1Keep silence before me, O coastlands, and let the peoples renew their strength; let them draw near, then let them speak; let us come near together for judgment (mishpat).
2Who raised up one from the east, whom righteousness calls to his foot? He gives nations before him, and makes him rule over kings; he makes his sword like dust (aphar), his bow like driven stubble.
3He pursues them, he passes on in peace; a path his feet have not gone.
4Who has worked and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, YHWH, the first, and with the last, I am he.
5The coastlands saw and feared, the ends of the earth trembled; they drew near and came.
6Each man (ish) helps his neighbor, and to his brother he says: Be strong.
7So the craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and he that smooths with the hammer him that strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering: It is good; and he fastens it with nails that it should not be moved.
8But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend;
9you whom I took hold of from the ends of the earth, and from its corners I called you, and I said to you: You are my servant, I have chosen you and not rejected you.
10Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God; I strengthen you, yea I help you, yea I uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.
11Behold, all those incensed against you shall be ashamed and confounded; the men (ish) of your contention shall be as nothing and shall perish.
12You shall seek them and not find them, the men (ish) of your strife; the men (ish) of your war shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.
13For I, YHWH your God, hold your right hand, who say to you: Do not fear, I help you.
14Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel; I help you, says YHWH, and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
15Behold, I have made you a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and crush them, and make the hills like chaff.
16You shall winnow them, and the spirit (ruach) shall carry them away, and a whirlwind shall scatter them; and you shall rejoice in YHWH, in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.
17The poor and the needy seek water and there is none, their tongue fails for thirst; I YHWH will answer them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
18I will open rivers on the bare heights, 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 give in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane, and the larch together;
20that they may see and know, and consider and understand together, that the hand of YHWH has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.
21Present your cause, says YHWH; bring forth your strong arguments, says the King of Jacob.
22Let them bring them forth, and tell us what shall happen; the former things, what are they? Declare, that we may set our heart and know their outcome; or make us hear the things to come.
23Tell the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods; yea, do good or do evil, that we may be dismayed and see it together.
24Behold, you are of nothing, and your work is of nought; an abomination is he that chooses you.
25I have raised up one from the north, and he has come; from the rising of the sun he calls on my name; and he comes upon rulers as upon mortar, and as the potter treads clay.
26Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know, and beforetime, that we might say: He is right? Yea, there is none that declares, yea none that announces, yea none that hears your words.
27First to Zion: Behold, behold them; and to Jerusalem I give a herald of good tidings.
28And I look, but there is no man (ish), and among these there is no counselor, that when I ask them, they answer a word.
29Behold, all of them are vanity, their works are nothing; their molten images are spirit (ruach) and emptiness.