God calls the nations to judgment and reminds Israel of his help. Fear thou not; for I am with thee. He will help the poor and needy, and the idols of the nations are nothing.
1 Keep silence before me, O islands ; and let the people renew their strength : let them come near ; then let them speak : let us come near together to judgment .
2 Who raised up the righteous man from the east , called him to his foot , gave the nations 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 safely ; even by the way that he had not gone with his feet .
4 Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning ? I the LORD , the first , and with the last ; I am he.
5 The isles saw it, and feared ; the ends of the earth were afraid , drew near , and came .
6 They helped every one his neighbour ; and every one said to his brother , Be of good courage .
7 So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith , and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the anvil , saying , It is ready for the sodering : and he fastened it with nails , that it should not be moved .
8 But thou, Israel , art my servant , Jacob whom I have chosen , the seed of Abraham my friend .
9 Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth , and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant ; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away .
10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed ; for I am thy God : I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness .
11 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 .
12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought .
13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand , saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob , and ye men of Israel ; I will help thee, saith the LORD , and thy redeemer , the Holy One of Israel .
15 Behold, I will make thee 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: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD , and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel .
17 When the poor and needy seek water , and there is none, and their tongue faileth 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 valleys : I will make the wilderness a pool of water , and the dry land springs of water .
19 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 , and the pine , and the box tree together :
20 That they may see , and know , and consider , and understand together , that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.
21 Produce your cause , saith the LORD ; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob .
22 Let them bring them forth , and shew us what shall happen : let them shew the former things , what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come .
23 Shew the things that are to come hereafter , that we may know that ye are gods : yea, do good , or do evil , that we may be dismayed , and behold it together .
24 Behold, ye are of nothing , and your work of nought : an abomination is he that chooseth you.
25 I have raised up one from the north , and he shall come : from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name : and he shall come upon princes as upon morter , and as the potter treadeth clay .
26 Who hath declared from the beginning , that we may know ? and beforetime , that we may say , He is righteous ? yea, there is none that sheweth , yea, there is none that declareth , yea, there is none that heareth your words .
27 The first shall say to Zion , Behold , behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings .
28 For I beheld , and there was no man ; even among them, and there was no counsellor , that, when I asked of them, could answer a word .
29 Behold, they are all vanity ; their works are nothing : their molten images are wind and confusion .