The Lord Will Help
1 “Keep silent before me, islands,
and let the peoples renew their strength.
Let them come near,
then let them speak.
Let us meet together for judgment.
2 Who has raised up one from the east?
Who called him in righteousness to his feet?
He hands over nations to him
and makes him rule over kings.
He gives them like the dust to his sword,
like the driven stubble to his bow.
3 He pursues them
and passes by safely,
by a way that he had not gone with his feet.
4 Who has worked and carried this through,
calling the generations from the beginning?
I, the Lord, the first and the last, I am he.”
5 The islands have seen, and fear.
The ends of the earth tremble.
They approach, and come.
6 Everyone helps his neighbor.
They say to their brothers, “Be strong!”
7 So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith.
He who smooths with the hammer
encourages him who strikes the anvil,
saying of the welding, “It is good,”
and he fastens it with nails,
that it might not totter.
8 “But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham my friend,
9 you whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth,
and called from its corners,
and said to you, ‘You are my servant.
I have chosen you and have not cast you away.
10 Do not be afraid, for I am with you.
Do not 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 All those who are incensed against you will be disappointed and confounded.
Those who strive with you will be like nothing and shall perish.
12 You will seek them
and will not find them,
those who contend with you.
Those who wage war against you will be as nothing,
as a non-existent thing.
13 For I, the Lord your God,
will hold your right hand,
saying to you, ‘Do not be afraid.
I will help you.’
14 Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob,
and you men of Israel.
I will help you,” says the Lord.
“Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15 I have made you into a new sharp threshing instrument with teeth.
You will thresh the mountains,
and beat them small
and will make the hills like chaff.
16 You will winnow them,
and the wind will carry them away,
and the whirlwind will scatter them.
You will rejoice in the Lord.
You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17 The poor and needy seek water,
and there is none.
Their tongue fails for thirst.
I, the Lord, will answer them.
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers on the bare heights
and springs in the middle of the valleys.
I will make the wilderness a pool of water
and the dry land springs of water.
19 I will put cedar, acacia, myrtle, and oil trees in the wilderness.
I will set cypress trees, pine, and box trees together in the desert,
20 that they may see, know, consider, and understand together,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
and the Holy One of Israel has created it.
Worthless Idols
21 Present your case,” says the Lord.
“Bring out your best reasoning!” says the King of Jacob.
22 “Let them announce and declare to us what will 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 see it together.
24 You are nothing,
and your work is nothing.
He who chooses you is an abomination.
25 “I have raised up one from the north, and he has come,
from the rising of the sun, one who calls on my name,
and he shall come on rulers as on mortar,
and as the potter treads clay.
26 Who has declared it from the beginning,
that we may know?
and before, that we may say, ‘He is right?’
Surely, there is no one who declares.
Surely, there is no one who shows.
Surely, there is no one who hears your words.
27 I am the first to say to Zion, ‘Look at them,’
and I will give one who brings good news to Jerusalem.
28 When I look, there is no man,
among them there is no counselor who,
when I ask of them, can answer a word.
29 See, all of them are nothing.
Their deeds produce nothing.
Their molten images are wind and confusion.