Isaiah 41–64

Fear Not, for I Am with You

41ⁿListen to me in silence, ^oO coastlands;

let the peoples renew their strength;

let them approach, then let them speak;

let us together draw near for judgment.

^2pWho stirred up one from the east

whom victory meets at every ^qstep?¹

^rHe gives up nations before him,

so that he tramples kings underfoot;

he makes them like dust with his sword,

^slike driven stubble with his bow.

³He pursues them and passes on safely,

by paths his feet have not trod.

^4tWho has performed and done this,

calling the generations from the beginning?

^uI, the Lord, the first,

and with the last; I am he.

^5vThe coastlands have seen and are afraid;

the ends of the earth tremble;

they have drawn near and come.

⁶Everyone helps his neighbor

and says to his brother, “Be strong!”

^7wThe craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,

and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,

saying of the soldering, “It is good”;

and they strengthen it with nails ^xso that it cannot be moved.

⁸But you, Israel, ^ymy servant,

Jacob, ^zwhom I have chosen,

the offspring of Abraham, ^amy friend;

⁹you whom I took from the ends of the earth,

and called ^bfrom its farthest corners,

saying to you, “You are ^ymy servant,

^zI have chosen you and not cast you off”;

¹⁰fear not, for I am with you;

be not dismayed, for I am your God;

I will strengthen you, I will help you,

I will uphold you with ^cmy righteous right hand.

^11dBehold, all who are incensed against you

shall be put to shame and confounded;

those who strive against you

shall be as nothing and shall perish.

^12eYou shall seek those who contend with you,

but you shall not find them;

^fthose who war against you

shall be as nothing at all.

¹³For I, the Lord your God,

hold your right hand;

it is I who say to you, “Fear not,

I am the one who helps you.”

¹⁴Fear not, you ^gworm Jacob,

you men of Israel!

I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord;

your ^hRedeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵ⁱBehold, I make of you a threshing sledge,

new, sharp, and having teeth;

you shall thresh ^jthe mountains and crush them,

and you shall make the hills like chaff;

^16kyou shall winnow them, and ^lthe wind shall carry them away,

and the tempest shall scatter them.

^mAnd you shall rejoice in the Lord;

in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.

¹⁷ⁿWhen the poor and needy seek water,

and there is none,

and their tongue is parched with thirst,

I the Lord will answer them;

I the God of Israel will not forsake them.

^18oI will open rivers on the bare heights,

and fountains in the midst of the valleys.

^pI will make the wilderness a pool of water,

and the dry land springs of water.

^19qI will put in the wilderness the cedar,

the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.

I will set in the desert ^rthe cypress,

the plane and the pine together,

²⁰that they may see and know,

may consider and understand together,

that ^sthe hand of the Lord has done this,

the Holy One of Israel has created it.

The Futility of Idols

²¹Set forth your case, says the Lord;

bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.

²²Let them bring them, and ^ttell us

what is to happen.

Tell us the former things, what they are,

that we may consider them,

that we may know their outcome;

or declare to us the things to come.

^23tTell us what is to come hereafter,

that we may know that you are gods;

^udo good, or do harm,

that we may be dismayed and terrified.²

²⁴Behold, ^vyou are nothing,

and your work is less than nothing;

an abomination is he who chooses you.

^25wI stirred up one from the north, and he has come,

^xfrom the rising of the sun, ^yand he shall call upon my name;

he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,

as the potter treads clay.

^26zWho declared it from the beginning, that we might know,

and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?

There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,

none who heard your words.

^27aI was the first to say³ to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”

and ^bI give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.

^28cBut when I look, there is no one;

among these there is no counselor

who, when I ask, gives an answer.

^29dBehold, they are all a delusion;

their works are nothing;

their metal images are empty wind.

The Lord’s Chosen Servant

42^eBehold ^fmy servant, whom I uphold,

my chosen, ^gin whom my soul delights;

^hI have put my Spirit upon him;

ⁱhe will bring forth justice to the nations.

²He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,

or make it heard in the street;

^3ja bruised reed he will not break,

and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;

^khe will faithfully bring forth justice.

⁴He will not grow faint or be discouraged¹

till he has established justice in the earth;

and ^lthe coastlands wait for his law.

⁵Thus says God, the Lord,

who created the heavens ^mand stretched them out,

who spread out the earth and what comes from it,

ⁿwho gives breath to the people on it

and spirit to those who walk in it:

⁶“I am the Lord; ^oI have called you² in righteousness;

I will take you by the hand and keep you;

I will give you ^pas a covenant for the people,

^qa light for the nations,

^7rto open the eyes that are blind,

to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,

^sfrom the prison those who sit in darkness.

