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¹ Keep silent before me, O 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 wrought 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 every one his neighbor; and [every one] says to his brother, Be of good courage.⁷ So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith, [and] he that smoothes with the hammer him that smites the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good; and he fastens it with nails, that it should not be moved.⁸ But you, Israel, my slave, 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 thereof, and said to you, You are my slave, I have chosen you and not cast you away;

¹⁰ Don't 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 Look, all those that are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded: those that strive with you shall be as nothing, and shall perish.¹² You shall seek them, and shall not find them, even those that contend with you: those that 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 vermin Israel; I will help you, says Yahweh, and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.¹⁵ Look, 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 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 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 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 watch it together.²⁴ Look, you are of nothing, and your work is of nothing; he that chooses you is disgusting.²⁵ I have raised up one from the north, and he has come; from the rising of the sun one that calls on my name: and he shall trample rulers as mortar, and as the potter treads clay.²⁶ Who has declared it from the beginning, that we may know? and formerly, that we may say, [He is] right? yes, there is none that declares, yes, there is none that shows, yes, there is none that hears your words.²⁷ [I am the] first [that says] to Zion, Look, look at them; and I will give to Jerusalem one that brings good tidings.²⁸ And when I look, there is no man: even among them there is no counselor, that, when I ask of them, can answer a word.²⁹ Look, all of them, their works are vanity [and] nothing; their molten images are wind and confusion.