Chapter 41.
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.
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.
He pursued them, and passed safely, even by the way that he had not gone with
his feet.
Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning?
I the Lord, the first, and with the last, I am he.
The isles saw it, and feared.
The ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came.
They helped every one his neighbor, and every one said to his brother,
Be of good courage.
So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith.
And he that smootheth with the hammer, him that smote the anvil, saying,
It is ready for the soldering.
And he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.
But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of
Abraham, my friend.
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.
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.
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.
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 naught.
For I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not,
I will help thee.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittar 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,
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.
Produce your cause, saith the Lord.
Bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.
Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen.
Let them show 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.
Show 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.
Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of naught, and abomination is he that
chooseth you.
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 mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay.
Who hath declared from the beginning that we may know, and before time that we may
say, He is righteous?
Yea, there is none that showeth.
Yea, there is none that declareth.
Yea, there is none that heareth your words.
The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them, and I will give to Jerusalem
one that bringeth good tidings.
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.
Behold, they are all vanity, their works are nothing, their molten images are wind
and confusion.