Isaiah 41

41^aKeep silence before me, O ^bislands;

And ^clet the people renew their strength:

Let them come near; then let them speak:

Let us come near together to judgment.

^2dWho raised up ^†the righteous man ^efrom the east,

Called him ^fto his foot,

^ffGave the nations before him, and ^gmade him rule over kings?

He ^hgave them as the dust to his sword,

And as ⁱdriven stubble to his bow.

³He pursued them, and passed ^†safely;

Even by the way that he had not gone with his feet.

^4kWho hath wrought and done it,

Calling the generations from the beginning?

I the Lord, ^lthe first,

And with the last; ^mI am he.

⁵ⁿThe isles saw it, and feared;

The ends of the earth were afraid,

Drew near, and came.

⁶They helped every one his neighbour;

And every one said to his brother, ^†Be of good courage.

^7oSo the carpenter encouraged the ^||goldsmith,

And he that smootheth with the hammer ^||him that smote the anvil,

^||Saying, It is ready for the sodering:

And he fastened it with nails, ^pthat it should not be moved.

⁸But thou, ^qIsrael, art ^rmy servant,

Jacob ^rrwhom I have chosen,

The seed of ^sAbraham my friend.

⁹Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,

And called thee from ^tthe chief men thereof,

And said unto thee, ^rThou art my servant;

I ^rrhave chosen thee, and not cast thee away.

^10uFear thou not; ^vfor I am with thee:

^wBe not dismayed; for I am thy God:

^vI will strengthen thee; yea, ^uI will help thee;

Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

¹¹Behold, all ^xthey that were incensed against thee shall be ^xashamed and confounded:

^yThey shall be as nothing; and ^†they that strive with thee shall perish.

¹²Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even ^†them that contended with thee:

^†They that war against thee shall be ^zas nothing, and ^zas a thing of nought.

¹³For I the Lord thy God ^zzwill hold thy right hand,

Saying unto thee, ^uFear not; ^uI will help thee.

^14uFear not, ^athou worm Jacob, and ye ^||men of Israel;

^aI will help thee, saith the Lord,

And ^bthy redeemer, ^cthe Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵Behold, ^dI will make thee a new ^esharp ^fthreshing instrument having ^†teeth:

^dThou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small,

And shalt make the hills as chaff.

¹⁶Thou shalt ^gfan them, and the wind shall carry them away,

And the whirlwind shall scatter them:

And thou shalt rejoice in the Lord,

And ^hshalt glory in ^cthe Holy One of Israel.

¹⁷When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none,

And their tongue ⁱfaileth for thirst,

I the Lord will hear them,

I ^kthe God of Israel will not forsake them.

^18lI will open rivers in ^mhigh places,

And fountains in the midst of ⁿthe valleys:

^oI will make the ^pwilderness a pool of water,

And ^opthe dry land springs of water.

^19ppI will plant in the wilderness the cedar, ^qthe shittah tree, and the myrtle, and ^rthe oil tree;

I will set in the desert ^sthe fir tree, and ^sthe pine, and the box tree together:

^20tThat they may see, and know, and ^uconsider, and understand together,

That the hand of the Lord hath done this,

And the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

^21†Produce your cause, saith the Lord;

Bring forth your ^vstrong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.

^22wLet them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen:

Let them shew ^xthe former things, what they be,

That we may ^†consider them, and know the latter end of them;

Or declare us things for to come.

^23yShew the things that are to come ^yyhereafter,

^zThat we may know that ye are gods:

Yea, ^ado good, or do evil,

That we may ^bbe dismayed, and behold it together.

²⁴Behold, ^cye are ^||of nothing, and your work ^||of nought:

An abomination is he that chooseth you.

^25dI have raised up one ^efrom the north, and he shall come:

^dFrom the rising of the sun ^fshall he call upon my name:

And he shall come upon princes as upon morter,

And as the potter treadeth clay.

^26gWho hath declared from the beginning, that we may know?

And beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous?

Yea, there is none that sheweth, yea, there is none that declareth,

Yea, there is none that heareth your words.

^27hThe first ⁱshall say to Zion, Behold, behold them:

And I will give to Jerusalem ⁱone that bringeth good tidings.

^28kFor I beheld, and there was no man;

Even among them, and there was no counseller,

That, when I asked of them, could ^†answer a word.

^29lBehold, they are all vanity; their works are ^mnothing:

Their molten images are wind and confusion.