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Isaiah 41
1 Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their
strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to
judgment.
2 Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his
foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as
the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow.
3 He pursued them, and passed safely; even by the way that he had
not gone with his feet.
4 Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the
beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.
5 The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid,
drew near, and came.
6 They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his
brother, Be of good courage.
7 So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth
with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the sodering:
and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.
8 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the
seed of Abraham my friend.
9 Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called
thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have
chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy
God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness.
11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be
ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee
shall perish.
12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that
contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a
thing of nought.
13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto
thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help
thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
15 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having
teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the
hills as chaff.
16 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the
whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, and shalt
glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their
tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will
not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers in high places, 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 wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and
the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the
pine, and the box tree together:
20 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 Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong
reasons, saith the King of Jacob.
22 Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let
them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know
the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.
23 Shew 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 Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an
abomination is he that chooseth you.
25 I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: from the
rising of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as
upon morter, and as the potter treadeth clay.
26 Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? and
beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous? yea, there is none that sheweth,
yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that heareth your words.
27 The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will
give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.
28 For I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there
was no counsellor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.
29 Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their
molten images are wind and confusion.
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