God Helps Israel

• and let nations renew their strength.
• Let them approach, then let them speak;
  • let us draw near together for judgment.
  • 2  summoned[fn] him to his foot,
• gives nations[fn]
  • and subjugates kings?
• He makes[fn] them like the dust with his sword,
  • like scattered stubble with his bow.
  • 3 and passes on in peace; he does not enter the path with his feet.
  • 4 this, calling the generations from the[fn]
• I, Yahweh, am first;
  • and I am the one with the last.
  • 5 The coastlands have seen and are afraid; the ends of the earth tremble.
• They have drawn near,
  • and they have come.
  • 6 [fn] his neighbor; he says to his brother, “Take courage!”
  • 7 the artisan encourages the[fn] the one who makes smooth with the hammer encourages the one who strikes the anvil,
• saying of the soldering, “It is good!”
  • And they strengthen it with nails so it cannot be knocked over.
  • 8 [fn] you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you, the[fn] of Abraham my [fn]
  • 9  and called from its remotest parts
• and told, “You are my servant;
  • I have chosen you and I have not rejected you.”
  • 10 am with you; you must not be afraid, for I am your God.
• I will strengthen you, indeed I will help you,
  • indeed I will take hold of you with the right hand of my salvation.
  • 11 [fn] shall be like nothing and shall become lost.
  • 12  but[fn] you shall not find them;
• [fn] shall be like nothing,
  • and the men of your war like nothing.
  • 13 am grasping your right hand;[fn] to you,
• “You must not fear;
  • I myself, I will help you.
  • 14  people of Israel, I myself, I will help you,”

declares[fn] Yahweh,

“and your redeemer is the holy one of Israel.

• 15 [fn] sharp edges.
• You shall thresh and crush the mountains,
  • and you shall make the hills like chaff.
  • 16 the wind shall carry them, and the tempest shall scatter them.
• And you yourself shall rejoice in Yahweh;
  • you shall boast in the holy one of Israel.
  • 17 are seeking water and there is none; their tongue is dried up with thirst.
• I, Yahweh, will answer them;
  • I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
  • 18 the barren heights and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
• I will make the wilderness like a pool of water
  • and the land of dryness like springs of water.
  • 19 [fn] the cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive oil tree in the wilderness; I will set the cypress, elm, and box tree together in the desert
  • 20  and take to heart and understand together
• that the hand of Yahweh has done this,
  • and the holy one of Israel has created it.”
  • 21  “Bring your evidence,” says the king of Jacob.
  • 22 them, and let them tell us what will happen.
• Tell us what the former things are
  • [fn] we may take them to our heart
    • and know their outcome.[fn]
• Declare to us the things to come;
  • 23 us the things coming[fn] that[fn] we may know that you are gods.
• Indeed, do good or[fn] do evil,
  • that[fn] we may be afraid and see[fn] together.
  • 24 are nothing, and your work is something worthless;
    • whoever chooses you is an abomination.
  • 25 one from the north, and he has come from the rising of the sun.

He shall call on my name,

• and he shall come on officials as on mortar,
  • and as the[fn] treads clay.
  • 26 it from the[fn] [fn] we might know, and[fn] [fn] we might say, “ He is[fn]
• Indeed, there was no one who declared it;
  • Indeed, there was no one who proclaimed it.
    • Indeed there was no one who heard your words.

27 First to Zion, look! Look at them!And I give a herald[fn] of good tidings to Jerusalem.

• 28 [fn] I look and there is no man, and I look among these and there is no counselor,
  • that[fn] I might ask them and they might answer a word.
• 29 are deception; their works are nothing;
  • their images are wind and emptiness.