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Isaiah 41
Lexham English Bible

God Helps Israel

41 Listen to me in silence, coastlands,
    and let nations renew their strength.
Let them approach, then let them speak;
    let us draw near together for judgment.
2 Who has roused salvation from the east,
    summoned[a] him to his foot,
gives nations in his presence,[b]
    and subjugates kings?
He makes[c] them like the dust with his sword,
    like scattered stubble with his bow.
3 He pursues them and passes on in peace;
    he does not enter the path with his feet.
4 Who has accomplished and done this,
    calling the generations from the beginning?[d]
I, Yahweh, am first;
    and I am the one with the last.
5 The coastlands have seen and are afraid;
    the ends of the earth tremble.
They have drawn near,
    and they have come.
6 Each one helps[e] his neighbor;
    he says to his brother, “Take courage!”
7 And the artisan encourages the goldsmith,[f]
    the one who makes smooth with the hammer encourages the one who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good!”
    And they strengthen it with nails so it cannot be knocked over.
8 But[g] you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen,
    you, the offspring[h] of Abraham my friend,[i]
9 you whom I grasped from the ends of the earth
    and called from its remotest parts
and told, “You are my servant;
    I have chosen you and I have not rejected you.”
10 You must not fear, for I am with you;
    you must not be afraid, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, indeed I will help you,
    indeed I will take hold of you with the right hand of my salvation.
11 Look! All those who are angry with you shall be ashamed and humiliated;
    your opponents[j] shall be like nothing and shall become lost.
12 You shall seek them,
    but[k] you shall not find them;
your opponents[l] shall be like nothing,
    and the men of your war like nothing.
13 For I, Yahweh your God, am grasping your right hand;
    it is I who say[m] to you,
“You must not fear;
    I myself, I will help you.
14 You must not fear, O worm of Jacob;
    people of Israel,
I myself, I will help you,” declares[n] Yahweh,
    “and your redeemer is the holy one of Israel.
15 Look! I will make you into a new sharp threshing sledge,
    with[o] sharp edges.
You shall thresh and crush the mountains,
    and you shall make the hills like chaff.
16 You shall winnow them and the wind shall carry them,
    and the tempest shall scatter them.
And you yourself shall rejoice in Yahweh;
    you shall boast in the holy one of Israel.
17 The poor and the needy are seeking water and there is none;
    their tongue is dried up with thirst.
I, Yahweh, will answer them;
    I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers on the barren heights
    and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
I will make the wilderness like a pool of water
    and the land of dryness like springs of water.
19 I will put[p] the cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive oil tree in the wilderness;
    I will set the cypress, elm, and box tree together in the desert
20 so that they may see and know,
    and take to heart and understand together
that the hand of Yahweh has done this,
    and the holy one of Israel has created it.”
21 “Present your legal case,” says Yahweh.
    “Bring your evidence,” says the king of Jacob.
22 Let them bring them,
    and let them tell us what will happen.
Tell us what the former things are
    so that[q] we may take them to our heart
        and know their outcome.[r]
Declare to us the things to come;
23     tell us the things coming hereafter,[s]
        that[t] we may know that you are gods.
Indeed, do good or[u] do evil,
    that[v] we may be afraid and see[w] together.
24 Look! you are nothing,
    and your work is something worthless;
        whoever chooses you is an abomination.
25 I stirred up one from the north,
    and he has come from the rising of the sun.

He shall call on my name,

and he shall come on officials as on mortar,
    and as the potter[x] treads clay.
26 Who declared it from the beginning[y] so that[z] we might know,
    and beforehand[aa] so that[ab] we might say, “He is right!”[ac]
Indeed, there was no one who declared it;
    Indeed, there was no one who proclaimed it.
        Indeed there was no one who heard your words.

27 First to Zion, look! Look at them!

And I give a herald[ad] of good tidings to Jerusalem.

28 But[ae] I look and there is no man,
    and I look among these and there is no counselor,
        that[af] I might ask them and they might answer a word.
29 Look! All of them are deception;
    their works are nothing;
        their images are wind and emptiness.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 41:2 Or “called”
  2. Isaiah 41:2 Literally “before his face”
  3. Isaiah 41:2 Or “gives”
  4. Isaiah 41:4 Literally “head”
  5. Isaiah 41:6 Hebrew “help”
  6. Isaiah 41:7 Literally “refiner”
  7. Isaiah 41:8 Or “And”
  8. Isaiah 41:8 Literally “seed”
  9. Isaiah 41:8 Literally “beloved”
  10. Isaiah 41:11 Literally “the men of your strife”
  11. Isaiah 41:12 Or “and”
  12. Isaiah 41:12 Literally “the men of your strife”
  13. Isaiah 41:13 Literally “the sayer”
  14. Isaiah 41:14 Literally “declaration of”
  15. Isaiah 41:15 Literally “owner of”
  16. Isaiah 41:19 Literally “give”
  17. Isaiah 41:22 Or “And”
  18. Isaiah 41:22 Or “end”
  19. Isaiah 41:23 Literally “later”
  20. Isaiah 41:23 Or “and”
  21. Isaiah 41:23 Or “and”
  22. Isaiah 41:23 Or “and”
  23. Isaiah 41:23 Following the reading tradition (Qere); the written text (Kethib) has “fear”
  24. Isaiah 41:25 Literally “creator”
  25. Isaiah 41:26 Literally “head”
  26. Isaiah 41:26 Or “and”
  27. Isaiah 41:26 Literally “from before faces”
  28. Isaiah 41:26 Or “and”
  29. Isaiah 41:26 Literally “righteous”
  30. Isaiah 41:27 Or “bringer”
  31. Isaiah 41:28 Or “And”
  32. Isaiah 41:28 Or “and”
Listen to Isaiah 41
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Isaiah 41
New International Version

The Helper of Israel

41 “Be silent(A) before me, you islands!(B)
    Let the nations renew their strength!(C)
Let them come forward(D) and speak;
    let us meet together(E) at the place of judgment.

