Isaiah 41

1 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.

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 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.

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

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

4 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.

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

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

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

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

7 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.

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 thou, Israel, art my seruant, and thou Iaakob, whom I haue chosen, the seede 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 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.

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 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.

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

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

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

14 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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)

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 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.

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 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.

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

20 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.

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

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

22 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.

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 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.

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

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

25 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.

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 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.

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

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

28 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.

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

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