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.
Hold a feast to me, you islands: for the princes shall renew [their] strength: let them draw near and speak together: then let them declare judgment.
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 up righteousness from the east, [and] called it to his feet, so that it should go? shall appoint [it] an adversary of Gentiles, and shall dismay kings, and bury their swords in the earth, and cast forth their bows and arrows as sticks?
3 He pursues them, going on safely, hardly touching the path with his feet.
And he shall pursue them; the way of his feet shall proceed in peace.
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 has wrought and done these things? he has called it who called it from the generations of old; I God, the first and to [all] futurity, I AM.
5 The islands see and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward.
The nations saw, and feared; the ends of the earth drew near, and came together,
6 Each one helps the other and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
every one judging for his neighbor and [that] to assist his brother: and one will say,
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.
The artificer has become strong, and the coppersmith that smites with the hammer, [and] forges also: sometimes he will say, It is a piece well joined: they have fastened them with nails; they will fix them, and they shall not be moved.
8 “But you, O Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham My friend—
But you, Israel, are my servant Jacob, and he whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraam, whom I have loved:
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.
whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and from the high places of it I have called you, and said to you, You are my servant; I have chosen you, and I have not forsaken you.
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.
Fear not; for I am with you: wander not; for I am your God, who have strengthened you; and I have helped you, and have established you with my just right hand.
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.
Behold, all your adversaries shall be ashamed and confounded; for they shall be as if they were not: and all your opponents shall perish.
12 You will seek them but will not find them. Those who wage war against you will come to nothing.
You shall seek them, and you shall not find the men who shall insolently rage against you: for they shall be as if they were not, and they that war against you shall not be.
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 am your God, who holds your right hand, who says to you,
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.
Fear not, Jacob, [and you] Israel few in number; I have helped you, says your God, he that redeems you, O 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 have made you as new saw-shaped threshing wheels of a waggon; and you shall thresh the mountains, and beat the hills to powder, and make [them] as chaff:
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.
and you shall winnow [them], and the wind shall carry them away, and a tempest shall scatter them: but you shall rejoice in the holy ones 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.
And the poor and the needy shall exult; for [when] they shall seek water, and there shall be none, [and] their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord God, I the God of Israel will hear, and 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.
but I will open rivers on the mountains, and fountains in the midst of plains: I will make the desert pools of water, and a thirsty land watercourses.
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 plant in the dry land the cedar and box, the myrtle and cypress, and white poplar:
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.”
that they may see, and know, and perceive, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord has wrought these [works], and the Holy One of Israel has displayed [them].
21 “Present your case,” says the LORD. “Submit your arguments,” says the King of Jacob.
Your judgment draws near, says the Lord God; your counsels have drawn near, says the King of Jacob.
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 draw near, and declare to you what things shall come to pass; or tell [us] what things were of old, and we will apply [our] understanding, and we shall know what are the last and the future things:
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.
tell us, declare you to us the things that are coming on at the last [time], and we shall know that you are gods: do good, and do evil, and we shall wonder, and see at the same time
24 Behold, you are nothing and your work is of no value. Anyone who chooses you is detestable.
whence you are, and whence is your works: they have chosen you an abomination out of the earth.
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.
But I have raised up him that [comes] from the north, and him that [comes] from the rising of the sun: they shall be called by my name: let the princes come, and as potter's clay, and as a potter treading clay, so shall you be trodden down.
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.
For who will declare the things from the beginning, that we may know also the former things, and we will say that they are true? there is no one that speaks beforehand, nor anyone that hears your words.
27 I was the first to tell Zion: ‘Look, here they are!’ And I gave to Jerusalem a herald of good news.
I will give dominion to Sion, and will comfort Jerusalem by the way.
28 When I look, there is no one; there is no counselor among them; when I ask them, they have nothing to say.
For from among the nations, behold, [there was] no one; and of their idols there was none to declare [anything]: and if I should ask them, Whence are you? they could not answer me.
29 See, they are all a delusion; their works amount to nothing; their images are as empty as the wind.
For [these] are your makers, [as you think], and they that cause you to err in vain.
