“Who has stirred up and put into action one from the east [the king of Persia, Cyrus the Great]
Whom He calls in righteousness to His service and whom victory meets at every step?
The Lord turns nations over to him
And subdues kings.
He makes them like dust with his sword,
Like wind-driven chaff with his bow.

Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.

The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came.

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.

You whom I [the Lord] have taken from the ends of the earth,
And called from its remotest parts
And said to you, ‘You are My servant,
I have chosen you and have not rejected you [even though you are exiled].

"Look! All who are enraged at you will be put to shame and disgraced; those who contend with you will all die.

“You shall search for those who quarrel with you, but will not find them;
They who war against you will be as nothing, as nothing at all.

For I, Yahweh your God, [am] grasping your right hand; {it is I who say} to you, "You must not fear; I myself, I will help you.

You will send the wind over them, and it will take them away; they will go in all directions before the storm-wind: you will have joy in the Lord, and be glad in the Holy One of Israel.

The poor and crushed are looking for water where no water is, and their tongue is dry for need of it: I the Lord will give ear to their prayer, I the God of Israel will not give them up.

I give in a wilderness the cedar, Shittah, and myrtle, and oil-tree, I set in a desert the fir-pine and box-wood together.

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.

Put forward your cause, says the Lord; let your strong argument come out, says the King of Jacob.

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.

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.

Lo, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought, An abomination -- it fixeth on you.

“I have stirred up and put into action one from the north [the king of Persia, Cyrus the Great], and he has come;
From the rising of the sun he will call on My Name [in prayer].
And he will trample on [the Babylonian] officials as on mortar,
Even as a potter treads clay.”

Who hath declared it from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is right? yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that showeth, yea, there is none that heareth your words.

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

Behold My Servant, whom I uphold; My Elect, in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit on Him; He shall bring out judgment to the nations.

He will not cry, nor lift up his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street.

He will not break a bruised reed,
and He will not put out a smoldering wick;
He will faithfully bring justice.

He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.

Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:

To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

Things told in advance, lo! they have come to pass, - And new things, am I telling, Ere yet they spring forth, I let, you, hear them.

Sing to the Lord a new song,
Sing His praise from the end of the earth!
You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,
You islands and coastlands, and those who inhabit them [sing His praise]!

Let the desert and its cities shout,
the settlements where Kedar dwells cry aloud.
Let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy;
let them cry out from the mountaintops.

Yahweh will go out like a mighty man. He will stir up zeal like a man of war. He will raise a war cry. Yes, he will shout aloud. He will triumph over his enemies.

I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.

I will lead the blind by a way they did not know;
I will guide them on paths they have not known.
I will turn darkness to light in front of them
and rough places into level ground.
This is what I will do for them,
and I will not forsake them.

Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I send? who is blind as he that is at peace with me , and blind as Jehovah's servant?

Seeing many things, yet thou heedest not, Opening the ears yet he heareth not,

The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.

But this is a people plundered and looted,
all of them trapped in holes
or imprisoned in dungeons.
They have become plunder
with no one to rescue them
and loot, with no one saying, “Give it back!”

Who among you will give ear to this, who will hearken and hear what is to come?

Who hath given Jacob for a spoil, And Israel to the spoilers? Is it not Jehovah -- He against whom we sinned? Yea, they have not been willing in His ways to walk, Nor have they hearkened to His law.

Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.

Now this is what the Lord says—
the One who created you, Jacob,
and the One who formed you, Israel—
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name; you are Mine.

If thou goest through the water, I will be with thee, that the strong floods should not pluck thee away. When thou walkest in the fire, it shall not burn thee, and the flame shall not kindle upon thee.

He brought out a blind people who have eyes, And deaf ones who have ears.

Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth.

You are my witnesses, says the Lord, and my servant whom I have taken for myself: so that you may see and have faith in me, and that it may be clear to you that I am he; before me there was no God formed, and there will not be after me.

It is I that have declared, and have saved, and have shewed, when there was no strange god among you; and ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, that I am God.

Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?

