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 silent towards Me, O isles, And the peoples pass on [to] power, They come nigh, then they speak, 'Together — to judgment we draw near.'
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 stirred up from the east a righteous one? He calleth him to His foot, He giveth before him nations, And kings He causeth him to rule, He giveth [them] as dust [to] his sword, As driven stubble [to] his bow.
3 And he shall pursue them; the way of his feet shall proceed in peace.
He pursueth them, he passeth over in safety A path with his feet he entereth 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, Calling the generations from the first? I, Jehovah, the first, and with the last I [am] He.
5 The nations saw, and feared; the ends of the earth drew near, and came together,
Seen have isles and fear, ends of the earth tremble, They have drawn near, yea, they come.
6 every one judging for his neighbour and [that] to assist his brother: and one will say,
Each his neighbour they help, And to his brother he saith, 'Be strong.'
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.
And strengthen doth an artisan the refiner, A smoother [with] a hammer, Him who is beating [on] an anvil, Saying, 'For joining it [is] good,' And he strengtheneth it with nails, it is not moved!
8 But you, Israel, are my servant Jacob, and he whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraam, whom I have loved:
— And thou, O Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, Seed of Abraham, My lover,
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.
Whom I have taken hold of, from the ends of the earth, And from its near places I have called thee, And I say to thee, My servant Thou [art], I have chosen thee, and not rejected thee.
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.
Be not afraid, for with thee I [am], Look not around, for I [am] thy God, I have strengthened thee, Yea, I have helped thee, yea, I upheld thee, With the right hand of My righteousness.
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.
Lo, all those displeased with thee, They are ashamed and blush, They are as nothing, yea, perish Do the men who strive with thee.
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 seekest them, and findest them not, The men who debate with thee, They are as nothing, yea, as nothing, The men who war with thee.
13 For I am your God, who holds your right hand, who says to you,
For I, Jehovah thy God, Am strengthening thy right hand, He who is saying to thee, 'Fear not, I have helped 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, O worm Jacob, ye men of Israel, I helped thee, an affirmation of Jehovah, Even 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:
Lo, I have set thee for a new sharp threshing instrument, Possessing teeth, thou threshest mountains, And beatest small, and hills as chaff thou makest.
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 winnowest them, and a wind lifteth them up, And a whirlwind scattereth them, And thou — thou rejoicest in Jehovah, In the Holy One of Israel dost boast thyself.
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 the needy are seeking water, And there is none, Their tongue with thirst hath failed, I, Jehovah do answer them, The God of Israel — I forsake them not.
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 open on high places rivers, And in midst of valleys fountains, I make a wilderness become a pond of water, And a dry land become springs of water.
19 I will plant in the dry land the cedar and box, the myrtle and cypress, and white poplar:
I give in a wilderness the cedar, Shittah, and myrtle, and oil-tree, I set in a desert the fir-pine and box-wood 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].
So that they see, and know, And regard, and act wisely together, For the hand of Jehovah hath done this, And the Holy One of Israel hath prepared it.
21 Your judgement draws near, says the Lord God; your counsels have drawn near, says the King of Jacob.
Bring near your cause, saith Jehovah, Bring nigh your mighty ones, 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:
They bring nigh, and declare to us that which doth happen, The first things — what they [are] declare ye, And we set our heart, and know their latter end, Or the coming things cause us to hear.
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 coming hereafter, And we know that ye [are] gods, Yea, ye may do good or do evil, And we look around and see [it] together.
24 whence you are, and whence is your works: they have chosen you an abomination out of the earth.
Lo, ye [are] of nothing, and your work of nought, An abomination — it fixeth on 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 stirred up [one] from the north, And he cometh, From the rising of the sun he calleth in My name, And he cometh in [on] prefects as [on] clay, And as a potter treadeth down mire.
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 first, and we know? And beforetime, and we say, 'Righteous?' yea, there is none declaring, Yea, there is none proclaiming, Yea, there is none hearing your sayings.
27 I will give dominion to Sion, and will comfort Jerusalem by the way.
First to Zion, Behold, behold them, And to Jerusalem one proclaiming tidings I give,
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 see that there is no man, Yea, of these that there is no counsellor, And I ask them, and they return word:
29 For [these] are your makers, [as you think], and they that cause you to err in vain.
'Lo, all of them [are] vanity, Nought [are] their works, Wind and emptiness their molten images!'
