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?
3 Who 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.’ ”
5 The 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.
9 You 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.
12 You 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.
13 For 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.
16 You 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.
18 I 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.
19 I 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.
24 Indeed (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 41
1599 Geneva Bible
41 2 God’s mercy in choosing his people. 6 Their idolatry. 27 Deliverance promised to Zion.
1 Keep [a]silence before me, O islands, and let the people [b]renew their strength: let them come near, and let them speak: let us come together into judgment.
2 Who raised up [c]justice from the East, and called him to his foot? and gave the nations before him, and subdued the kings? he gave them as dust to his sword, and as scattered stubble unto his bow.
3 He pursued them, and passed safely by the way that he had not gone with his feet.
4 Who hath wrought and done it? he that calleth the [d]generations from the beginning. I the Lord am the [e]first, and with the last I am the same.
5 The isles saw it, and did [f]fear, and the ends of the earth were abashed, drew near, and [g]came.
6 Every man helped his neighbor, and said to his brother, [h]Be strong.
7 So the workman comforted the founder, and he that smote with the hammer, him that smote by course, saying, It is ready for the soldering, and he fastened it with nails that it should not be moved.
8 ¶ But thou, Israel, art my [i]servant, and thou Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
9 For I have taken thee from the ends of the earth, and called thee before the chief thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant: I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
10 Fear thou not, for I am with thee: be not afraid, for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee, and help thee, and will sustain thee with the [j]right hand of my justice.
11 Behold, all they that provoke thee, shall be ashamed, and confounded: they shall be as nothing, and they that strive with thee shall perish.
12 Thou shalt seek them and shalt not [k]find them: to wit, the men of thy strife, for they shall be as nothing, and the men that war against thee, as a thing of nought.
13 For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee.
14 Fear not thou [l]worm, Jacob, and ye men of Israel: I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer the holy One of Israel.
15 Behold, I will make thee a roller, and a new threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the [m]mountains, and bring them to powder, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
16 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the holy One of Israel.
17 When [n]the poor and the needy seek water, and there is none (their tongue faileth for thirst: I the Lord will hear them: I the God of Israel will not forsake them:)
18 I will open rivers in the tops of the hills, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness as a pool of water, and the waste [o]land as springs of water.
19 I will set in the wilderness the cedar, the Shittah, and the myrrhe tree, and the pine tree, and I will set in the wilderness the fir tree, the elm and the box tree together.
20 Therefore let them see and know, and let them consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the holy One of Israel [p]hath created it.
21 [q]Stand to your cause, saith the Lord: bring forth your strong reasons saith the King of Jacob.
22 Let them bring them forth, and let them tell us what shall come, let them show the former things what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them: either declare us things for to come.
23 Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good or do evil, that we may declare it, and behold it together.
24 Behold, ye are of no value, and your making is of naught: man hath [r]chosen an abomination by them.
25 ¶ I have raised up from the [s]North, and he shall come: from the East sun shall he [t]call upon my name, and shall come upon [u]princes as upon clay, and as the potter treadeth mire under the foot.
26 Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? or before time, that we may say, He is righteous? Surely there is none that showeth: surely there is none that declareth: surely there is none that heareth [v]your words.
27 I am the first, that saith to Zion, Behold, behold [w]them: and I will give to Jerusalem [x]one that shall bring good tidings.
28 But when [y]I beheld, there was none: and when I inquired of them, there was no counselor, and when I demanded of them, they answered not a word.
29 Behold, they are all vanity: their work is of nothing, their images are wind and confusion.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 41:1 God as though he pleaded his cause with all nations, requireth silence, that he may be heard in his right.
- Isaiah 41:1 That is, gather all their power and supports.
- Isaiah 41:2 Who called Abraham (who was the pattern of God’s justice in delivering his Church) from the idolatry of the Chaldeans to go to and fro at his commandment, and placed him in the land of Canaan.
- Isaiah 41:4 Who hath created man and maintained his succession.
- Isaiah 41:4 Though the world set up never so many gods, yet they diminish nothing of my glory: for I am all one, unchangeable, which have ever been, and shall be forever.
- Isaiah 41:5 Considering mine excellent works among my people.
- Isaiah 41:5 They assembled themselves and conspired against me to maintain their idolatry.
- Isaiah 41:6 He noteth the obstinacy of the idolaters to maintain their superstitions.
- Isaiah 41:8 And therefore oughtest not to pollute thyself with the superstition of the Gentiles.
- Isaiah 41:10 That is, by the force of promise, in the performance whereof I will show myself faithful and just.
- Isaiah 41:12 Because they shall be destroyed.
- Isaiah 41:14 Thus he calleth them because they were contemned of all the world, and that they considering their own poor estate, should seek unto him for help.
- Isaiah 41:15 I will make thee able to destroy all thine enemies, be they never so mighty: and this chiefly is referred to the kingdom of Christ.
- Isaiah 41:17 That is, they that shall be afflicted in the captivity of Babylon.
- Isaiah 41:18 God will rather change the order of nature than they should want anything, that cry to him by true faith in their miseries: declaring to them hereby that they shall lack nothing by the way, when they return from Babylon.
- Isaiah 41:20 That is, hath appointed and determined that it shall come so to pass.
- Isaiah 41:21 He biddeth the idolaters to prove their religion, and to bring forth their idols, that they may be tried whether they know all things, and can do all things: which if they cannot do, he concludeth that they are no gods, but vile idols.
- Isaiah 41:24 So that a man cannot make an idol, but he must do that which God detesteth and abhoreth: for he chooseth his own devices and forsaketh the Lord’s.
- Isaiah 41:25 Meaning, the Chaldeans.
- Isaiah 41:25 That is, Cyrus, who shall do all things in my name and by my direction: whereby he meaneth that both their captivity and deliverance shall be ordered by God’s providence and appointment.
- Isaiah 41:25 Both of the Chaldeans and others.
- Isaiah 41:26 Meaning, that none of the Gentile gods can work any of these things.
- Isaiah 41:27 That is, the Israelites which return from the captivity.
- Isaiah 41:27 To wit, a continual succession of Prophets and ministers.
- Isaiah 41:28 When I looked whether the idols could do these things, I found that they had neither wisdom nor power to do anything: therefore he concludeth that all are wicked, that trust in such vanities.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
