Isaiah 41

1Be silent before me, islands, and let the peoples renew their strength. Let them come near, then let them speak. Let us draw near together for judgment.

2Who has roused a righteous one from the east, calling him to follow him? He delivers nations before him and empowers him to rule kings; he turns them to dust before his sword, to wind-driven stubble before his bow.

3He pursues them and passes safely by a path his feet have not gone.

4Who has acted and accomplished, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Yahweh, the first, and with those to come—I am he.

5The islands saw and feared; the ends of the earth trembled, drawing near and coming.

6Each helps his neighbor and says to his brother, "Be strong!"

7The craftsman encourages the founder, and the hammer smoother encourages the anvil striker, saying to the solder, "It is good," and he fastens it with nails so it does not totter.

8But you, Israel my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, offspring of Abraham my beloved.

9You whom I grasped from the ends of the earth and called from its nobles, to whom I said, You are my servant; I have chosen you and not rejected you.

10Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God—I will strengthen you, yes I will help you, yes I will uphold you by the right hand of my righteousness.

11Behold, all those incensed against you will be ashamed and disgraced; your adversaries will become nothing and perish.

12You will seek them, but not find them—even those who contended with you. Those who war against you will be as nothing, as if they never existed.

13For I, Yahweh your God, grasp your right hand, declaring to you, "Do not fear—I help you."

14Fear not, worm Jacob, men of Israel; I myself will help you, declares Yahweh, and your redeemer the Holy One of Israel.

15See, I have made you a new sharp threshing instrument with teeth. You will thresh the mountains and beat them to dust, and make the hills like chaff.

16You will cast them away, and the wind will bear them up, and the tempest will disperse them. You will exult in Yahweh and boast in the Holy One of Israel.

17The afflicted and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongue fails from thirst. I, Yahweh, will answer them; the God of Israel will not forsake them.

18I will open rivers on the bare heights and springs amid the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

19I will set in the wilderness cedar, acacia, myrtle, and oil tree; I will place fir, pine, and box tree together in the desert.

20so that they 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.

21Present your case, says Yahweh; bring your strong proofs, says the King of Jacob.

22Let them bring near and declare to us what will happen: declare the former things—what they are—that we may take them to heart and know their end, or cause us to hear the coming things.

23Declare the coming things hereafter, that we may acknowledge you are gods; yea, do good or do harm, that we may be dismayed and see and behold it together.

24Look, you are nothing, and your deeds are nothing—an abomination is whoever chooses you.

25I have roused one from the north, and he came from the sunrise; he calls upon my name, and comes upon rulers as upon mortar, as a potter tramples clay.

26Who declared from the beginning, that we might know? And beforehand, that we might say, "Righteous"? Indeed, no one declares; indeed, no one proclaims; indeed, no one hears your words.

27I am the first to Zion: "See, there they are," and to Jerusalem I will give a herald.

28When I look, there is no man; from these there are no counselors who answer a word when I ask them.

29See, all of them are lies and nothing—their deeds wind and emptiness, their molten images.