Isaiah 41:11-29

New King James Version

¹¹“Behold, all those who were incensed against you
Shall be ^(A)ashamed and disgraced;
They shall be as nothing,
And those who strive with you shall perish.
¹²You shall seek them and not find them—
^[a]Those who contended with you.
Those who war against you
Shall be as nothing,
As a nonexistent thing.
¹³For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand,
Saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’

¹⁴“Fear not, you ^(B)worm Jacob,
You men of Israel!
I will help you,” says the Lord
And your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
¹⁵“Behold, ^(C)I will make you into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth;
You shall thresh the mountains and beat them small,
And make the hills like chaff.
¹⁶You shall ^(D)winnow them, the wind shall carry them away,
And the whirlwind shall scatter them;
You shall rejoice in the Lord,
And ^(E)glory in the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁷“The poor and needy seek water, but there is none,
Their tongues fail for thirst.
I, the Lord, will hear them;
I, the God of Israel, will not ^(F)forsake them.
¹⁸I will open ^(G)rivers in desolate heights,
And fountains in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the ^(H)wilderness a pool of water,
And the dry land springs of water.
¹⁹I will plant in the wilderness the cedar and the acacia tree,
The myrtle and the oil tree;
I will set in the ^(I)desert the cypress tree and the pine
And the box tree together,
²⁰^(J)That they may see and know,
And consider and understand together,
That the hand of the Lord has done this,
And the Holy One of Israel has created it.

The Futility of Idols

²¹“Present your case,” says the Lord.
“Bring forth your strong reasons,” says the ^(K)King of Jacob.
²²“Let^(L) them bring forth and show us what will happen;
Let them show the ^(M)former things, what they were,
That we may ^[b]consider them,
And know the latter end of them;
Or declare to us things to come.
²³^(N)Show the things that are to come hereafter,
That we may know that you are gods;
Yes, ^(O)do good or do evil,
That we may be dismayed and see it together.
²⁴Indeed ^(P)you are nothing,
And your work is nothing;
He who chooses you is an abomination.

²⁵“I have raised up one from the north,
And he shall come;
From the ^[c]rising of the sun ^(Q)he shall call on My name;
^(R)And he shall come against princes as though mortar,
As the potter treads clay.
²⁶^(S)Who has declared from the beginning, that we may know?
And former times, that we may say, ‘He is righteous’?
Surely there is no one who shows,
Surely there is no one who declares,
Surely there is no one who hears your words.
²⁷^(T)The first time ^(U)I said to Zion,
‘Look, there they are!’
And I will give to Jerusalem one who brings good tidings.
²⁸^(V)For I looked, and there was no man;
I looked among them, but there was no counselor,
Who, when I asked of them, could answer a word.
²⁹^(W)Indeed they are all ^[d]worthless;
Their works are nothing;
Their molded images are wind and confusion.