Isaiah 41

¹Listen to me in silence , O coastlands ; let the peoples renew their strength ; let them approach , then let them speak ; let us together draw near for judgment .

²Who stirred up one from the east whom victory meets at every step ? He gives up nations before him, so that he tramples kings underfoot ; he makes them like dust with his sword , like driven stubble with his bow .

³He pursues them and passes on safely , by paths his feet have not trod .

⁴Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning ? I , the Lord, the first , and with the last ; I am he.

⁵The coastlands have seen and are afraid ; the ends of the earth tremble ; they have drawn near and come .

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

⁷The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith , and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil , saying of the soldering , It is good ; and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved .

⁸But you, Israel , my servant , Jacob , whom I have chosen , the offspring of Abraham , my friend ;

⁹you whom I took from the ends of the earth , and called from its farthest corners , saying to you, You are my servant , I have chosen you and not cast you off ;

¹⁰fear not , for I am with you; be not dismayed , for I am your God ; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand .

¹¹Behold , all who are incensed against you shall be put to shame and confounded ; those who strive against you shall be as nothing and shall perish .

¹²You shall seek those who contend with you, but you shall not find them; those who war against you shall be as nothing at all .

¹³For I , the Lord your God , hold your right hand ; it is I who say to you, Fear not , I am the one who helps you.

¹⁴Fear not , you worm Jacob , you men of Israel ! I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel .

¹⁵Behold , I make of you a threshing sledge , new , sharp , and having teeth ; you shall thresh the mountains and crush them, and you shall make the hills like chaff ;

¹⁶you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away , and the tempest shall scatter them. And you shall rejoice in the Lord; in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory .

¹⁷When the poor and needy seek water , and there is none , and their tongue is parched with thirst , I the Lord will answer them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them.

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

¹⁹I will put in the wilderness the cedar , the acacia , the myrtle , and the olive . I will set in the desert the cypress , the plane and the pine together ,

²⁰that they may see and know , may consider and understand together , that the hand of the Lord has done this , the Holy One of Israel has created it.

²¹Set forth your case , says the Lord; bring your proofs , says the King of Jacob .

²²Let them bring them, and tell us what is to happen . Tell us the former things , what they are, that we may consider them, that we may know their outcome ; or declare to us the things to come .

²³Tell us what is to come hereafter , that we may know that you are gods ; do good , or do harm , that we may be dismayed and terrified .

²⁴Behold , you are nothing , and your work is less than nothing ; an abomination is he who chooses you.

²⁵I stirred up one from the north , and he has come , from the rising of the sun , and he shall call upon my name ; he shall trample on rulers as on mortar , as the potter treads clay .

²⁶Who declared it from the beginning , that we might know , and beforehand , that we might say , He is right ? There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed , none who heard your words .

²⁷I was the first to say to Zion , Behold , here they are ! and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news .

²⁸But when I look , there is no one ; among these there is no counselor who, when I ask , gives an answer .

²⁹Behold , they are all a delusion ; their works are nothing ; their metal images are empty wind .