1»Be silent before me, you islands! Let the nations renew their strength! Let them come forward and speak. Let us meet together at the place of judgment. 2»Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to his service? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow. 3»He pursues them and moves on unscathed. He goes by a path his feet have not traveled before. 4»Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, Jehovah have done this with the first of them and with the last. I am he!« 5The islands have seen it and fear. The ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward. 6Each helps the other and says to his brother: »Be strong!« 7The craftsman encourages the goldsmith. He who smooths with the hammer spurs on him who strikes the anvil. He says of the welding: It is good. He nails down the idol so it will not topple. 8»However you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham, my friend, 9»‘I took you from the ends of the earth. I called you from its farthest corners. I said: ‘You are my servant. I have chosen you and have not rejected you. 10»‘Do not fear for I am with you! Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.’ 11»All who rage against you will be ashamed and disgraced. Those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. 12»Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. 13»I AM JEHOVAH, YOUR GOD! I take hold of your right hand and say to you: Do not fear; I will help you. 14»Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I will help you. This is the declaration of Jehovah, your Redeemer, and the Holy One of Israel. 15»See I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them. You will reduce the hills to chaff. 16»You will winnow them. The wind will pick them up and a gale will blow them away. But you will rejoice in Jehovah and glory in the Holy One of Israel. 17»The poor and needy search for water, but there is none! Their tongues are parched with thirst. But I Jehovah will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. 18»I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs. 19»I will put the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive in the desert. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together. 20»People may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand power of Jehovah has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it. 21»Present your case,« says Jehovah. »Set forth your arguments, says Jacob’s King. 22»Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come. 23»Tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods. Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be shocked and filled with fear. 24»You are less than nothing and your works are utterly worthless! He who chooses you is detestable. 25»I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes! One from the rising sun calls on my name. He treads on rulers as if they were mortar, as if he were a potter treading the clay. 26»Who told of this from the beginning, so we could know, or beforehand, so we could say: He was right? No one told of this, no one foretold it. No one heard any words from you!« 27I was the first to tell Zion: »Look, here they are!« I gave to Jerusalem a messenger of good news. 28I look but there is no one. There is no one among them to give counsel! There is no one to give answer when I ask them. 29See they are all false hurtfulnonexistent! Their deeds amount to nothing! Their images are but wind and confusion.