Isaiah 41

New King James Version

Israel Assured of God’s Help

41 “Keep ^(A)silence before Me, O coastlands,
And let the people renew their strength!
Let them come near, then let them speak;
Let us ^(B)come near together for judgment.

²“Who raised up one ^(C)from the east?
Who in righteousness called him to His feet?
Who ^(D)gave the nations before him,
And made him rule over kings?
Who gave them as the dust to his sword,
As driven stubble to his bow?
³Who pursued them, and passed ^[a]safely
By the way that he had not gone with his feet?
⁴^(E)Who has performed and done it,
Calling the generations from the beginning?
‘I, the Lord, am ^(F)the first;
And with the last I am ^(G)He.’ ”

⁵The coastlands saw it and feared,
The ends of the earth were afraid;
They drew near and came.
⁶^(H)Everyone helped his neighbor,
And said to his brother,
^[b]“Be of good courage!”
⁷^(I)So the craftsman encouraged the ^(J)goldsmith;^[c]
He who smooths with the hammer inspired him who strikes the anvil,
Saying, ^[d]“It is ready for the soldering”;
Then he fastened it with pegs,
^(K)That it might not totter.

⁸“But you, Israel, are My servant,
Jacob whom I have ^(L)chosen,
The descendants of Abraham My ^(M)friend.
⁹You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
And called from its farthest regions,
And said to you,
‘You are My servant,
I have chosen you and have not cast you away:
¹⁰^(N)Fear not, ^(O)for I am with you;
Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you,
Yes, I will help you,
I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

¹¹“Behold, all those who were incensed against you
Shall be ^(P)ashamed and disgraced;
They shall be as nothing,
And those who strive with you shall perish.
¹²You shall seek them and not find them—
^[e]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 ^(Q)worm Jacob,
You men of Israel!
I will help you,” says the Lord
And your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
¹⁵“Behold, ^(R)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 ^(S)winnow them, the wind shall carry them away,
And the whirlwind shall scatter them;
You shall rejoice in the Lord,
And ^(T)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 ^(U)forsake them.
¹⁸I will open ^(V)rivers in desolate heights,
And fountains in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the ^(W)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 ^(X)desert the cypress tree and the pine
And the box tree together,
²⁰^(Y)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 ^(Z)King of Jacob.
²²“Let^(AA) them bring forth and show us what will happen;
Let them show the ^(AB)former things, what they were,
That we may ^[f]consider them,
And know the latter end of them;
Or declare to us things to come.
²³^(AC)Show the things that are to come hereafter,
That we may know that you are gods;
Yes, ^(AD)do good or do evil,
That we may be dismayed and see it together.
²⁴Indeed ^(AE)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 ^[g]rising of the sun ^(AF)he shall call on My name;
^(AG)And he shall come against princes as though mortar,
As the potter treads clay.
²⁶^(AH)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^(AI)The first time ^(AJ)I said to Zion,
‘Look, there they are!’
And I will give to Jerusalem one who brings good tidings.
²⁸^(AK)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^(AL)Indeed they are all ^[h]worthless;
Their works are nothing;
Their molded images are wind and confusion.

Footnotes

Isaiah 41:3 Lit. in peace
Isaiah 41:6 Lit. Be strong
Isaiah 41:7 refiner
Isaiah 41:7 Or The soldering is good
Isaiah 41:12 Lit. Men of your strife
Isaiah 41:22 Lit. set our heart on them
Isaiah 41:25 East
Isaiah 41:29 So with MT, Vg.; DSS, Syr., Tg. nothing; LXX omits first line

Isaiah 10

New King James Version

Assyria Shall Be Broken

10 “Woe to those who ^(A)decree unrighteous decrees,
Who write misfortune,
Which they have prescribed
²To rob the needy of justice,
And to take what is right from the poor of My people,
That widows may be their prey,
And that they may rob the fatherless.
³^(B)What will you do in ^(C)the day of punishment,
And in the desolation which will come from ^(D)afar?
To whom will you flee for help?
And where will you leave your glory?
⁴Without Me they shall bow down among the ^(E)prisoners,
And they shall fall ^[a]among the slain.”

^(F)For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.

