Listen to me in silence, O coastlands;
        let the peoples renew their strength;
    let them approach, then let them speak;
        let us together draw near for judgment.
    
    
    Who stirred up one from the east
        whom victory meets at every step?
    He gives up nations before him,
        so that he tramples kings underfoot;
    he makes them like dust with his sword,
        like driven stubble with his bow.
    He pursues them and passes on safely,
        by paths his feet have not trod.
    Who has performed and done this,
        calling the generations from the beginning?
    I, the LORD, the first,
        and with the last; I am he.
    
    
    The coastlands have seen and are afraid;
        the ends of the earth tremble;
        they have drawn near and come.
    Everyone helps his neighbor
        and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
    The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,
        and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,
    saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
        and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved.
    
    
    But you, Israel, my servant,
        Jacob, whom I have chosen,
        the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
    you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
        and called from its farthest corners,
    saying to you, “You are my servant,
        I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
    fear not, for I am with you;
        be not dismayed, for I am your God;
    I will strengthen you, I will help you,
        I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
    
    
    Behold, all who are incensed against you
        shall be put to shame and confounded;
    those who strive against you
        shall be as nothing and shall perish.
    You shall seek those who contend with you,
        but you shall not find them;
    those who war against you
        shall be as nothing at all.
    For I, the LORD your God,
        hold your right hand;
    it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
        I am the one who helps you.”
    
    
    Fear not, you worm Jacob,
        you men of Israel!
    I am the one who helps you, declares the LORD;
        your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
    Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge,
        new, sharp, and having teeth;
    you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,
        and you shall make the hills like chaff;
    you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,
        and the tempest shall scatter them.
    And you shall rejoice in the LORD;
        in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.
    
    
    When the poor and needy seek water,
        and there is none,
        and their tongue is parched with thirst,
    I the LORD will answer them;
        I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
    I 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.
    I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
        the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
    I will set in the desert the cypress,
        the plane and the pine together,
    that they may see and know,
        may consider and understand together,
    that the hand of the LORD has done this,
        the Holy One of Israel has created it.
    
    
        Set forth your case, says the LORD;
        bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.
    Let them bring them, and tell us
        what is to happen.
    Tell us the former things, what they are,
        that we may consider them,
    that we may know their outcome;
        or declare to us the things to come.
    Tell us what is to come hereafter,
        that we may know that you are gods;
    do good, or do harm,
        that we may be dismayed and terrified.
    Behold, you are nothing,
        and your work is less than nothing;
        an abomination is he who chooses you.
    
    
    I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
        from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name;
    he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,
        as the potter treads clay.
    Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,
        and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?
    There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,
        none who heard your words.
    I was the first to say to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”
        and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.
    But when I look, there is no one;
        among these there is no counselor
        who, when I ask, gives an answer.
    Behold, they are all a delusion;
        their works are nothing;
        their metal images are empty wind.
    
    
        Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
        my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
    I have put my Spirit upon him;
        he will bring forth justice to the nations.
    He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
        or make it heard in the street;
    a bruised reed he will not break,
        and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
        he will faithfully bring forth justice.
    He will not grow faint or be discouraged
        till he has established justice in the earth;
        and the coastlands wait for his law.
    
    
    Thus says God, the LORD,
        who created the heavens and stretched them out,
        who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
    who gives breath to the people on it
        and spirit to those who walk in it:
    “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness;
        I will take you by the hand and keep you;
    I will give you as a covenant for the people,
        a light for the nations,
        to open the eyes that are blind,
    to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
        from the prison those who sit in darkness.
    I am the LORD; that is my name;
        my glory I give to no other,
        nor my praise to carved idols.
    Behold, the former things have come to pass,
        and new things I now declare;
    before they spring forth
        I tell you of them.”
    
    
        Sing to the LORD a new song,
        his praise from the end of the earth,
    you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it,
        the coastlands and their inhabitants.
    Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,
        the villages that Kedar inhabits;
    let the habitants of Sela sing for joy,
        let them shout from the top of the mountains.
    Let them give glory to the LORD,
        and declare his praise in the coastlands.
    The LORD goes out like a mighty man,
        like a man of war he stirs up his zeal;
    he cries out, he shouts aloud,
        he shows himself mighty against his foes.
    
    
    For a long time I have held my peace;
        I have kept still and restrained myself;
    now I will cry out like a woman in labor;
        I will gasp and pant.
    I will lay waste mountains and hills,
        and dry up all their vegetation;
    I will turn the rivers into islands,
        and dry up the pools.
    And I will lead the blind
        in a way that they do not know,
    in paths that they have not known
        I will guide them.
    I will turn the darkness before them into light,
        the rough places into level ground.
    These are the things I do,
        and I do not forsake them.
    They are turned back and utterly put to shame,
        who trust in carved idols,
    who say to metal images,
        “You are our gods.”
    
    
        Hear, you deaf,
        and look, you blind, that you may see!
    Who is blind but my servant,
        or deaf as my messenger whom I send?
    Who is blind as my dedicated one,
        or blind as the servant of the LORD?
    He sees many things, but does not observe them;
        his ears are open, but he does not hear.
    The LORD was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake,
        to magnify his law and make it glorious.
    But this is a people plundered and looted;
        they are all of them trapped in holes
        and hidden in prisons;
    they have become plunder with none to rescue,
        spoil with none to say, “Restore!”
    Who among you will give ear to this,
        will attend and listen for the time to come?
    Who gave up Jacob to the looter,
        and Israel to the plunderers?
    Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned,
        in whose ways they would not walk,
        and whose law they would not obey?
    So he poured on him the heat of his anger
        and the might of battle;
    it set him on fire all around, but he did not understand;
        it burned him up, but he did not take it to heart. (ESV)

After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta. The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold. When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

  Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him, healed him. And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. They also honored us greatly, and when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed.

  After three months we set sail in a ship that had wintered in the island, a ship of Alexandria, with the twin gods as a figurehead. Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days. And from there we made a circuit and arrived at Rhegium. And after one day a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli. There we found brothers and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome. And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage. And when we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, with the soldier who guarded him.

  After three days he called together the local leaders of the Jews, and when they had gathered, he said to them, “Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. When they had examined me, they wished to set me at liberty, because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case. But because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar—though I had no charge to bring against my nation. For this reason, therefore, I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain.” And they said to him, “We have received no letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken any evil about you. But we desire to hear from you what your views are, for with regard to this sect we know that everywhere it is spoken against.”

  When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus both from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets. And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement: “The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet:

    “‘Go to this people, and say,
    “You will indeed hear but never understand,
        and you will indeed see but never perceive.”
    For this people’s heart has grown dull,
        and with their ears they can barely hear,
        and their eyes they have closed;
    lest they should see with their eyes
        and hear with their ears
    and understand with their heart
        and turn, and I would heal them.’
    
    
      Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen.”

  He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. (ESV)