! Even among these And there is none to advise, - That, when I ask them, can answer a word.²⁹ Lo! as to all of them, Vanity - nothingness, are their works, Wind and emptiness, their molten images!