Isaiah 41
1 Keep silence before me, O islands; and let nations acquire new strength: let them approach, then let them speak, together let us come near to 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 waked up from the east the man whom righteousness met in his steps? he giveth up nations before him, and maketh him rule over kings; that his sword may render them as the dust, as driven stubble, 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 pursueth them, passeth along in safety, by a path which his feet have not gone over before.
And he shall pursue them; the way of his feet shall proceed in peace.
4 Who hath wrought and done it? he who called the generations from the beginning; I the Lord, [who am] the first, and with the latest I am the 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 isles saw it, and are afraid; the ends of the earth tremble; they draw near, and come.
The nations saw, and feared; the ends of the earth drew near, and came together,
6 They help one another; and each one saith to his brother, Be strong!
every one judging for his neighbor and [that] to assist his brother: and one will say,
7 So the smith encouraged the melter, he that smootheth with the hammer him that striketh on the anvil; saying of the solder, It is good; and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.
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 servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, 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 Thou, whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the midst of its chiefs, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant, I have 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 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 the right hand of my 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, ashamed and confounded shall be all that were incensed against thee; they shall be as naught and perish—the men that strive with thee.
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 wilt seek them, and shalt not find them, the men that contend with thee; they shall be as naught and as nothing, the men that make war against thee.
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 lay hold of thy right hand; [I am he] who saith unto thee, Fear not, I help thee.
For I am your God, who holds your right hand, who says to you,
14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, ye few men of Israel: I myself help thee, saith the Lord, and thy 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 have rendered thee a threshing instrument, sharp, new, having many teeth: thou shalt thresh mountains, and beat them small, and shalt render the hills as 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 Thou shalt scatter them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the storm shall disperse them; but thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, in the Holy One of Israel shalt thou glorify thyself.
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 the needy seek water, and there is none; their tongue is dried up 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 on naked mountain-peaks rivers, and in the midst of valleys fountains; I will change the wilderness into a pool of water, and the dry land into 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 place in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree; I will set in the desert the fir-tree, the pine and the box-tree together;
I will plant in the dry land the cedar and box, the myrtle and cypress, and white poplar:
20 In order that they may see, and know and take [it to heart], and comprehend 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 Produce your cause, saith the Lord: bring forward your strong reasons, saith 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 bring them forward and tell us what shall happen: the former things—what are they?—tell us, that we may take it to heart, and know the result of them; or let us hear the things that are 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 Tell the events that are to happen hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be astonished, and see 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 Behold, ye are less than nothing, and your work less than a breath: [he that is] an abomination [alone] chooseth you.
whence you are, and whence is your works: they have chosen you an abomination out of the earth.
25 I have waked up one from the north, and he cometh; from the rising of the sun one who will call on my name: and he shall [over-]come princes as mortar, and as the potter treadeth down 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 hath told it from the beginning, that we may know it? and aforetimes, that we may say, “it is right?” but indeed there is none that telleth, indeed there is none that letteth us hear, indeed there is none that heareth 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 The first [was I to say] to Zion, Behold, there they are; and to Jerusalem will I give one that bringeth good tidings.
I will give dominion to Sion, and will comfort Jerusalem by the way.
28 And I ever look, and there is no man; and among these there is no counsellor, that they could answer a word.
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 Behold, they all are naught; their works are nothing: wind and vanity are their molten images.
For [these] are your makers, [as you think], and they that cause you to err in vain.
