Isaiah 41
New American Standard Bible
Israel Encouraged
41 “(A)Listen to Me (B)in silence, you coastlands,
And let the peoples (C)gain new strength;
(D)Let them come forward, then let them speak;
(E)Let’s come together for judgment.
2 (F)Who has stirred one from the east
Whom He (G)calls in righteousness to His [a]feet?
He (H)turns nations over to him
And subdues kings.
He makes them like (I)dust with his sword,
Like the wind-driven (J)chaff with his bow.
3 He pursues them, passing on in safety,
By a way he had not been [b]traversing with his feet.
4 (K)Who has performed and accomplished it,
Summoning the generations from the beginning?
‘(L)I, the Lord, am the first, and with the last. (M)I am He.’”
5 The (N)coastlands have seen and are afraid;
The (O)ends of the earth tremble;
They have approached and have come.
6 Each one helps his neighbor
And says to his brother, “Be strong!”
7 So the (P)craftsman encourages the (Q)smelter,
And he who smooths metal with the hammer encourages him who beats the anvil,
Saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
And he fastens it with nails,
(R)So that it will not totter.
8 “But you, Israel, (S)My servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
Descendant of (T)Abraham My (U)friend,
9 You whom I have [c](V)taken from the ends of the earth
And called from its (W)remotest parts,
And said to you, ‘You are (X)My servant,
I have (Y)chosen you and have not rejected you.
10 Do not (Z)fear, for I am with you;
Do not be afraid, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, (AA)I will also help you,
I will also uphold you with My righteous (AB)right hand.’
11 Behold, (AC)all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored;
(AD)Those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.
12 (AE)You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them,
Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.
13 For I am the Lord your God (AF)who takes hold of your right hand,
Who says to you, ‘(AG)Do not fear, I will help you.’
14 Do not fear, you (AH)worm Jacob, you people of Israel;
I will help you,” declares the Lord, “and (AI)your [d]Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15 Behold, I turned you into a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges;
(AJ)You will thresh the (AK)mountains and pulverize them,
And make the hills like chaff.
16 You will (AL)winnow them, and the wind will carry them away,
And the storm will scatter them;
But you will (AM)rejoice in the Lord,
You will boast in the Holy One of Israel.
17 “The poor and needy are seeking (AN)water, but there is none,
And their tongues are parched with thirst.
I, the Lord, (AO)will answer them Myself;
As the God of Israel I (AP)will not abandon them.
18 I will open (AQ)rivers on the bare heights,
And springs in the midst of the valleys;
I will make (AR)the wilderness a pool of water,
And the dry land fountains of water.
19 I will put the cedar in the wilderness,
The acacia, the (AS)myrtle, and the olive tree;
I will place the (AT)juniper in the desert,
Together with the elm tree and the cypress,
20 So that (AU)they may see and recognize,
And consider and gain insight as well,
That the (AV)hand of the Lord has done this,
And the Holy One of Israel has created it.
21 “[e]Present your case,” the Lord says.
“Bring forward your evidence,”
The (AW)King of Jacob says.
22 (AX)Let them bring them forward and declare to us what is going to take place;
As for the (AY)former events, declare what they were,
So that we may consider them and know their outcome.
Or announce to us what is coming;
23 (AZ)Declare the things that are going to come afterward,
So that we may know that you are gods;
Indeed, (BA)do good or evil, that we may be afraid and fear together.
24 Behold, (BB)you are less than nothing,
And (BC)your work is less than nothing!
He who chooses you is an (BD)abomination.
25 “I have put (BE)one from the north into motion, and he has come;
From the rising of the sun he will call on My name;
And he will come upon rulers as upon [f](BF)mortar,
As the potter treads on clay.”
26 Who has (BG)declared this from the beginning, that we might know?
Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”?
There was (BH)no one at all who declared,
There was no one at all who proclaimed,
There was no one at all who heard your words.
27 “(BI)Previously I said to Zion, ‘Behold, here they are.’
And to Jerusalem, ‘I will give a (BJ)messenger of good news.’
28 But (BK)when I look, there is no one,
And there is no (BL)counselor [g]among them
Who, if I ask, can (BM)give an answer.
