¹⁸ For this is what the Lord says—
he who created the heavens,
    he is God;
he who fashioned and made the earth,^(A)
    he founded it;
he did not create it to be empty,^(B)
    but formed it to be inhabited^(C)—
he says:
“I am the Lord,
    and there is no other.^(D)

²¹ Declare what is to be, present it—
    let them take counsel together.
Who foretold^(A) this long ago,
    who declared it from the distant past?^(B)
Was it not I, the Lord?
    And there is no God apart from me,^(C)
a righteous God^(D) and a Savior;^(E)
    there is none but me.