2 “Who has stirred(F) up one from the east,(G)
    calling him in righteousness(H) to his service[a]?(I)
He hands nations over to him
    and subdues kings before him.
He turns them to dust(J) with his sword,
    to windblown chaff(K) with his bow.(L)
3 He pursues them and moves on unscathed,(M)
    by a path his feet have not traveled before.
4 Who has done this and carried it through,
    calling(N) forth the generations from the beginning?(O)
I, the Lord—with the first of them
    and with the last(P)—I am he.(Q)”

5 The islands(R) have seen it and fear;
    the ends of the earth(S) tremble.
They approach and come forward;
6     they help each other
    and say to their companions, “Be strong!(T)”
7 The metalworker(U) encourages the goldsmith,(V)
    and the one who smooths with the hammer
    spurs on the one who strikes the anvil.
One says of the welding, “It is good.”
    The other nails down the idol so it will not topple.(W)

8 “But you, Israel, my servant,(X)
    Jacob, whom I have chosen,(Y)
    you descendants of Abraham(Z) my friend,(AA)
9 I took you from the ends of the earth,(AB)
    from its farthest corners I called(AC) you.
I said, ‘You are my servant’;(AD)
    I have chosen(AE) you and have not rejected you.
10 So do not fear,(AF) for I am with you;(AG)
    do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen(AH) you and help(AI) you;
    I will uphold you(AJ) with my righteous right hand.(AK)

11 “All who rage(AL) against you
    will surely be ashamed and disgraced;(AM)
those who oppose(AN) you
    will be as nothing and perish.(AO)
12 Though you search for your enemies,
    you will not find them.(AP)
Those who wage war against you
    will be as nothing(AQ) at all.
13 For I am the Lord your God
    who takes hold of your right hand(AR)
and says to you, Do not fear;
    I will help(AS) you.
14 Do not be afraid,(AT) you worm(AU) Jacob,
    little Israel, do not fear,
for I myself will help(AV) you,” declares the Lord,
    your Redeemer,(AW) the Holy One(AX) of Israel.
15 “See, I will make you into a threshing sledge,(AY)
    new and sharp, with many teeth.
You will thresh the mountains(AZ) and crush them,
    and reduce the hills to chaff.(BA)
16 You will winnow(BB) them, the wind will pick them up,
    and a gale(BC) will blow them away.(BD)
But you will rejoice(BE) in the Lord
    and glory(BF) in the Holy One(BG) of Israel.

17 “The poor and needy search for water,(BH)
    but there is none;
    their tongues are parched with thirst.(BI)
But I the Lord will answer(BJ) them;
    I, the God of Israel, will not forsake(BK) them.
18 I will make rivers flow(BL) on barren heights,
    and springs within the valleys.
I will turn the desert(BM) into pools of water,(BN)
    and the parched ground into springs.(BO)
19 I will put in the desert(BP)
    the cedar and the acacia,(BQ) the myrtle and the olive.
I will set junipers(BR) in the wasteland,
    the fir and the cypress(BS) together,(BT)
20 so that people may see and know,(BU)
    may consider and understand,(BV)
that the hand(BW) of the Lord has done this,
    that the Holy One(BX) of Israel has created(BY) it.

21 “Present your case,(BZ)” says the Lord.
    “Set forth your arguments,” says Jacob’s King.(CA)
22 “Tell us, you idols,
    what is going to happen.(CB)
Tell us what the former things(CC) were,
    so that we may consider them
    and know their final outcome.
Or declare to us the things to come,(CD)
23     tell us what the future holds,
    so we may know(CE) that you are gods.
Do something, whether good or bad,(CF)
    so that we will be dismayed(CG) and filled with fear.
24 But you are less than nothing(CH)
    and your works are utterly worthless;(CI)
    whoever chooses you is detestable.(CJ)

25 “I have stirred(CK) up one from the north,(CL) and he comes—
    one from the rising sun who calls on my name.
He treads(CM) on rulers as if they were mortar,
    as if he were a potter treading the clay.
26 Who told of this from the beginning,(CN) so we could know,
    or beforehand, so we could say, ‘He was right’?
No one told of this,
    no one foretold(CO) it,
    no one heard any words(CP) from you.
27 I was the first to tell(CQ) Zion, ‘Look, here they are!’
    I gave to Jerusalem a messenger of good news.(CR)
28 I look but there is no one(CS)—
    no one among the gods to give counsel,(CT)
    no one to give answer(CU) when I ask them.
29 See, they are all false!
    Their deeds amount to nothing;(CV)
    their images(CW) are but wind(CX) and confusion.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 41:2 Or east, / whom victory meets at every step
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