God’s Help to Israel

1“Be silent before Me, O islands,†

and the peoples will renew their strength;

let them draw near, then let them speak;

together let us come near for judgment.

2Who has roused one from the east?

Righteousness calls him at His feet;†

He gives the nations before his face,

and he subdues kings;

he makes them like dust with his sword,

driven away as stubble by his bow.

3He pursues them, passing over in peace,

a path he does not enter with his feet.

4Who has worked and accomplished?

The One calling the generations from the beginning:

“I am YHWH, the first and the last;

I am He!”

5The islands have seen it and feared;

the ends of the earth tremble.

They approach and come forward:

6Each man helps his neighbor

and says to his brother, “Be strong.”

7And the craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,

the one smoothing with the hammer,

the one striking the anvil,

saying of the joining, “It is Good!”—

And he strengthens it with nails, and it will not be toppled.

8“And you, O Israel, My servant,

Jacob, whom I have chosen,

seed of Abraham My friend,

9whom I have taken from the ends of the earth

and called you from its corners,

and said to you ‘You are My servant,

I have chosen you and not rejected you’—

10do not be afraid, for I am with you;

do not look around, for I am your God.

I have strengthened you; yes, I have helped you—

yes, have I taken hold of you with the right hand of My righteousness.

11Behold, all those burning against you,

they will be ashamed and disgraced;

they will be as nothing,

and the men of your dispute will perish.

12You will seek them, and will not find them,

the men of your dispute will be as nothing,

the men of your warfare as nothing at all.

13For I am YHWH your God,

taking hold of your right hand,

saying to you: Do not fear;

I have helped you!

14Do not fear, O worm of Jacob,

O men of Israel;

I have helped you, a declaration of YHWH,

And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

15Behold, I am making you sharp,

into a new threshing sledge, an owner of teeth;

and you will thresh the mountains and crush them,

and you will make the hills like chaff.

16You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away,

and the tempest will scatter them;

and you will rejoice in YHWH;

you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

17The poor and the needy seek water, and there is none;

their tongues are dry with thirst.

I, YHWH, will answer them;

I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

18I will open rivers on the barren heights,

and fountains in the middle of the valleys;

I will make the desert into a pool of water,

and the dry land into flowing springs of water.

19I will plant the cedar in the wilderness,

and the acacia, and the myrtle, and the olive tree;

I will place in the desert plain the cypress,†

elm, and boxwood together—

20that they may see and know,

and consider and understand together,

that the hand of YHWH has done this,

and the Holy One of Israel has created it.”

Meaningless Idols

21“Bring near your⁺ case,” says YHWH;

“Put forth your⁺ arguments,” says the King of Jacob.

22“Let them approach, and declare to us what will happen.

The former things, what were they? Declare it,

that we may set it in our heart and know the last things;

or declare to us the coming things.

23Declare the things to come hereafter,

that we may know if you⁺ are gods;

yes, do good or do evil,

that we may look and see together.

24Behold, you⁺ are nothing,

and your⁺ work is worthless—

an abomination is he who chooses you⁺!

25I have roused one from the north,

and he has come from the rising of the sun;

he calls on My name,

and he comes in against princes like they were mortar,

and like the potter treads the clay.

26Who has declared this from the beginning,

that we might know,

and from before the face,

that we may say, ‘He is right?

Surely, no one declared it; surely, no one proclaimed it;

surely no one heard your⁺ words.

27First to Zion†—

behold, behold them!—

And to Jerusalem,

I will give one bringing news.

28For I looked, and there was no man;

among them, and no one was counseling,

that I might ask them,

and they could answer a word.

29Behold, all of them are delusion;

their works are nothing,

their molten images are wind and emptiness.