Isaiah 41

Keep silence before me, islands; and let the peoples renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak; let us come near together to judgment.

Who has raised up one from the east, whom he calls in righteousness to his foot? he gives nations before him, and makes him rule over kings; he gives them as the dust to his sword, as the driven stubble to his bow.

He pursues them, and passes on safely, even by a way that he had not gone with his feet.

Who has worked and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Yahweh, the first, and with the last, I am he.

The isles have seen, and fear; the ends of the earth tremble; they draw near, and come.

They help everyone his neighbor; and [every one] says to his brother, Be of good courage.

So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith, [and] he who smoothes with the hammer him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good; and he fastens it with nails, that is should not be moved.

But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend,

you whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from the corners of it, and said to you, You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you away;

Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you; don’t be dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you; yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.

Behold, all those who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded: those who strive with you shall be as nothing, and shall perish.

You shall seek them, and shall not find them, even those who contend with you: those who war against you shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nothing.

For I, Yahweh your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, Don’t be afraid; I will help you.

Don’t be afraid, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel; I will help you, says Yahweh, and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

Behold, I have made you [to be] a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; you shall thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shall make the hills as chaff.

You shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; and you shall rejoice in Yahweh, you shall glory in the Holy One of Israel.

The poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue fails for thirst; I, Yahweh, will answer them, I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

I will open rivers on the bare heights, and springs in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

I will put 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:

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

Produce your cause, says Yahweh; bring forth your strong reasons, says the King of Jacob.

Let them bring forth, and declare to us what shall happen: declare you the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or show us things to come.

Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods: yes, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and see it together.

Behold, you are of nothing, and your work is of nothing; an abomination is he who chooses you.

I have raised up one from the north, and he has come; from the rising of the sun one who calls on my name: and he shall come on rulers as on mortar, and as the potter treads clay.

Who has declared it from the beginning, that we may know? and before, that we may say, [He is] right? yes, there is none who declares, yes, there is none who shows, yes, there is none who hears your words.

[I am the] first [who says] to Zion, Behold, behold them; and I will give to Jerusalem one who brings good news.

When I look, there is no man: even among them there is no counselor who, when I ask of them, can answer a word.

Behold, all of them, their works are vanity [and] nothing; their molten images are wind and confusion.