1Be silent before me, O coastlands; let the peoples renew their strength. Let them draw near, then let them speak together; let us come forward for judgment.2Who has roused righteousness from the east, calling him to his foot? He gives nations before him, and kings he makes rule; he gives their sword like dust, their bow like driven stubble.3He pursues them and passes safely along a path with his feet; he does not come.4Who has accomplished this and brought it about, calling generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, am the first, and with the last I am he.5The coastlands see and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come.6Each one helps his neighbor, and to his brother he says, "Be strong."7The artificer strengthens the refiner; the one smoothing with the hammer strengthens the one striking the beat, saying of the joint, "It is pleasant," and he strengthens it with nails so that it will not shake.8But you, Israel, are my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.9I strengthened you from the ends of the earth; from its nobles I called you and said to you, "You are my servant; I have chosen you and have not rejected you."10Do not fear, for I am with you; do not gaze about, for I am your God. I strengthen you; I also help you; I also uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.11Behold, all who are incensed against you shall be ashamed and humiliated; the men of your strife shall become as nothing and shall perish.12You shall seek them but shall not find them, the men of your strife; they shall be as nothing and as nothing at all, the men of your battle.13For I, the LORD your God, am the one strengthening your right hand; the one saying to you, "Do not fear; I will help you."14Do not fear, worm of Jacob, men of Israel; I have helped you, utterance of the LORD, and your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.15Behold, I have set you as a sharp new threshing sled, master of teeth; you shall tread mountains and crush them, and you shall set hills like chaff.16You shall scatter them, and the wind shall lift them; the tempest shall scatter them. But you shall rejoice in the LORD; in the Holy One of Israel you shall boast.17The afflicted and the needy seek water, but there is none; their tongue is dry with thirst. I, the LORD, the God of Israel, will answer them; I will not forsake them.18I will open rivers on the bare heights and springs in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water.19I will give in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, and the myrtle; I will set in the Arabah the cypress, the elm, and the box tree together.20That they may see and know, and set and be prudent together, that the hand of the LORD has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.21Present your strife, says the LORD; bring near your defenses, says the king of Jacob.22Let them bring near and declare to us what is to happen; tell us the former things, what they are, that we may set our heart and know their end, or declare to us the things to come.23Tell us the things to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods; do good or do evil, that we may gaze and see together.24Behold, you are from nothing, and your work is from worthless; an abomination chooses you.25I have roused from the north, and he has come; from the east of the sun he calls in my name; and he shall come, rulers like mortar, and like one forming he shall trample mud.26Who declared from the beginning, that we might know, and from before, that we might say, "He is righteous"? There is none who declares; there is none who proclaims; there is none who hears your words.27First to Zion—behold, here they are—and to Jerusalem I give one bearing tidings.28And I see, and there is no man, and among these there is no counselor, that when I ask they might return a word.29Behold, all of them are wickedness; their works are nothing; their spirit and formlessness are their drink offerings.