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.

Who gauged the water in his palm,
surveyed the heavens with his span,
Measured the world’s earth by the gallon,
weighed the mountains with a balance,
the hills with scales?
Who directed Yahweh’s spirit,
or as the person to give him counsel made it known to him?
With whom did he take counsel,
so that he helped him understand,
taught him the way to exercise authority,
Taught him knowledge,
made known to him the way of understanding?
There, nations count like a drop from a pan,
like a cloud on scales; there,
foreign shores are like a fine cloud that rises.
Lebanon – there’s not enough to burn up,
its animals – there aren’t enough as a burnt offering.
All the nations are like nothing over against him;
they count as less than naught, emptiness, to him.

So to whom would you compare God,
or what comparison would you line up for him?
The image, which a craftworker casts? –
a smith beats it out with gold,
and a smith with silver chains.
Is it sissoo fit for tribute,
wood that doesn’t rot,
that someone chooses?
He seeks for himself a smart craftworker
to set up an image so it doesn’t slip.

You acknowledge, don’t you,
you listen, don’t you?
It’s been told you from the beginning, hasn’t it,
you’ve understood earth’s foundations, haven’t you?
There’s one who sits above earth’s horizon,
with its inhabitants like grasshoppers,
One who stretched out the heavens like net,
spread them like a tent for sitting in,
One who turns sovereigns into nothing,
makes earth’s authorities pure emptiness.
They’re really not planted, really not sown,
their stem is really not rooting in the earth,
Then he blows on them and they shrivel,
and a hurricane carries them off like straw.

So to whom would you compare me,
so I could be similar (says the Sacred One)?
Lift your eyes on high and see
– who created these?
The one who takes out their army by number
calls to all of them by name.
Because of the greatness of his power,
and as one firm in energy, not one lags behind.

Why do you say, Ya’aqob, and speak, Yisra’el,
‘My way was hidden from Yahweh,
a ruling for me passes away from my God’?
Haven’t you acknowledged,
or haven’t you listened?
Yahweh is God of the ages,
creator of earth’s ends.
He doesn’t get faint or weary;
there’s no searching out of his understanding.
He gives energy to the faint,
and to the one who has no resources he gives much strength.
Youths may get faint and weary,
young men may totally collapse.
But people who hope in Yahweh get new energy,
they grow pinions like eagles.
They run and don’t get weary,
they walk and don’t faint.

Goldingay, John; Goldingay, John; Wright, Tom; Wright, Tom. The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

Lord, you have given me so much,
I ask for one more thing –
a grateful heart.

George Herbert

Comfort, comfort my people’, says your God.

‘Speak to Yerushalaim’s heart, call to it
That its tour of duty is fulfilled,
that its waywardness is paid for,
That it has taken from Yahweh’s hand
double for all its wrongdoings.’

A voice is calling:
‘In the wilderness clear Yahweh’s way,
make straight in the steppe a causeway for our God.
Every ravine is to rise up,
every mountain and hill is to fall down.
The ridge is to become level,
the cliffs a valley.
Yahweh’s splendour will appear,
and all flesh will see it together,
because Yahweh’s mouth has spoken.’

A voice is saying, ‘Call’,
but someone says, ‘Call what?
All flesh is grass,
and all its commitment is like a wild flower’s.
Grass withers,
a flower fades,
when Yahweh’s wind blows on it.’
‘Yes, the people is grass;
grass withers, a flower fades – but our God’s word rises up permanently.’

Get yourself up on to a high mountain
as a bringer of news to Tsiyyon.
Raise your voice with energy
as a bringer of news to Yerushalaim.
Raise it, don’t be afraid,
say to Yehudah’s towns,
‘Here is your God,
here is the Lord Yahweh.’
He comes as the strong one,
his arm is going to rule for him.
Here, his reward is with him,
his earnings before him.
Like a shepherd who pastures his flock,
he collects lambs in his arms.
He carries them in his embrace,
guides the nursing ones.

Goldingay, John; Goldingay, John; Wright, Tom; Wright, Tom. The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me
Be thou a smooth path below me
Be thou a kindly shepherd behind me
Today – tonight -forever
Amen.

St Columba