Be silent for me, foreign shores;
peoples must renew their energy.
They must come up, then speak;
together let us draw near for making a ruling.
Who aroused someone from the east
whom faithfulness calls to its heel?
He gives up nations before him,
enables him to put down kings.
He makes them like earth with his sword,
like driven straw with his bow.
As he pursues them, he passes on with things being well
by a path on which he doesn’t come straight.
Who acted and did it,
calling the generations from the beginning?
I am Yahweh, the first,
and I myself am with the last.
Foreign shores have seen and become afraid,
earth’s ends tremble,
they’ve drawn near and come.
An individual helps his neighbour,
and says to his brother, ‘Be strong!’
Craftworker bids smith be strong,
one who flattens with a hammer [bids] one who strikes with a mallet.
One who says of the joint, ‘It’s good’,
strengthens it with fastenings so it doesn’t slip.
But you as Yisra’el are my servant,
as Ya’aqob you’re the one that I chose.
As the offspring of Abraham you’re my friend,
the one of whom I took strong hold from earth’s ends,
Called from its corners, and said to you,
‘You’re my servant, I chose you, and didn’t spurn you.’
Don’t be afraid, because I’m with you;
don’t be frightened, because I’m your God.
I’m making you firm, yes, helping you,
yes, supporting you with my faithful right hand.
There, they’ll be shamed and disgraced,
all who rage at you.
They’ll become absolutely nothing, they’ll perish,
the people who argue with you.
You will seek them and not find them,
the people who attack you.
They will become absolutely nothing, zero,
the people who do battle against you.
Because I am Yahweh your God,
who takes strong hold of your right hand,
Who says to you, ‘Don’t be afraid,
I myself am helping you.’
Don’t be afraid, worm Ya’aqob,
relics Yisra’el.
I’m helping you (Yahweh’s declaration),
Yisra’el’s sacred one is your restorer.
There, I am making you into a harrow,
a new thresher fitted with points.
You’ll trample mountains and crush them,
and make hills like chaff.
You’ll winnow them and the wind will carry them,
the hurricane will scatter them.
And you yourselves will rejoice in Yahweh;
in Yisra’el’s sacred one you’ll exult.
When the humble and the needy are seeking water,
but there is none, their tongue is parched with thirst.
I Yahweh will answer them;
the God of Yisra’el will not abandon them.
I will open up rivers on the bare places,
springs in the middle of the valleys.
I will make the wilderness into a pool of water,
dry land into water courses.
In the wilderness I will put cedar,
acacia, myrtle and oil tree.
In the steppe I will set juniper, maple and cypress, together,
In order that people may see and acknowledge,
consider and discern together,
That Yahweh’s hand did this,
Yisra’el’s sacred one created it.
Goldingay, John; Goldingay, John; Wright, Tom; Wright, Tom. The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that thou art –
Thou my best thought, by day or by night;
Waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.