Esias 41

1 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.

Keep silence before Me, O islands, and let the peoples renew their strength; let them draw near, then let them speak; let us come near together to judgment.

2 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?

Who hath raised up one from the east, at whose steps victory attendeth? He giveth nations before him, and maketh him rule over kings; his sword maketh them as the dust, his bow as the driven stubble.

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

He pursueth them, and passeth on safely; the way with his feet he treadeth not.

4 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.

Who hath wrought and done it? He that called the generations from the beginning. I, the LORD, who am the first, and with the last am the same.

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

The isles saw, and feared; the ends of the earth trembled; they drew near, and came.

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

They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother: 'Be of good courage.'

7 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.

So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smiteth the anvil, saying of the soldering: 'It is good'; and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.

8 But you, Israel, are my servant Jacob, and he whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraam, whom I have loved:

But thou, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham My friend;

9 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.

Thou whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the uttermost parts thereof, and said unto thee: 'Thou art My servant, I have chosen thee and not cast thee away';

10 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.

Fear thou not, for I am with thee, be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I strengthen thee, yea, I help thee; yea, I uphold thee with My victorious right hand.

11 Behold, all your adversaries shall be ashamed and confounded; for they shall be as if they were not: and all your opponents shall perish.

Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded; they that strove with thee shall be as nothing, and shall perish.

12 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.

Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee; they that warred against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.

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

For I the LORD thy God hold thy right hand, who say unto thee: 'Fear not, I help thee.'

14 Fear not, Jacob, [and you] Israel few in number; I have helped you, says your God, he that redeems you, O Israel.

Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I help thee, saith the LORD, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

15 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:

Behold, I make thee a new threshing-sledge having sharp teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.

16 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.

Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, thou shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.

17 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:

The poor and needy seek water and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst; I the LORD will answer them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.

18 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.

I will open rivers on the high hills, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

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

I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia-tree, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree; I will set in the desert the cypress, the plane-tree, and the larch together;

20 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].

That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

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

Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your reasons, saith the King of Jacob.

22 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:

Let them bring them forth, and declare unto us the things that shall happen; the former things, what are they? Declare ye, that we may consider, and know the end of them; or announce to us things to come.

23 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

Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods; yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.

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

Behold, ye are nothing, and your work a thing of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you.

25 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.

I have roused up one from the north, and he is come, from the rising of the sun one that calleth upon My name; and he shall come upon rulers as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay.

26 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.

Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say that he is right? Yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that announceth, yea, there is none that heareth your utterances.

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

A harbinger unto Zion will I give: 'Behold, behold them', and to Jerusalem a messenger of good tidings.

28 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.

And I look, but there is no man; even among them, but there is no counsellor, that, when I ask of them, can give an answer.

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

Behold, all of them, their works are vanity and nought; their molten images are wind and confusion.