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
- Isaiah 41:2 Or “called”
- Isaiah 41:2 Literally “before his face”
- Isaiah 41:2 Or “gives”
- Isaiah 41:4 Literally “head”
- Isaiah 41:6 Hebrew “help”
- Isaiah 41:7 Literally “refiner”
- Isaiah 41:8 Or “And”
- Isaiah 41:8 Literally “seed”
- Isaiah 41:8 Literally “beloved”
- Isaiah 41:11 Literally “the men of your strife”
- Isaiah 41:12 Or “and”
- Isaiah 41:12 Literally “the men of your strife”
- Isaiah 41:13 Literally “the sayer”
- Isaiah 41:14 Literally “declaration of”
- Isaiah 41:15 Literally “owner of”
- Isaiah 41:19 Literally “give”
- Isaiah 41:22 Or “And”
- Isaiah 41:22 Or “end”
- Isaiah 41:23 Literally “later”
- Isaiah 41:23 Or “and”
- Isaiah 41:23 Or “and”
- Isaiah 41:23 Or “and”
- Isaiah 41:23 Following the reading tradition (Qere); the written text (Kethib) has “fear”
- Isaiah 41:25 Literally “creator”
- Isaiah 41:26 Literally “head”
- Isaiah 41:26 Or “and”
- Isaiah 41:26 Literally “from before faces”
- Isaiah 41:26 Or “and”
- Isaiah 41:26 Literally “righteous”
- Isaiah 41:27 Or “bringer”
- Isaiah 41:28 Or “And”
- Isaiah 41:28 Or “and”
Isaiah 41
New Living Translation
God’s Help for Israel
41 “Listen in silence before me, you lands beyond the sea.
Bring your strongest arguments.
Come now and speak.
The court is ready for your case.
2 “Who has stirred up this king from the east,
rightly calling him to God’s service?
Who gives this man victory over many nations
and permits him to trample their kings underfoot?
With his sword, he reduces armies to dust.
With his bow, he scatters them like chaff before the wind.
3 He chases them away and goes on safely,
though he is walking over unfamiliar ground.
4 Who has done such mighty deeds,
summoning each new generation from the beginning of time?
It is I, the Lord, the First and the Last.
I alone am he.”
5 The lands beyond the sea watch in fear.
Remote lands tremble and mobilize for war.
6 The idol makers encourage one another,
saying to each other, “Be strong!”
7 The carver encourages the goldsmith,
and the molder helps at the anvil.
“Good,” they say. “It’s coming along fine.”
Carefully they join the parts together,
then fasten the thing in place so it won’t fall over.
8 “But as for you, Israel my servant,
Jacob my chosen one,
descended from Abraham my friend,
9 I have called you back from the ends of the earth,
saying, ‘You are my servant.’
For I have chosen you
and will not throw you away.
10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
11 “See, all your angry enemies lie there,
confused and humiliated.
Anyone who opposes you will die
and come to nothing.
12 You will look in vain
for those who tried to conquer you.
Those who attack you
will come to nothing.
13 For I hold you by your right hand—
I, the Lord your God.
And I say to you,
‘Don’t be afraid. I am here to help you.
14 Though you are a lowly worm, O Jacob,
don’t be afraid, people of Israel, for I will help you.
I am the Lord, your Redeemer.
I am the Holy One of Israel.’
15 You will be a new threshing instrument
with many sharp teeth.
You will tear your enemies apart,
making chaff of mountains.
16 You will toss them into the air,
and the wind will blow them all away;
a whirlwind will scatter them.
Then you will rejoice in the Lord.
You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17 “When the poor and needy search for water and there is none,
and their tongues are parched from thirst,
then I, the Lord, will answer them.
I, the God of Israel, will never abandon them.
18 I will open up rivers for them on the high plateaus.
I will give them fountains of water in the valleys.
I will fill the desert with pools of water.
Rivers fed by springs will flow across the parched ground.
19 I will plant trees in the barren desert—
cedar, acacia, myrtle, olive, cypress, fir, and pine.
20 I am doing this so all who see this miracle
will understand what it means—
that it is the Lord who has done this,
the Holy One of Israel who created it.
21 “Present the case for your idols,”
says the Lord.
“Let them show what they can do,”
says the King of Israel.[a]
22 “Let them try to tell us what happened long ago
so that we may consider the evidence.
Or let them tell us what the future holds,
so we can know what’s going to happen.
23 Yes, tell us what will occur in the days ahead.
Then we will know you are gods.
In fact, do anything—good or bad!
Do something that will amaze and frighten us.
24 But no! You are less than nothing and can do nothing at all.
Those who choose you pollute themselves.
25 “But I have stirred up a leader who will approach from the north.
From the east he will call on my name.
I will give him victory over kings and princes.
He will trample them as a potter treads on clay.
26 “Who told you from the beginning
that this would happen?
Who predicted this,
making you admit that he was right?
No one said a word!
27 I was the first to tell Zion,
‘Look! Help is on the way!’[b]
I will send Jerusalem a messenger with good news.
28 Not one of your idols told you this.
Not one gave any answer when I asked.
29 See, they are all foolish, worthless things.
All your idols are as empty as the wind.
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