This is what the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says:

Because of you, I will send to Babylon
and bring all of them as fugitives,
even the Chaldeans in the ships in which they rejoice.

This is what the Lord says—
who makes a way in the sea,
and a path through surging waters,

who brings out chariot and horse, army and mighty one. Together they lie down; they cannot rise. They are extinguished, quenched like wick.

Give no thought to the things which are past; let the early times go out of your minds.

Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

The beasts of the field will give me honour, the jackals and the ostriches: because I send out waters in the waste land, and rivers in the dry country, to give drink to the people whom I have taken for myself:

“The people whom I formed for Myself
Will make known My praise.

Yet thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel.

You haven't brought me your sheep for a burnt offering, nor have you honored me with your sacrifices, nor have you made meal offerings for me yet I have not tired you about incense!

You did not buy me aromatic reeds; you did not present to me the fat of your sacrifices. Yet you burdened me with your sins; you made me weary with your evil deeds.

I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

Put me in mind, Let us enter into judgment at once, - Recount, thou, that thou mayest be justified:

Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen:

This is what Yahweh who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you says: "Don't be afraid, Jacob my servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

For I will pour out water on a thirsty [land] and streams on dry ground. I will pour my spirit out on your descendants and my blessing on your offspring.

This is what the Lord, the King of Israel and its Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts, says:

I am the first and I am the last.
There is no God but Me.

And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them.

Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.

All who make idols are nothing,
and what they treasure does not profit.
Their witnesses do not see or know anything,
so they will be put to shame.

Who hath formed a god, And a molten image poured out -- not profitable?

Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.

The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint.

The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.

He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.

Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.

Half of it he hath burnt in the fire, By this half of it he eateth flesh, He roasteth a roasting, and is satisfied, Yea, he is warm, and saith: 'Aha, I have become warm, I have enjoyed the light.

And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.

Yet men neither consider nor understand; because their eyes are stopped that they cannot see, and their hearts, that they can not perceive.

And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?

Feeding on ashes, the heart is deceived, It hath turned him aside, And he delivereth not his soul, nor saith: 'Is there not a lie in my right hand?'

Keep these things in mind, O Jacob; and you Israel, for you are my servant: I have made you; you are my servant; O Israel, I will not let you go out of my memory.

I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.

Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.

Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb: I am Jehovah, the maker of all things; who alone stretched out the heavens, who did spread forth the earth by myself;

Making void the tokens of devisers, And diviners it maketh mad, Turning the wise backward, And their knowledge it maketh foolish.

Confirming the word of His servant, The counsel of His messengers it perfecteth, Who is saying of Jerusalem, She is inhabited, And of cities of Judah, They shall be built, and her wastes I raise up,

“It is I who says to the depth of the sea, ‘Be dried up!’
And I will make your rivers dry.

who says of Cyrus, 'My shepherd,' and he shall carry out all my wishes; and saying of Jerusalem, 'It shall be rebuilt,' and [the] temple, 'It shall be founded.'"

This is what the LORD says to his anointed, Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, as I strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him and gates that cannot keep closed:

and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that it is I, Jehovah, who call thee by thy name, even the God of Israel.

I am Jehovah, and none yet, no God besides me: I will gird thee and thou knewest me not:

that it might be known from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, that all is nothing without me. For I am the LORD, and there is else none.

It is I that created the light, and darkness. I make peace, and trouble: yea, even I the LORD do all these things.

Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.

Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?

Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?

This is what the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel and its Maker, says:
“Ask Me what is to happen to My sons,
and instruct Me about the work of My hands.

I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.

It is I that have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways straight: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith Jehovah of hosts.

This is what the Lord says:

The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush
and the Sabeans, men of stature,
will come over to you
and will be yours;
they will follow you,
they will come over in chains
and bow down to you.
They will confess to you:
God is indeed with you, and there is no other;
there is no other God.

For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.

I have not spoken in secret,
somewhere in a land of darkness.
I did not say to the descendants of Jacob:
Seek Me in a wasteland.
I, Yahweh, speak truthfully;
I say what is right.

Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.

Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.

I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.