Isaiah
41
- "Be silent before me, you islands!
Let the nations renew their strength! Let them come forward and speak; let
us meet together at the place of judgment.
- "Who has stirred up one from the east,
calling him in righteousness to his service? He hands nations over to him
and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown
chaff with his bow.
- He pursues them and moves on unscathed,
by a path his feet have not traveled before.
- Who has done this and carried it through,
calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD
-- with the first of them and with the last
-- I am he."
- The islands have seen it and fear; the ends
of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward;
- each helps the other and says to his brother,
"Be strong !"
- The craftsman encourages the goldsmith,
and he who smooths with the hammer spurs on him who strikes the anvil. He
says of the welding, "It is good." He nails down the idol so it
will not topple.
- "But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob,
whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend,
- I took you from the ends of the earth, from
its farthest corners I called you. I said, 'You are my servant'; I have chosen
you and have not rejected you.
- So do not fear, for I am with you; do not
be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will
uphold you with my righteous right hand.
- "All who rage against you will surely
be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish.
- Though you search for your enemies, you
will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all.
- For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold
of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.
- Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little
Israel, for I myself will help you," declares the LORD, your Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel.
- "See, I will make you into a threshing
sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and
crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff.
- You will winnow them, the wind will pick
them up, and a gale will blow them away. But you will rejoice in the LORD
and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
- "The poor and needy search for water,
but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the LORD will
answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
- I will make rivers flow on barren heights,
and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water,
and the parched ground into springs.
- I will put in the desert the cedar and the
acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir
and the cypress together,
- so that people may see and know, may consider
and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this, that the Holy One
of Israel has created it.
- "Present your case," says the
LORD. "Set forth your arguments," says Jacob's King.
- "Bring in your idols to tell us what
is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider
them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come,
- tell us what the future holds, so we may
know that you are gods. Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will
be dismayed and filled with fear.
- But you are less than nothing and your works
are utterly worthless; he who chooses you is detestable.
- "I have stirred up one from the north,
and he comes -- one from
the rising sun who calls on my name. He treads on rulers as if they were mortar,
as if he were a potter treading the clay.
- Who told of this from the beginning, so
we could know, or beforehand, so we could say, 'He was right'? No one told
of this, no one foretold it, no one heard any words from you.
- I was the first to tell Zion, 'Look, here
they are!' I gave to Jerusalem a messenger of good tidings.
- I look but there is no one
-- no one among them to give counsel, no
one to give answer when I ask them.
- See, they are all false! Their deeds amount
to nothing; their images are but wind and confusion.
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