41
1 “Keep
silent before me, islands,
and let the
peoples renew
their strength.
Let them come
near,
then let them
speak.
Let’s meet together for
judgment.
2 Who
has raised up
one from the
east?
Who called him
to his feet
in righteousness?
He hands over
nations to him
and makes him
rule over kings.
He gives them
like the dust
to his sword,
like the driven
stubble to his
bow.
3 He
pursues them
and passes by
safely,
even by a
way that he
had not gone
with his feet.
4 Who
has worked and
done it,
calling the
generations from
the beginning?
I, the LORD,
the first, and
with the last,
I am he.”
5 The islands
have seen, and
fear.
The ends of
the earth tremble.
They approach,
and come.
6 Everyone
helps his neighbor.
They say to their brothers, “Be
strong!”
7 So
the carpenter
encourages the
goldsmith.
He who smooths
with the hammer
encourages him
who strikes the
anvil,
saying of the
soldering, “It is
good;”
and he fastens
it with nails,
that it might not
totter.
8 “But
you, Israel, my
servant,
Jacob whom I
have chosen,
the offspring
of Abraham my friend,
9 you
whom I have
taken hold of
from the ends
of the earth,
and called from
its corners,
and said to
you, ‘You are
my servant. I
have chosen you
and have not
cast you away.’
10 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.
11 Behold,
all those who
are incensed
against you will
be disappointed and
confounded.
Those who strive
with you will
be like nothing,
and shall perish.
12 You
will seek them,
and won’t find
them,
even those
who contend with
you.
Those who war
against you will
be as nothing,
as a nonexistent thing.
13 For
I, the LORD
your God, will
hold your right
hand,
saying to you, ‘Don’t
be afraid.
I will help
you.’
14 Don’t be
afraid, you worm
Jacob,
and you men
of Israel.
I will help
you,” says the
LORD.
“Your Redeemer is
the Holy One
of Israel.
15 Behold,
I have made
you into a
new sharp
threshing instrument
with teeth.
You will thresh
the mountains,
and beat them
small,
and will make
the hills like
chaff.
16 You
will winnow them,
and the wind
will carry them
away,
and the whirlwind
will scatter them.
You will rejoice
in the LORD.
You will 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 answer them.
I, the God
of Israel, will
not forsake them.
18 I
will open rivers
on the bare
heights,
and springs in
the middle of
the valleys.
I will make
the wilderness a
pool of water,
and the dry
land springs of
water.
19 I
will put cedar,
acacia, myrtle,
and oil trees
in the wilderness.
I will set
cypress trees,
pine, and box
trees together in
the desert;
20 that
they may see,
know, consider,
and understand
together,
that the LORD’s
hand has done
this,
and the Holy
One of Israel
has created it.
21 Produce
your cause,” says
the LORD.
“Bring out your
strong reasons!” says the
King of Jacob.
22 “Let
them announce and
declare to us
what will happen!
Declare the
former things,
what they are,
that we may
consider them, and
know the latter
end of them;
or show us
things to come.
23 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.
24 Behold,
you are nothing,
and your work
is nothing.
He who chooses you
is an abomination.
25 “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.
26 Who
has declared it
from the beginning,
that we may
know?
and before, that
we may say, ‘He
is right’?
Surely, there is
no one who
declares.
Surely, there is
no one who shows.
Surely, there is
no one who
hears your words.
27 I
am the first
to say to Zion, ‘Behold, look at them;’
and I will
give one who
brings good news
to Jerusalem.
28 When
I look, there
is no man,
even among them
there is no
counselor who,
when I ask,
can answer a
word.
29 Behold,
all of their
deeds are vanity
and nothing.
Their molten
images are wind
and confusion.