Isaiah 41
41
XLI
1Keep silence before me, O Islands;
And let the nations renew their strength:
Let them draw near; then let them speak;
Let us come near together to judgment.
2Who hath stirred up from the east him,
Whom justice met at his feet?
Who hath given up the nations before him, that he should rule over kings?
Hath made as the dust, his sword;
As chaff driven by the wind, his bow?
3He hath pursued them, he hath passed safely,
By a way which no man had ever gone with his feet.
4Who hath wrought and done it,
Calling the generations from the beginning?
I Jehovah, the first;
And with the last, I am the same.
5The isles saw it, and feared;
The ends of the earth were terrified:
They drew near, they came together.
6They helped every one his neighbour,
And everyone said to his brother, Be of good courage.
7So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith,
And he that smootheth with the hammer him that smiteth on the anvil:
Saying of the soldering, It is good;
And he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.
8But thou, O Israel, my servant,
O Jacob, whom I have chosen,
The seed of Abraham my friend;
9Thou, whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
And called thee from the extremities thereof;
And said unto thee, Thou art my servant;
I have chosen thee, and will not reject thee.
10Fear not, for I am with thee;
Be not dismayed, for I am thy God.
I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee;
Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
11Behold, all they that were enraged against thee shall be ashamed and confounded:
They that contended with thee shall become as nothing, and shall utterly perish.
12Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even the men that strove with thee:
They shall become as nothing, and as mere nought, even the men that opposed thee in battle.
13For I Jehovah thy God, hold thee fast by thy right hand,
Saying unto thee, Fear not: I am thy helper.
14Fear not, thou worm Jacob; ye mortals of Israel;
I will help thee, saith Jehovah;
And thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15Behold, I have made thee a new sharp threshing wain, armed with pointed teeth:
Thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small;
And shalt make the hills as chaff.
16Thou shalt winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,
And the whirlwind shall scatter them:
But thou shalt rejoice in Jehovah,
And shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17The poor and needy who seek for water, and there is none;
Whose tongue is parched with thirst:
I Jehovah will hear them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18I will open rivers in the high places,
And fountains in the midst of the valleys:
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
And the dry land springs of waters.
19I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia,
And the myrtle, and the oil-tree;
I will set in the desert the fir-tree,
The plane-tree, and the box together:
20That they might see, and know,
And consider, and understand together,
That the hand of Jehovah hath done this,
And the Holy One of Israel hath created it.
21Bring forward your cause, saith Jehovah:
Produce your strong arguments, saith the King of Jacob,
22Let them approach, and tell us the things that shall happen;
The things that shall first happen, what they are, let them tell us;
That we may consider them, and know the event of them:
Or declare to us things to come hereafter.
23Tell us the things that will come to pass in the later times,
That we may know if ye be gods:
Yea, do good, or do evil,
That we may look around us, and behold together.
24Lo, ye are worse than nothing;
And your work is less than nought:
An abomination is he that maketh choice of you.
25I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come;
From the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name:
And he shall trample on princes, as on mortar;
And as the potter treadeth down the clay.
26Who hath declared this from the beginning, that we should know it?
And beforehand, that we should say, It is right?
Yea, there was not one that declared it; yea, not one who had spread the report;
Yea, there was not one that heard your words.
27I am the first who said unto Zion, Behold, behold them I
And gave to Jerusalem a messenger of glad tidings.
28And I looked, but there was no man;
Even among these, but there was no counsellor;
And I inquired of them, but there was no one that could return an answer.
29Behold, they are all of them vanity;
Their works are nought:
Mere wind and emptiness are their molten images.
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Isaiah 41: TEG
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.
Isaiah 41
41
The Nations Chose Idols, but the LORD Chose Israel
1“Be silent and listen to me, you coastlands.
Let the people gain new strength.
Let them come near and speak.
Let us come together for judgment.
2“Who has raised up from the east
someone to whom the Lord gives victory with every step he takes?
Nations are handed over to him.
He defeats kings.
With his sword he turns them into dust.
With his bow he turns them into straw blown by the wind.
3He chases them, marching by safely
on a path his feet have never traveled before.
4Who has accomplished this?
Who has determined the course of history from the beginning?
I, the Lord, was there first, and I will be there to the end.
I am the one!”
5The coastlands have seen him and are afraid.
The ends of the earth tremble.
They have come near and gathered together.
6People help their neighbors
and say to their relatives, “Be brave!”
7Craftsmen encourage goldsmiths.
Metalsmiths encourage blacksmiths who work at their anvils.
They say that their soldering is good.
And they fasten things with nails so they won’t move.
8“But you are my servant Israel,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
the descendant of Abraham, my dear friend.
9I have taken you from the ends of the earth
and called you from its most distant places.
I said to you, ‘You are my servant.
I’ve chosen you; I haven’t rejected you.’
10Don’t be afraid, because I am with you.
Don’t be intimidated; I am your God.
I will strengthen you.
I will help you.
I will support you with my victorious right hand.
11“Everyone who is angry with you
will be ashamed and disgraced.
Those who oppose you
will be reduced to nothing and disappear.
12You will search for your enemies,
but you will not find them.
Those who are at war with you
will be reduced to nothing and no longer exist.
13I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand
and say to you, ‘Don’t be afraid; I will help you.’
14Don’t be afraid, Jacob, you worm.
You people of Israel, I will help you,”
declares the Lord, your Defender, the Holy One of Israel.
15“I am going to make you into a new threshing #41:15 Threshing is the process of beating stalks to separate them from the grain. sledge
with sharp, double-edged teeth.
You will thresh the mountains and crush them to dust.
You will turn the hills into straw.
16You will winnow #41:16 Winnowing is the process of separating husks from grain. them.
The wind will carry them away.
The windstorm will scatter them.
But you will find joy in the Lord
and praise the Holy One of Israel.
17“The poor and needy are looking for water, but there is none.
Their tongues are parched with thirst.
I, the Lord, will answer them.
I, the God of Israel, will not abandon them.
18I will make rivers flow on bare hilltops.
I will make springs flow through valleys.
I will turn deserts into lakes.
I will turn dry land into springs.
19I will plant cedar, acacia, myrtle, and wild olive trees in the desert.
I will place cedar, fir, and cypress trees together in the wilderness.
20People will see and know.
Together they will consider and understand
that the Lord’s power has done this,
that the Holy One of Israel has created it.
21“Present your case,” says the Lord.
“Bring forward your best arguments,” says Jacob’s king.
22“Bring ⌞your idols⌟ so they can tell us what’s going to happen.
Explain past events that your idols told you about
so that we may consider them
and know what their outcome will be.
Tell us about future events.
23Tell us what’s going to happen
so that we may know that you are gods.
Yes, do something, good or evil,
to intimidate us and make us afraid.
24You are nothing!
You can’t do anything!
Whoever chooses you is disgusting.
25“I have raised up someone from the north, and he has come.
He will call on my name from the east.
He will attack rulers as if they were mud,
as if he were treading on clay like a potter.
26Who revealed this from the beginning so that we could know it?
Who revealed this from the past so that we could say that he was right?
No one revealed it.
No one announced it.
No one heard your words.
27I was the first to tell Zion, ‘Look, here they are.’
I gave Jerusalem a messenger with the good news.
28When I look, there is no one.
There is no one to advise them.
When I ask them a question,
will they give an answer?
29All of them are nothing.#41:29 Dead Sea Scrolls, Syriac, Targum; Masoretic Text “They are false.”
They can’t do anything.
Their statues are nothing but air.”
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