1 Listen unto me, O islands; and let the peoples strengthen themselves; let them come near; then let them speak; let us come near together to judgment.
2 Who raised up righteousness from the east, called him that he might follow him, gave the Gentiles before him, and made [him] rule over kings? He gave [them] as the dust to his sword [and] as driven stubble to his bow.
3 He pursued them [and] passed in peace by the way [that] his feet had never entered.
4 Who has wrought and done [it]? Who calls the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and I, myself am with those who are last.
5 The isles saw [it] and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid; they congregated and came.
6 Each one helped his neighbour; and [each one] said to his brother, Be of good courage.
7 So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, [and] he that smooths [with] the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It [is] well joined and he strengthened it with nails, [that] it should not be moved.
8 But thou, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, [art] the seed of Abraham my friend.
9 For I have taken thee from the ends of the earth and called thee from the boundaries thereof and said unto thee Thou [shalt be] my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
10 Do not fear for I [am] with thee; do not be dismayed, for I [am] thy God, who strengthens thee; I will help thee always; I will always uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
11 Behold, all those that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded; they shall be as nothing; and those that strive with thee shall perish.
12 Thou shalt seek them and shalt not find them, [even] those that contended with thee; those that war against thee shall be as nothing and as a thing of nought.
13 For I [am] the LORD thy God that holds thy right hand saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, ye dead of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
15 Behold, I have placed thee as a threshing instrument, as a new [sharp] threshing instrument having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains and beat [them] small and shalt make the hills as chaff.
16 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; but thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, thou shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17 The poor and needy seek the waters that are not; their tongue fails 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 plains; I will turn the wilderness into pools of water and the dry land into springs of water.
19 I will bring forth in the wilderness cedars, thorns, myrtles, and olive trees; 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 take warning and understand together that the hand of the LORD does this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.
21 Explain your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your foundations, saith the King of Jacob.
22 Let them bring forth and declare unto us what shall happen; tell us what has happened from the beginning, and we shall consider it in our hearts; and we shall know what his end shall be, and cause us to understand that which is to come.
23 Give us news of that which is to come hereafter that we may know that ye [are] gods; or at least do good or do evil that we may have something to tell, and together we shall marvel.
24 Behold, ye [are] of nothing and your works of vanity; an abomination [is he that] chooses you.
25 I have raised up [one] from the north, and he came from the rising of the sun; he called in my name and came unto princes as [upon] clay and as the potter treads clay.
26 Who has declared from the beginning, that we shall know? and beforetime that we shall say, [He is] righteous? yea, [there is] no one that declares this, yea, [there is] no one that teaches, yea, [there is] no one that hears your words.
27 I [am] the first that has taught these things unto Zion, and unto Jerusalem I brought the news.
28 For I beheld, and [there was] no one; and [I asked] regarding these things, and [there was] no counsellor; I asked them, and they did not answer a word.
29 Behold, they [are] all vanity; their works [are] nothing: their molten images [are] wind and confusion.: