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.

²² “Turn^(F) to me and be saved,^(G)
    all you ends of the earth;^(H)
    for I am God, and there is no other.^(I)
23 By myself I have sworn,^(J)
    my mouth has uttered in all integrity^(K)
    a word that will not be revoked:^(L)
Before me every knee will bow;^(M)
    by me every tongue will swear.^(N)

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,^(A)
    who draws strength from mere flesh
    and whose heart turns away from the Lord.^(B)
6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
    they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places^(C) of the desert,
    in a salt^(D) land where no one lives.

⁷ “But blessed^(E) is the one who trusts^(F) in the Lord,
    whose confidence is in him.
⁸ They will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.^(G)
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought^(H)
    and never fails to bear fruit.”^(I)

⁹ The heart^(J) is deceitful above all things
    and beyond cure.
    Who can understand it?