Isaiah 41

1 “Be silent before Me, O islands, and let the peoples renew their strength. Let them come forward and testify; let us together draw near for judgment.

Keep silence before mee, O ylands, and let the people renue their strength: let the come neere, and let them speake: let vs come together into iudgement.

2 Who has aroused one from the east and called him to his feet in righteousness? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow.

Who raised vp iustice from the East, and called him to his foote? and gaue the nations before him, and subdued the Kings? he gaue them as dust to his sword, and as scattered stubble vnto his bowe.

3 He pursues them, going on safely, hardly touching the path with his feet.

He pursued them, and passed safely by the way that he had not gone with his feete.

4 Who has performed this and carried it out, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD—the first and the last— I am He.”

Who hath wrought and done it? he that calleth the generations from the beginning. I the Lord am the first, and with the last I am ye same.

5 The islands see and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward.

The yles sawe it, and did feare, and the ends of the earth were abashed, drew neere, and came.

6 Each one helps the other and says to his brother, “Be strong!”

Euery man helped his neighbour, and saide to his brother, Be strong.

7 The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and he who wields the hammer cheers him who strikes the anvil, saying of the welding, “It is good.” He nails it down so it will not be toppled.

So the workeman comforted the founder, and he that smote with ye hammer, him that smote by course, saying, It is ready for the sodering, and he fastened it with nayles that it shoulde not be mooued.

8 “But you, O Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham My friend—

But thou, Israel, art my seruant, and thou Iaakob, whom I haue chosen, the seede of Abraham my friend.

9 I brought you from the ends of the earth and called you from its farthest corners. I said, ‘You are My servant.’ I have chosen and not rejected you.

For I haue taken thee from the endes of the earth, and called thee before the chiefe thereof, and saide vnto thee, Thou art my seruant: I haue chosen thee, and not cast thee away.

10 Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My right hand of righteousness.

Feare thou not, for I am with thee: be not afraide, for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee, and helpe thee, and will susteine thee with the right hand of my iustice.

11 Behold, all who rage against you will be ashamed and disgraced; those who contend with you will be reduced to nothing and will perish.

Beholde, all they that prouoke thee, shalbe ashamed, and confounded: they shalbe as nothing, and they that striue with thee, shall perish.

12 You will seek them but will not find them. Those who wage war against you will come to nothing.

Thou shalt seeke them and shalt not finde them: to wit, the men of thy strife, for they shall be as nothing, and the men that warre against thee, as a thing of nought.

13 For I am the LORD your God, who takes hold of your right hand and tells you: Do not fear, I will help you.

For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying vnto thee, Feare not, I wil helpe thee.

14 Do not fear, O worm of Jacob, O few men of Israel. I will help you,” declares the LORD. “Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

Feare not, thou worme, Iaakob, and ye men of Israel: I wil helpe thee, sayth the Lord and thy redeemer the holy one of Israel.

15 Behold, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff.

Behold, I wil make thee a roller, and a newe threshing instrument hauing teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountaines, and bring them to pouder, and shalt make the hilles as chaffe.

16 You will winnow them, and a wind will carry them away; a gale will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the LORD; you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

Thou shalt fanne them, and the winde shall carie them away, and the whirlewinde shall scatter them: and thou shalt reioyce in the Lord, and shalt glory in the holy one of Israel.

17 The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

When the poore and the needy seeke water, and there is none (their tongue faileth for thirst: I the Lord will heare them: I the God of Israel will not forsake them)

18 I will open rivers on the barren heights, and fountains in the middle of the valleys. I will turn the desert into a pool of water, and the dry land into flowing springs.

I will open riuers in the toppes of the hils, and fountaines in the middes of the valleis: I will make the wildernesse as a poole of water, and the waste land as springs of water.

19 I will plant cedars in the wilderness, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees. I will set cypresses in the desert, elms and boxwood together,

I will set in the wildernesse the cedar, the shittah tree, and the mirre tree, and the pine tree, and I will set in the wildernesse the firre tree, the elme and the boxe tree together.

20 so that all may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this and the Holy One of Israel has created it.”

Therefore let them see and knowe, and let them consider and vnderstande together that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the holy one of Israel hath created it.

21 “Present your case,” says the LORD. “Submit your arguments,” says the King of Jacob.

Stand to your cause, saith the Lord: bring forth your strong reasons, saith ye King of Iaakob.

22 “Let them come and tell us what will happen. Tell the former things, so that we may reflect on them and know the outcome. Or announce to us what is coming.

Let them bring foorth, and let them tell vs what shall come: let them shew the former things what they be, that wee may consider them, and knowe the latter ende of them: either declare vs things for to come.

23 Tell us the things that are to come, so that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do something good or evil, that we may look on together in dismay.

Shewe the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods: yea, doe good or doe euill, that we may declare it, and beholde it together.

24 Behold, you are nothing and your work is of no value. Anyone who chooses you is detestable.

Beholde, ye are of no value, and your making is of naught: man hath chosen an abomination by them.

25 I have raised up one from the north, and he has come— one from the east who calls on My name. He will march over rulers as if they were mortar, like a potter who treads the clay.

I haue raised vp from the North, and he shall come: from the East sunne shall he cal vpon my Name, and shall come vpon princes as vpon clay, and as the potter treadeth myre vnder the foote.

26 Who has declared this from the beginning, so that we may know, and from times past, so that we may say: ‘He was right’? No one announced it, no one foretold it, no one heard your words.

Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may knowe? or before time, that we may say, He is righteous? Surely there is none that sheweth: surely there is none that declareth: surely there is none that heareth your wordes.

27 I was the first to tell Zion: ‘Look, here they are!’ And I gave to Jerusalem a herald of good news.

I am the first, that saieth to Zion, Beholde, beholde them: and I will giue to Ierusalem one that shall bring good tidings.

28 When I look, there is no one; there is no counselor among them; when I ask them, they have nothing to say.

But when I behelde, there was none, and when I inquired of them, there was no counsellor, and when I demaunded of them, they answered not a woorde.

29 See, they are all a delusion; their works amount to nothing; their images are as empty as the wind.

Beholde, they are all vanitie: their worke is of nothing, their images are wind and confusion.