Isaiah 41
1 “Keep silent before me, islands, and let the peoples renew their strength. Let them come near, then let them speak. Let’s meet together for judgment.
[Yahweh says], “You [people who live on] [APO] islands in the ocean, be silent in front of me [while I ask you some questions]! Then you can be courageous and talk to me. We will meet together and decide [which one of us is right].
2 Who has raised up one from the east? Who called him to his feet in righteousness? He hands over nations to him and makes him rule over kings. He gives them like the dust to his sword, like the driven stubble to his bow.
Who has urged this king to come from the east? Who has enabled his [army] to righteously defeat many nations and to trample their kings under their feet? With their swords they cut [their enemies] into tiny pieces [HYP]; with their arrows they cause their enemies to scatter like [SIM] the wind scatters chaff.
3 He pursues them and passes by safely, even by a way that he had not gone with his feet.
Even though they march through areas where they have not gone previously, they pursue [their enemies] and continue to march, and nothing stops them.
4 Who has worked and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, the first, and with the last, I am he.”
Who has enabled rulers to do [DOU] mighty things like that? Who has done that throughout all generations? It is I, Yahweh; I was the first [one to do things like that], and I will be the last one [to do them].”
5 The islands have seen, and fear. The ends of the earth tremble. They approach, and come.
[People who live on] [PRS] islands in the ocean are afraid while they watch. People in remote areas tremble and gather together.
6 Everyone helps his neighbor. They say to their brothers, “Be strong!”
They encourage each other and say to each other, “Be strong!'
7 So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith. He who smooths with the hammer encourages him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, “It is good;” and he fastens it with nails, that it might not totter.
The craftsmen encourage those who make things from gold, and the men who flatten metal encourage those who hammer metal (on an anvil/into shape). They all say, “The idol has been well made!” And then they carefully nail down the idol in order that it will not topple over!
8 “But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham my friend,
[Yahweh says], “[You people of] Israel [are like] my servants; you are [descendants of] Jacob, whom I chose; [you are] descendants of Abraham, who [I said is] my friend.
9 you whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from its corners, and said to you, ‘You are my servant. I have chosen you and have not cast you away.’
I summoned you from very distant places [DOU] on the earth, and I said ‘I [want you to] serve me; I have chosen you, and I will not reject you.’
10 Do not you be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.
Do not be afraid, because I will (be with/help) you. Do not be discouraged, because I am your God. I will enable you to be strong, and I will help you; I will hold you up with my powerful arm by which you will be rescued.
11 Behold, all those who are incensed against you will be disappointed and confounded. Those who strive with you will be like nothing, and shall perish.
It is certain that all those who are angry with you [Israeli people] will be disgraced [DOU]. Those who oppose you will be wiped out; they will all die.
12 You will seek them, and will not find them, even those who contend with you. Those who war against you will be as nothing, as a nonexistent thing.
If you search for those who tried to conquer you, you will not find them, [because they will all have disappeared]. Those who attacked you will not exist [any more].
13 For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Do not be afraid. I will help you.’
[It will be as though] I will hold you up by your right hand. I am Yahweh, your God, and I say to you, ‘Do not be afraid, [because] I will help you.’
14 Do not be afraid, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel. I will help you,” says the LORD. “Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
Although you people of Israel [DOU] [think that you are as insignificant as] worms, do not be afraid [of your enemies], because I will help you. I am Yahweh, the one who rescues you; I am the Holy One of Israel.
15 Behold, I have made you into a new sharp threshing instrument with teeth. You will thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and will make the hills like chaff.
[I will cause] you to be like [MET] a (threshing sledge/big piece of metal that has sharp teeth for separating grain from chaff). You will tear [your enemies to bits], causing them to be like bits of chaff on the mountains.
16 You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, and the whirlwind will scatter them. You will rejoice in the LORD. You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
You will toss them up into the air, and a strong wind will blow them away [DOU]. [When that happens], you will rejoice about what I [have done for you]; you will praise me, the Holy One of Israel.
17 The poor and needy seek water, and there is none. Their tongue fails for thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
When poor and needy people need water and they have no water, and their tongues are very dry because they are very thirsty, I, Yahweh, will come and help them. I, the God to whom you Israeli people belong, will never abandon them.
18 I will open rivers on the bare heights, and springs in the middle of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
I will cause rivers to flow for them on the barren hills. I will give them fountains in the valleys. I will fill [HYP] the desert with pools of water. Water from springs will flow into rivers, and the rivers will flow across the dry ground.
19 I will put cedar, acacia, myrtle, and oil trees in the wilderness. I will set cypress trees, pine, and box trees together in the desert;
I will plant [trees] in the desert— cedar [trees], acacia [trees], myrtle [trees], olive [trees], cypress [trees], fir [trees], and pine [trees].
20 that they may see, know, consider, and understand together, that the LORD’s hand has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.
[I will do that] in order that people who see it will think about it, and they will know and understand [DOU] that it is [I], Yahweh, who have done it; it is what [I], the Holy One of Israel, have done.
21 Produce your cause,” says the LORD. “Bring out your strong reasons!” says the King of Jacob.
[I], Yahweh, the true king of Israel say [to you nations], “Tell what your idols can do for you!
22 “Let them announce and declare to us what will happen! Declare the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or show us things to come.
Bring them here to tell us what is going to happen! Ask them to tell us what things happened long ago, in order that we may think about those things, and learn if those things that they predicted really happened. Or, ask them to tell us about the future, in order that we can know what will happen.
23 Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and see it together.
[Yes], those idols should tell us what will happen in the future. If they do that, we will know that they are really gods. Tell them to do something—either something good or something bad! Tell them to do something that will cause us to be amazed and afraid!
24 Behold, you are nothing, and your work is nothing. He who chooses you is an abomination.
But [that is impossible, because] idols are absolutely worthless [HYP]; they can do nothing, and I detest those who decide [to worship] idols.”
25 “I have raised up one from the north, and he has come, from the rising of the sun, one who calls on my name, and he shall come on rulers as on mortar, and as the potter treads clay.
“[But] I have incited/urged a ruler who will come [with his army] from the north. I have summoned him to come from [his country, which is] east [of Israel], and I have given him my authority [MTY]. I will [enable his army to conquer other rulers]; they will trample those leaders like [SIM] a man who makes clay pots first tramples the clay.
26 Who has declared it from the beginning, that we may know? and before, that we may say, ‘He is right’? Surely, there is no one who declares. Surely, there is no one who shows. Surely, there is no one who hears your words.
(Who told you people long ago that this would happen?/No one told you people long ago that this would happen!) [RHQ] (Who predicted it, with the result that we can say, ‘What he predicted was correct!’?/No one predicted it, with the result that we can say, ‘What he predicted was correct!’) [RHQ] No one else said that it would happen.
27 I am the first to say to Zion, ‘Behold, look at them;’ and I will give one who brings good news to Jerusalem.
I was the first one to tell [the people of] Jerusalem, ‘Listen to this! I have appointed a messenger to tell good news to you!’
28 When I look, there is no man, even among them there is no counselor who, when I ask, can answer a word.
None of your idols told you that [DOU]. And when I asked them questions, none of them was able to give me any answers.
29 Behold, all of their deeds are vanity and nothing. Their molten images are wind and confusion.
Think about it: Those idols are all useless, worthless [DOU] things. They are [as meaningless as] [MET] the wind.”