⁸I am the Lord; that is my name;

^tmy glory I give to no other,

nor my praise to carved idols.

⁹Behold, the former things have come to pass,

^uand new things I now declare;

before they spring forth

I tell you of them.”

Sing to the Lord a New Song

^10vSing to the Lord a new song,

his praise from the end of the earth,

^wyou who go down to the sea, and all that fills it,

^lthe coastlands and their inhabitants.

¹¹Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,

the villages that ^xKedar inhabits;

let the habitants of ^ySela sing for joy,

let them shout from the top of the mountains.

¹²Let them give glory to the Lord,

and declare his praise in ^lthe coastlands.

^13zThe Lord goes out like a mighty man,

like a man of war ^ahe stirs up his zeal;

he cries out, ^bhe shouts aloud,

he shows himself mighty against his foes.

¹⁴For a long time I have held my peace;

I have kept still and restrained myself;

now I will cry out ^clike a woman in labor;

I will gasp and pant.

^15dI will lay waste mountains and hills,

and dry up all their vegetation;

I will turn the rivers into islands,³

and dry up the pools.

^16eAnd I will lead the blind

in a way that they do not know,

in paths that they have not known

I will guide them.

I will turn the darkness before them into light,

^fthe rough places into level ground.

These are the things I do,

and I do not forsake them.

^17gThey are turned back and utterly put to shame,

who trust in carved idols,

who say to metal images,

“You are our gods.”

Israel’s Failure to Hear and See

¹⁸Hear, you deaf,

and look, you blind, that you may see!

¹⁹Who is blind but my servant,

or deaf as my messenger whom I send?

Who is blind as my dedicated one,⁴

or blind as the servant of the Lord?

^20hHe sees many things, but does not observe them;

ⁱhis ears are open, but he does not hear.

²¹The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake,

to magnify his law and make it glorious.

²²But this is a people plundered and looted;

they are all of them trapped in holes

^jand hidden in prisons;

they have become plunder with none to rescue,

spoil with none to say, “Restore!”

²³Who among you will give ear to this,

will attend and listen for the time to come?

²⁴Who gave up Jacob to the looter,

and Israel to the plunderers?

Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned,

in whose ways they would not walk,

and whose law they would not obey?

²⁵So he poured on him the heat of his anger

and the might of battle;

it set him on fire all around, ^kbut he did not understand;

it burned him up, ^lbut he did not take it to heart.

Israel’s Only Savior

43But now thus says the Lord,

^mhe who created you, O Jacob,

he who formed you, O Israel:

ⁿ“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;

^oI have called you by name, you are mine.

^2pWhen you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

^pwhen you walk through fire ^qyou shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you.

³For ^rI am the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

^sI give Egypt as your ransom,

Cush and ^tSeba in exchange for you.

⁴Because you are precious in my eyes,

and honored, and I love you,

I give men in return for you,

peoples in exchange for your life.

^5uFear not, for I am with you;

^vI will bring your offspring from the east,

and from the west I will gather you.

⁶I will say to the north, Give up,

and to the south, Do not withhold;

bring ^wmy sons from afar

and ^wmy daughters from the end of the earth,

⁷everyone who is called by my name,

whom I created for my glory,

whom I formed and made.”

⁸Bring out ^xthe people who are blind, yet have eyes,

who are deaf, yet have ears!

^9yAll the nations gather together,

and the peoples assemble.

Who among them can declare this,

and show us the former things?

Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right,

and let them hear and say, It is true.

^10z“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,

“and ^amy servant whom I have chosen,

that you may know and believe me

and understand that I am he.

^bBefore me no god was formed,

nor shall there be any after me.

^11cI, I am the Lord,

and besides me there is no savior.

¹²I declared and saved and proclaimed,

when there was no strange god among you;

and ^zyou are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and I am God.

¹³Also ^dhenceforth I am he;

there is none who can deliver from my hand;

I work, and who can turn it back?”

¹⁴Thus says the Lord,

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

^e“For your sake I send to Babylon

and ^fbring them all down as fugitives,

^geven the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice.

¹⁵I am the Lord, your Holy One,

the Creator of Israel, your King.”

¹⁶Thus says the Lord,

^hwho makes a way in the sea,

a path in the mighty waters,

¹⁷who ⁱbrings forth chariot and horse,

army and warrior;

they lie down, they cannot rise,

^jthey are extinguished, ^kquenched like a…