_The God of the World's History, and of Prophecy._
1. Be silent to Me, ye islands; and let the nations procure fresh
strength: let them come near, then speak; we will enter into contest
together.
2. Who hath raised up the man from the rising of the sun, whom
justice meets at His foot, He giveth up nations before Him, and kings
He subdues, giveth men like dust to His sword, and like driven
stubble to His bow? 3. He pursueth them, and marcheth in peace by a
course which He never trod with His foot. 4. Who hath wrought and
executed it? He who calleth the generations of men from the
beginning, I Jehovah am first, and with the last one am I HE.
5. Islands have seen it and shuddered; the ends of the earth
trembled; they have approached, and drawn near. 6. One helped his
companion, and he said to his brother, Only firm! 7. The caster puts
firmness into the melter, the hammer-smoother into the anvil-smelter,
saying of the soldering, It is good; and made him firm with nails,
that he should not shake.
8. And[1] thou, Israel My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, seed of
Abraham My friend;[2] 9. thou whom I have laid hold of from the ends
of the earth, and called from the corners thereof, and said to Thee,
Thou art My servant, I have chosen and not despised thee, 10. fear
thou not, for I am with thee; be not afraid, for I am thy God: I have
chosen thee, I also help thee, I also hold thee with the right hand
of My righteousness. 11. Behold, all they that were incensed against
thee must be ashamed and confounded; the men of thy conflict become
as nothing, and perish. 12. Thou wilt seek them, and not find them,
the men of thy feuds; the men of thy warfare become as nothing, and
nonentity. 13. For I, Jehovah thy God, lay hold of thy right hand, He
who saith to thee, Fear not, I will help thee.
14. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and handful[3] Israel: I will help
thee, saith Jehovah; and thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15. Behold, I have made thee a threshing roller, a sharp new one,
with double edges; thou wilt thresh mountains, and pound them; and
hills thou wilt make chaff. 16. Thou wilt winnow them, and wind
carries them away, and tempest scatters them; and thou wilt rejoice
in Jehovah, and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17. The poor and needy, who seek for water and there is none, their
tongue faints for thirst. I Jehovah will hear them, I the God of
Israel will not forsake them. 18. I open streams upon hills of the
field, and springs in the midst of valleys; I make the desert into a
pond, and dry land into fountains of water. 19. I give in the desert
cedars, acacias, and myrtles, and oleasters; I set on the steppe
cypresses, plane-trees, sherbin-trees together, 20. that they may
see, and know, and lay to heart, and understand all together, that
the hand of Jehovah hath accomplished it, and the Holy One of Israel
hath created it.
21. Bring hither your cause, saith Jehovah; bring forward your
proofs, saith the King of Jacob. 22. Let them bring forward, and make
known to us what will happen; make known the beginning, what it is,
and we will fix our heart upon it, and take knowledge of its issue;
or let us hear what is to come. 23. Make known to us what is coming
later, and we will acknowledge that ye are gods! yea, do good, and do
evil, and we will measure ourselves, and see together.
25. I have raised up from the north, and he came: from the rising of
the sun one who invokes my name; and he treads upon satraps as mud,
and like a potter kneadeth clay.
26. Who hath made it known from the beginning, we will acknowledge
it, and from former time, we will say He is in the right! Yea, there
was none that made known; yea, none that caused to hear; yea, none
that heard your words. 27. As at the first I said to Zion,[4] Behold,
behold, there it is; and I bestow evangelists upon Jerusalem. 28. And
I looked, and there was no man; and of these there was no one
answering whom I could ask, and who would give me an answer. 29. See
them all, vanity; nothingness are their productions, wind and
desolation their molten images.