29 Behold, all of them are [h]false;
Their (BN)works are (BO)nothing,
Their cast metal images are (BP)wind and emptiness.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 41:2 Lit foot
- Isaiah 41:3 Lit going
- Isaiah 41:9 Lit seized
- Isaiah 41:14 Or Redeemer, the Holy One
- Isaiah 41:21 Lit Bring near
- Isaiah 41:25 I.e., the building material
- Isaiah 41:28 Lit out of those
- Isaiah 41:29 Another reading is nothing
Yeshayah 41
Orthodox Jewish Bible
41 Keep silence before Me, O iyim (islands); and let the people renew their ko’ach (strength); let them come near; then let them speak; let us come near together for mishpat (judgment, i.e., G-d’s tribunal)
2 Who awakened the just one [Koresh, Cyrus 44:28] from the mizrach (east), called him to His raglayim, gave the Goyim before him, and made him rule over melachim? He gave them as the aphar to his [the conqueror’s] cherev, and as windblown kash (chaff, stubble) to his [the conqueror’s] keshet (bow).
3 He [the conqueror] pursued them, and passed on in shalom; even by the orach (path) that his feet do not even come.
4 Who hath wrought and done it, calling forth the dorot from the beginning? I Hashem, the Rishon (First), and with the Acharonim (Last ones); I am He.
5 The iyim (islands) saw it, and feared; the ketzot ha’aretz (ends of the earth) trembled; they approached and came near.
6 They helped everyone his re’a; and everyone said to his brother, chazak!
7 So the charash (craftsman) encouraged the tzoref (goldsmith), and he that smootheth with the patish (hammer) encouraged him that strikes the anvil, saying, of the soldering, tov hu; and he fastened it with nails, so that it should not topple.
8 But thou, Yisroel, art Avdi, Ya’akov whom I have chosen, the zera Avraham Ohavi (My friend).
9 Thou whom I have taken hold of from the ketzot ha’aretz, and called thee from the farthest borders thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art Avdi; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee; be not dismayed; for I am Eloheicha; I will strengthen thee; indeed, I will help thee; indeed, I will uphold thee with My yamin tzedek.
11 Surely, all they that were raging against thee shall be ashamed and disgraced; they shall be as nothing; and the anshei rivecha (they that strive with thee) shall perish.
12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even the anshei matzutecha (them that contended with thee): the anshei matzutecha (they that war against thee) shall be as nothing, and as a thing of naught.
13 For I Hashem Eloheicha will take hold of thy yamin (right hand), saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
14 Fear not, thou tola’at (worm) Ya’akov, and ye men of Yisroel; I will help thee, saith Hashem, and thy Go’el (Redeemer), the Kadosh Yisroel.
15 Hinei, I will make thee a new sharp threshing iron having pifiyyot (blades); thou shalt thresh the harim, and beat them small, and shalt make the geva’ot (hills) as motz (chaff).
16 Thou shalt winnow them, and the ru’ach shall carry them away, and the se’arah shall scatter them; and thou shalt rejoice in Hashem, and shalt glory in Kadosh Yisroel.
17 When the aniyim and evyonim seek mayim, and there is none, and their leshon faileth for tzama (thirst), I Hashem will hear them, I the Elohei Yisroel will not forsake them.
18 I will open neharot on the hilltops, and springs in the midst of the valleys; I will make the midbar a pool of mayim, and the dry land sources of mayim.
19 I will plant in the midbar the cedar, the acacia, and the myrtle, and the etz shemen; I will set in the Aravah the cypress, and the fir, and the box tree together;
20 So that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the Yad Hashem hath done this, and the Kadosh Yisroel hath created it.
21 Present your case, saith Hashem; bring forth your strong arguments for proof, saith Melech Ya’akov.
22 Let them bring them forth, and tell us what shall happen; let them tell the rishonot (former things), what they are, that we may consider them, and know the acharit (latter end, final outcome) of them; or declare us things to come.
23 Tell the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are elohim; indeed, do tov, or do rah, that we may be afraid, and terrified.
24 See, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought; a toevah (abomination) is he that chooseth you.
25 I have awakened one [Koresh, Cyrus] from the tzafon (north), and he shall come; from the rising of the shemesh shall he call upon My Shem; and he shall come upon rulers as upon mortar, and as the yotzer (potter) treadeth clay.
26 Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? And from beforehand, that we may say, He was in the right? Indeed, there is none that telleth, indeed, there is none that preacheth, indeed, there is none that heareth your words.
27 The rishon shall say to Tziyon, Hinei, behold them; and I will give to Yerushalayim mevaser (one that bringeth good news).
28 For I beheld, and there was no ish; even among them, and there was no Yo’etz (counselor), that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.
29 See, they [the idols] are all aven (wickedness); their ma’asim are nothing; their molten images are ruach and tohu.
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