Isaiah 41

1 Come quietly before me, O sea-lands, and let the peoples get together their strength: let them come near; then let them say what they have to say: let us put forward our cause against one another.

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 judgement.

2 Who sent out from the east one who is right wherever he goes? he gives the nations into his hands, and makes him ruler over kings; he gives them as the dust to his sword, as dry stems before the wind to 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 goes after them safely, not touching the road with his feet.

And he shall pursue them; the way of his feet shall proceed in peace.

4 Whose purpose and work was it? His who sent out the generations from the start. I the Lord, the first, and with 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 sea-lands saw it, and were in fear; the ends of the earth were shaking: they came near.

The nations saw, and feared; the ends of the earth drew near, and came together,

6 They gave help everyone to his neighbour; and everyone said to his brother, Take heart!

every one judging for his neighbour and [that] to assist his brother: and one will say,

7 So the metal-worker put heart into the gold-worker, and he who was hammering the metal smooth said kind words to the iron-worker, saying of the plate, It is ready: and he put it together with nails, so that there might be no slipping.

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 as for you, Israel, my servant, and you, Jacob, whom I have taken for myself, the seed 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 You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and sent for from its farthest parts, saying to you, You are my servant, whom I have taken for myself, and whom I have not given up:

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 Have no fear, for I am with you; do not be looking about in trouble, for I am your God; I will give you strength, yes, I will be your helper; yes, my true right hand will be your support.

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 Truly, all those who are angry with you will be made low and put to shame: those desiring to do you wrong will come to nothing and never again be seen.

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 make search for your haters but they will not be there; those who make war against you will be as nothing and will come to destruction.

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, the Lord your God, have taken your right hand in mine, saying to you, Have no fear; I will be your helper.

For I am your God, who holds your right hand, who says to you,

14 Have no fear, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel; I will be your helper, says the Lord, even he who takes up your cause, 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 See, I will make you like a new grain-crushing instrument with teeth, crushing the mountains small, and making the hills like dry stems.

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 send the wind over them, and it will take them away; they will go in all directions before the storm-wind: you will have joy in the Lord, and be glad 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 crushed are looking for water where no water is, and their tongue is dry for need of it: I the Lord will give ear to their prayer, I the God of Israel will not give them up.

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 make rivers on the dry mountain-tops, and fountains in the valleys: I will make the waste land a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

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 put in the waste land the cedar, the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive-tree; and in the lowland will be planted the fir-tree, the plane, and the cypress together:

I will plant in the dry land the cedar and box, the myrtle and cypress, and white poplar:

20 So that they may see and be wise and give their mind to it, and that it may be clear to them all that the hand of the Lord has done this, and that the Holy One of Israel has made 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 Put forward your cause, says the Lord; let your strong argument come out, says the King of Jacob.

Your judgement draws near, says the Lord God; your counsels have drawn near, says the King of Jacob.

22 Let the future be made clear to us: give us news of the past things, so that we may give thought to them; or of the things to come, so that we may see if they are true.

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 Give us word of what will be after this, so that we may be certain that you are gods: yes, do good or do evil, so that we may all see it and be surprised.

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 But you are nothing, and your work is of no value: foolish is he who takes you for his gods.

whence you are, and whence is your works: they have chosen you an abomination out of the earth.

25 I have sent for one from the north, and from the dawn he has come; in my name he will get rulers together and go against them; they will be like dust, even as the wet earth is stamped on by the feet of the potter.

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 given knowledge of it from the first, so that we may be certain of it? and from the start, so that we may say, His word is true? There is no one who gives news, or says anything, or who gives ear to 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 give word of it to Zion, and I gave the good news to Jerusalem.

I will give dominion to Sion, and will comfort Jerusalem by the way.

28 And I saw that there was no man, even no wise man among them, who might give an answer to my questions.

For from amongst 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 Truly they are all nothing, their works are nothing and of no value: their metal images are of no more use than wind.

For [these] are your makers, [as you think], and they that cause you to err in vain.