Isaiah 41

1. “Listen to Me in silence, O isles; let the people renew their strength; let them come near; then let them speak; let us come near together for judgment.

2. Who raised up the righteous one from the east, at whose steps victory attends? Who gives the nations before him, and made him to rule over kings? His sword makes them as the dust, his bow as windblown stubble.

3. He pursued them; he passed on safely; even by the way that he had not gone with his feet.

4. Who has planned and done it, calling forth the generations from the beginning? ‘I, THE LORD, AM THE FIRST AND THE LAST: I AM HE.’ ”

5. The isles saw and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, and drew near, and came.

6. They helped everyone his neighbor, and said to his brother, “Be of good courage.”

7. So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smooths with the hammer and him that strikes 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 whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, My friend;

9. Whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called you from its uttermost parts. And I said to you, ‘You are My servant; I have chosen you, and have not cast you away.

10. Do not fear; for I am with you; be not dismayed; for I am your God. I will strengthen you; yea, I will help you; yea, I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness.’

11. Behold, all those who were angered against you shall be ashamed and confounded; they shall be as nothing. And those who strive against you shall perish.

12. You shall seek them, and shall not find them; men warring against you shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought,

13. For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Do not fear; I will help you.’

14. Do not fear, you worm Jacob and men of Israel; I will help you,” says the LORD and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

15. “Behold, I make you a new sharp threshing instrument, having teeth; you shall thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shall make the hills like chaff.

16. You shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and a tempest shall scatter them. And you shall rejoice in the LORD and shall glory in the Holy One of Israel.

17. The poor and needy seek water, and there is none; their tongue fails for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not leave 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 the cedar in the wilderness, the acacia tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree. I will set the fir tree in the desert, and the pine, and the box tree together;

20. So that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.”

21. Draw near with your cause,” says the LORD; “Bring out your strong reasons,” says the King of Jacob.

22. “Let them bring them out, and declare to us the things that shall happen; let them reveal the former things, what they are, that we may consider them and know the final end of them; or declare to us things to come.

23. Reveal the things that are to come after this, so that we may know that you are gods. Yea, do good, or do evil, so that we may be dismayed and see together.

24. Behold, you are of nothing, and your work is of nothing. He who chooses you is an abomination.

25. I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come from the rising of the sun; he will call upon My name. And he shall come upon princes as upon mortar, and as the potter tramples clay.

26. Who has declared from the beginning, that we may know? And beforetime, that we may say, ‘He is right’? Yea, no one declares; yea, no one proclaims; yea, no one hears your words.

27. I first said to Zion, ‘Behold! Behold them!’ And I gave to Jerusalem one who bears good news,

28. For I looked, and there was no man; and there was no counselor among them, that I might ask and be given an answer.

29. Behold, they are all false; their works are nothing; their images are wind and vanity.”