41:1 Keep silence before me, O isles; and let the people renew
[their] strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let
us come near together to judgment.
41:2 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.
41:3 He pursued them, [and] passed safely; [even] by the way
[that] he had not gone with his feet.
41:4 Who hath wrought and done [it], calling the generations
from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I
[am] he.
41:5 The isles saw [it], and feared; the ends of the earth were
afraid, drew near, and came.
41:6 They helped every one his neighbor; and [every one] said to
his brother, Be of good courage.
41:7 So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, [and] he that
smootheth [with] the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying,
It [is] ready for the sodering: and he fastened it with nails,
[that] it should not be moved.
41:8 But thou, Israel, [art] my servant, Jacob whom I have
chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
41:9 [Thou] whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and
called thee from the chief men thereof, and said to thee, Thou
[art] my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
41:10 Fear thou not; for I [am] with thee: be not dismayed; for
I [am] thy God: I will strengthen thee; yes, I will help thee;
yes, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my
righteousness.
41:11 Behold, all [they that were] incensed against thee shall
be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they
that contend with thee shall perish.
41:12 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.
41:13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying to
thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
41:14 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.
41:15 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.
41:16 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.
41:17 [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.
41:18 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.
41:19 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the
shittah-tree, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree; I will set in
the desert the fir-tree, the pine, and the box-tree together:
41:20 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.
41:21 Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your
strong [reasons], saith the King of Jacob.
41:22 Let them bring [them] forth, and show us what shall
happen: let them show the former things, what they [are] that
we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or
declare to us things to come.
41:23 Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may
know that ye [are] gods: yes, do good, or do evil, that we may
be dismayed, and behold [it] together.
41:24 Behold, ye [are] of nothing, and your work of naught: an
abomination [is he that] chooseth you.
41:25 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.
41:26 Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know?
and before time, that we may say, [He is] righteous? verily,
[there is] none that showeth, verily, [there is] none that
declareth, verily, [there is] none that heareth your words.
41:27 The first [shall say] to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I
will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.
41:28 For I beheld, and [there was] no man; even among them, and
[there was] no counselor, that, when I asked of them, could
answer a word.
41:29 Behold, they [are] all vanity, their works [are] nothing:
their molten images [are] wind and confusion.
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