Isaiah 41:1-29
41 “Listen to me in silence,* you islands;Let the nations regain their strength.
Let them approach; then let them speak.+
Let us come together for judgment.
2 Who has raised up someone from the sunrise,*+Calling him in righteousness to His feet,*To hand over nations to himAnd to make him subdue kings?+
Who reduces them to dust before his sword,Like windblown stubble before his bow?
3 He pursues them, passing along unhinderedOver paths that his feet have not traveled.
4 Who has acted and done this,Summoning the generations from the beginning?
I, Jehovah, am the First One;+And with the last ones I am the same.”+
5 The islands have seen it and have become afraid.
The ends of the earth began to tremble.
They draw near and come forward.
6 Each one helps his companionAnd says to his brother: “Be strong.”
7 So the craftsman strengthens the metalworker;+The one who flattens with the forge hammerStrengthens the one hammering at the anvil.
He says about the soldering: “It is good.”
Then it is fastened with nails so that it will not topple over.
8 “But you, O Israel, are my servant,+You, O Jacob, whom I have chosen,+The offspring* of Abraham my friend,+
9 You, whom I took from the ends of the earth,+And you, whom I called from its most distant parts.
I said to you, ‘You are my servant;+I have chosen you; I have not rejected you.+
10 Do not be afraid, for I am with you.+
Do not be anxious, for I am your God.+
I will fortify you, yes, I will help you,+I will really hold on to you with my right hand of righteousness.’
11 Look! All those getting enraged against you will be put to shame and humiliated.+
Those who fight with you will be brought to nothing and perish.+
12 You will search for men who struggle with you, but you will not find them;The men at war with you will become as something nonexistent, as nothing at all.+
13 For I, Jehovah your God, am grasping your right hand,The One saying to you, ‘Do not be afraid. I will help you.’+
14 Do not be afraid, you worm* Jacob,+You men of Israel, I will help you,” declares Jehovah, your Repurchaser,+ the Holy One of Israel.
15 “Look! I have made you a threshing sledge,+A new threshing instrument with double-edged teeth.
You will tread down the mountains and crush themAnd make the hills like chaff.
16 You will winnow them,And the wind will carry them away;A windstorm will scatter them.
You will be joyful in Jehovah,+And you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.”+
17 “The needy and the poor are seeking water, but there is none.
Their tongue is dry from thirst.+
I, Jehovah, will answer them.+
I, the God of Israel, will not abandon them.+
18 I will make rivers flow on the bare hills+And springs in the valley plains.+
I will turn the wilderness into a reedy pool of waterAnd the waterless land into springs of water.+
19 In the desert I will plant the cedar tree,The acacia and the myrtle and the pine tree.+
In the desert plain I will plant the juniper tree,Together with the ash and the cypress tree,+
20 So that all people may see and knowAnd pay attention and understandThat the hand of Jehovah has done this,And the Holy One of Israel has created it.”+
21 “Present your case,” says Jehovah.
“Produce your arguments,” says the King of Jacob.
22 “Produce evidence and tell us the things that will happen.
Do tell us about the former* things,So that we may reflect on them* and know their outcome.
Or declare to us the things that are coming.+
23 Tell us what will happen in the future,So that we may know that you are gods.+
Yes, do something, good or bad,So that we may be amazed when we see it.+
24 Look! You are something nonexistent,And your achievement is nothing.+
Anyone who chooses you is detestable.+
25 I have raised up someone from the north, and he will come,+One from the rising of the sun*+ who will call on my name.
He will trample rulers* as if they were clay,+Like a potter who treads moist clay.
26 Who told about this from the beginning, so that we could know,Or from times past, so that we could say, ‘He is right’?+
Indeed, no one announced it!
No one declared it!
No one heard anything from you!”+
27 I was the first to say to Zion: “Look! Here they are!”+
And to Jerusalem I will send a bearer of good news.+
28 But I kept looking, and there was no one;There was not one among them to give advice.
And I kept asking them to reply.
29 Look! All of them are a delusion.*
Their works are nothing.
Their metal images* are wind and unreality.+
