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1Listen to me in silence, O coastlands;[#Isa 34.1; 40.31; 43.26; Zech 2.13]
let the peoples renew their strength;
let them approach, then let them speak;
let us together draw near for judgment.
2Who has roused a victor from the east,[#2 Chr 36.23; Isa 29.5; 40.24; 42.6; 45.1–3; 46.11]
summoned him to his service?
He delivers up nations to him
and tramples kings under foot;
he makes them like dust with his sword,
like driven stubble with his bow.
3He pursues them and passes on safely,
scarcely touching the path with his feet.
4Who has performed and done this,[#Isa 43.10; 44.6, 7; 46.10; Rev 1.17; 22.13]
calling the generations from the beginning?
I, the Lord , am first
and will be with the last.
5The coastlands have seen and are afraid;[#Ps 67.7]
the ends of the earth tremble;
they have drawn near and come.
6Each one helps the other,[#Isa 40.19]
saying to one another, “Take courage!”
7The artisan encourages the goldsmith,[#Isa 40.19, 20]
and the one who smooths with the hammer encourages the one who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good,”
and they fasten it with nails so that it cannot be moved.
8But you, Israel, my servant,[#2 Chr 20.7; Isa 44.1; Jas 2.23]
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
9you whom I took from the ends of the earth[#Ps 135.4; Isa 11.11; 42.1; 43.5–7]
and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are my servant;
I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
10do not fear, for I am with you;[#Isa 43.5; 44.2; Rom 8.31]
do not be afraid, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you; I will help you;
I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.
11All who are incensed against you[#Isa 17.13; 45.24]
shall be ashamed and disgraced;
those who strive against you
shall be as nothing and shall perish.
12You shall seek those who contend with you,[#Isa 17.14; 29.20]
but you shall not find them;
those who war against you
shall be as nothing at all.
13For I, the Lord your God,[#v 10 ; Isa 42.6]
hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Do not fear,
I will help you.”
14Do not fear, you worm Jacob,[#Job 25.6; Isa 43.14]
you maggot Israel!
I will help you, says the Lord ;
your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15I will make of you a threshing sledge,[#Mic 4.13]
sharp, new, and having teeth;
you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,
and you shall make the hills like chaff.
16You shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,[#Isa 45.25; Jer 51.2]
and the tempest shall scatter them.
Then you shall rejoice in the Lord ;
in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.
17When the poor and needy seek water,[#Isa 30.19; 42.16; 43.20]
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the Lord will answer them,
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
18I will open rivers on the bare heights[#Isa 35.6, 7; 43.19]
and fountains in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the wilderness a pool of water
and the dry land springs of water.
19I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive;
I will set in the desert the cypress,
the plane and the pine together,
20so that all may see and know,[#Job 12.9; Isa 40.5]
all may consider and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.
21Set forth your case, says the Lord ;[#v 1 ; Isa 43.15]
bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.
22Let them bring them and tell us[#Isa 43.9; 45.21]
what is to happen.
Tell us the former things, what they were,
so that we may consider them
and that we may know their outcome
or declare to us the things to come.
23Tell us what is to come hereafter,[#Isa 42.9; 44.7, 8; 45.3; Jer 10.5; Jn 13.19]
that we may know that you are gods;
do good, or do harm,
that we may be afraid and terrified.
24You, indeed, are nothing,[#v 29 ; Ps 115.8; Isa 44.9; 1 Cor 8.4]
and your work is nothing at all;
whoever chooses you is an abomination.
25I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,[#v 2 ; Isa 10.6]
from the rising of the sun he was summoned by name.
He shall trample on rulers as on mortar,
as the potter treads clay.
26Who declared it from the beginning, so that we might know,[#Isa 44.7; 45.21; Hab 2.18, 19]
and beforehand, so that we might say, “He is right”?
There was no one who declared it, none who proclaimed,
none who heard your words.
27I first have declared it to Zion,[#v 4 ; Isa 40.9; #41.27 Cn Compare Q ms: Heb First to Zion—Behold, behold them]
and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good tidings.
28But when I look there is no one;[#Isa 40.13, 14; 46.7; 63.5]
among these there is no counselor
who, when I ask, gives an answer.
29No, they are all a delusion;[#v 24 ; Isa 44.9; Jer 5.13]
their works are nothing;
their images are empty wind.