Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renewtheirstrength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.
Who raised up the righteousmanfrom the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and madehimrule over kings? he gavethemas the dust to his sword,andas driven stubble to his bow.
He pursued them,andpassed safely;evenby the waythathe had not gone with his feet.
Who hath wrought and doneit, calling the generations from the beginning? I theLORD, the first, and with the last; Iamhe.
The isles sawit, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came.
They helped every one his neighbour; andevery onesaid to his brother, Be of good courage.
So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith,andhe that smoothethwiththe hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, Itisready for the sodering: and he fastened it with nails,thatit should not be moved.
But thou, Israel,artmy servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
Thouwhom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thouartmy servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
Fear thou not; for Iamwith thee: be not dismayed; for Iamthy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.
Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them,eventhem that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.
For I theLORDthy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
Fear not, thou worm Jacob,andye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith theLORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beatthemsmall, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in theLORD,andshalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.
Whenthe poor and needy seek water, andthere isnone,andtheir tongue faileth for thirst, I theLORDwill hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
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.
I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree,andthe pine, and the box tree together:
That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of theLORDhath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.
Produce your cause, saith theLORD; bring forth your strongreasons, saith the King of Jacob.
Let them bringthemforth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what theybe, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.
Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that yearegods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and beholdittogether.
Behold, yeareof nothing, and your work of nought: an abominationis he thatchooseth you.
I have raised uponefrom the north, and he shall come: from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes asuponmorter, and as the potter treadeth clay.
Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say,He isrighteous? yea,there isnone that sheweth, yea,there isnone that declareth, yea,there isnone that heareth your words.
The firstshall sayto Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.
For I beheld, andthere wasno man; even among them, andthere wasno counsellor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.
Behold, theyareall vanity; their worksarenothing: their molten imagesarewind and confusion.