Arrogant Assyria Also Judged

⁵“Woe to Assyria, ^(G)the rod of My anger
And the staff in whose hand is My indignation.
⁶I will send him against ^(H)an ungodly nation,
And against the people of My wrath
I will ^(I)give him charge,
To seize the spoil, to take the prey,
And to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
⁷^(J)Yet he does not mean so,
Nor does his heart think so;
But it is in his heart to destroy,
And cut off not a few nations.
⁸^(K)For he says,
‘Are not my princes altogether kings?
⁹Is not ^(L)Calno ^(M)like Carchemish?
Is not Hamath like Arpad?
Is not Samaria ^(N)like Damascus?
¹⁰As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols,
Whose carved images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
¹¹As I have done to Samaria and her idols,
Shall I not do also to Jerusalem and her idols?’ ”

¹²Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Lord has ^[b]performed all His work ^(O)on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, that He will say, ^(P)“I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks.”

¹³^(Q)For he says:

“By the strength of my hand I have done it,
And by my wisdom, for I am prudent;
Also I have removed the boundaries of the people,
And have robbed their treasuries;
So I have put down the inhabitants like a ^[c]valiant man.
¹⁴^(R)My hand has found like a nest the riches of the people,
And as one gathers eggs that are left,
I have gathered all the earth;
And there was no one who moved his wing,
Nor opened his mouth with even a peep.”

¹⁵Shall ^(S)the ax boast itself against him who chops with it?
Or shall the saw exalt itself against him who saws with it?
As if a rod could wield itself against those who lift it up,
Or as if a staff could lift up, as if it were not wood!
¹⁶Therefore the Lord, the ^[d]Lord of hosts,
Will send leanness among his fat ones;
And under his glory
He will kindle a burning
Like the burning of a fire.
¹⁷So the Light of Israel will be for a fire,
And his Holy One for a flame;
^(T)It will burn and devour
His thorns and his briers in one day.
¹⁸And it will consume the glory of his forest and of ^(U)his fruitful field,
Both soul and body;
And they will be as when a sick man wastes away.
¹⁹Then the rest of the trees of his forest
Will be so few in number
That a child may write them.

The Returning Remnant of Israel

²⁰And it shall come to pass in that day
That the remnant of Israel,
And such as have escaped of the house of Jacob,
^(V)Will never again depend on him who ^[e]defeated them,
But will depend on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
²¹The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob,
To the ^(W)Mighty God.
²²^(X)For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea,
^(Y)A remnant of them will return;
The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
²³^(Z)For the Lord God of hosts
Will make a determined end
In the midst of all the land.

²⁴Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O My people, who dwell in Zion, ^(AA)do not be afraid of the Assyrian. He shall strike you with a rod and lift up his staff against you, in the manner of ^(AB)Egypt. ²⁵For yet a very little while ^(AC)and the indignation will cease, as will My anger in their destruction.” ²⁶And the Lord of hosts will ^[f]stir up ^(AD)a scourge for him like the slaughter of ^(AE)Midian at the rock of Oreb; ^(AF)as His rod was on the sea, so will He lift it up in the manner of Egypt.

²⁷It shall come to pass in that day
That his burden will be taken away from your shoulder,
And his yoke from your neck,
And the yoke will be destroyed because of ^(AG)the anointing oil.

²⁸He has come to Aiath,
He has passed Migron;
At Michmash he has attended to his equipment.
²⁹They have gone ^[g]along ^(AH)the ridge,
They have taken up lodging at Geba.
Ramah is afraid,
^(AI)Gibeah of Saul has fled.
³⁰^[h]Lift up your voice,
O daughter ^(AJ)of Gallim!
Cause it to be heard as far as ^(AK)Laish—
^[i]O poor Anathoth!
³¹^(AL)Madmenah has fled,
The inhabitants of Gebim seek refuge.
³²As yet he will remain ^(AM)at Nob that day;
He will ^(AN)shake his fist at the mount of ^(AO)the daughter of Zion,
The hill of Jerusalem.

³³Behold, the Lord,
The Lord of hosts,
Will lop off the bough with terror;
^(AP)Those of high stature will be hewn down,
And the haughty will be humbled.
³⁴He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron,
And Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.