Isaiah 41–63

¹Keep silent towards Me, O isles, And the peoples pass on to power, They come nigh, then they speak, ‘Together—to judgment we draw near.’ ²Who stirred up from the east a righteous one? He calleth him to His foot, He giveth before him nations, And kings He causeth him to rule, He giveth them as dust to his sword, As driven stubble to his bow. ³He pursueth them, he passeth over in safety A path with his feet he entereth not. ⁴Who hath wrought and done, Calling the generations from the first? I, Jehovah, the first, and with the last I am He. ⁵Seen have isles and fear, ends of the earth tremble, They have drawn near, yea, they come. ⁶Each his neighbour they help, And to his brother he saith, ‘Be strong.’ ⁷And strengthen doth an artisan the refiner, A smoother with a hammer, Him who is beating on an anvil, Saying, ‘For joining it is good,’ And he strengtheneth it with nails, it is not moved! —And thou, O Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, Seed of Abraham, My lover, ⁹Whom I have taken hold of, from the ends of the earth, And from its near places I have called thee, And I say to thee, My servant Thou art, I have chosen thee, and not rejected thee.

¹⁰Be not afraid, for with thee I am, Look not around, for I am thy God, I have strengthened thee, Yea, I have helped thee, yea, I upheld thee, With the right hand of My righteousness. ¹¹Lo, all those displeased with thee, They are ashamed and blush, They are as nothing, yea, perish Do the men who strive with thee. ¹²Thou seekest them, and findest them not, The men who debate with thee, They are as nothing, yea, as nothing, The men who war with thee. ¹³For I, Jehovah thy God, Am strengthening thy right hand, He who is saying to thee, ‘Fear not, I have helped thee.’ ¹⁴Fear not, O worm Jacob, ye men of Israel, I helped thee, an affirmation of Jehovah, Even thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁵Lo, I have set thee for a new sharp threshing instrument, Possessing teeth, thou threshest mountains, And beatest small, and hills as chaff thou makest. ¹⁶Thou winnowest them, and a wind lifteth them up, And a whirlwind scattereth them, And thou—thou rejoicest in Jehovah, In the Holy One of Israel dost boast thyself. ¹⁷The poor and the needy are seeking water, And there is none, Their tongue with thirst hath failed, I, Jehovah do answer them, The God of Israel—I forsake them not. ¹⁸I open on high places rivers, And in midst of valleys fountains, I make a wilderness become a pond of water, And a dry land become springs of water. ¹⁹I give in a wilderness the cedar, Shittah, and myrtle, and oil-tree, I set in a desert the fir-pine and box-wood together. ²⁰So that they see, and know, And regard, and act wisely together, For the hand of Jehovah hath done this, And the Holy One of Israel hath prepared it.

²¹Bring near your cause, saith Jehovah, Bring nigh your mighty ones, saith the king of Jacob. ²²They bring nigh, and declare to us that which doth happen, The first things—what they are declare ye, And we set our heart, and know their latter end, Or the coming things cause us to hear. ²³Declare the things that are coming hereafter, And we know that ye are gods, Yea, ye may do good or do evil, And we look around and see it together. ²⁴Lo, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought, An abomination—it fixeth on you. ²⁵I have stirred up one from the north, And he cometh, From the rising of the sun he calleth in My name, And he cometh in on prefects as on clay, And as a potter treadeth down mire. ²⁶Who hath declared from the first, and we know? And beforetime, and we say, ‘Righteous?’ yea, there is none declaring, Yea, there is none proclaiming, Yea, there is none hearing your sayings. ²⁷First to Zion, Behold, behold them, And to Jerusalem one proclaiming tidings I give, ²⁸And I see that there is no man, Yea, of these that there is no counsellor, And I ask them, and they return word: ²⁹‘Lo, all of them are vanity, Nought are their works, Wind and emptiness their molten images!’

Chapter 42

¹Lo, My servant, I take hold on him, My chosen one—My soul hath accepted, I have put My Spirit upon him, Judgment to nations he bringeth forth. ²He doth not cry, nor lift up, Nor cause his voice to be heard, in the street. ³A bruised reed he breaketh not, And dim flax he quencheth not, To truth he bringeth forth judgment. ⁴He doth not become weak nor bruised, Till he setteth judgment in the earth, And for his law isles wait with hope.

⁵Thus said God, Jehovah, preparing The heavens, and stretching them out, Spreading out the earth and its productions, Giving breath to the people on it, And spirit to those walking in it. ⁶I, Jehovah, did call thee in righteousness, And I lay hold on thy hand, and keep thee, And I give thee for a covenant of a people, And a light of nations. ⁷To open the eyes of the blind, To bring forth from prison the bound one, From the house of restraint those sitting in darkness. ⁸I am Jehovah, this is My name, And Mine honour to another I give not, Nor My praise to graven images. ⁹The former things, lo, have come, And new things I am declaring, Before they spring up I cause you to hear. ¹⁰Sing to Jehovah a new song, His praise from the end of the earth, Ye who are going down to the sea, and its fulness, Isles, and their inhabitants. ¹¹The wilderness and its cities do lift up the voice, The villages Kedar doth inhabit, Sing do the inhabitants of Sela, From the top of mountains they cry. ¹²They ascribe to Jehovah honour, And His praise in the isles they declare.

¹³Jehovah as a mighty one goeth forth. As a man of war He stirreth up zeal, He crieth, yea, He shrieketh, Against His enemies He showeth Himself mighty. ¹⁴I have kept silent from of old, I keep silent, I refrain myself, As a travailing woman I cry out, I desolate and swallow up together. ¹⁵I make waste mountains and hills, And all their herbs I dry up, And I have made rivers become isles, And ponds I dry up. ¹⁶And I have caused the blind to go, In a way they have not known, In paths they have not known I cause them to tread, I make a dark place before them become light, And unlevelled places become a plain, These are the things I have done to them, And I have not forsaken them. ¹⁷Removed backward—utterly ashamed, Are those trusting in a graven image, Those saying to a molten image, ‘Ye are our gods.’

¹⁸Ye deaf, hear; and ye blind, look to see. ¹⁹Who is blind but My servant? And deaf as My messenger I send? Who is blind as he who is at peace, Yea, blind, as the servant of Jehovah? ²⁰Seeing many things, and thou observest not, Opening ears, and he heareth not. ²¹Jehovah hath delight for the sake of His righteousness, He magnifieth law, and maketh honourable. ²²And this is a people seized and spoiled, Snared in holes—all of them, And in houses of restraint they were hidden, They have been for a prey, And there is no deliverer, A spoil, and none is saying, ‘Restore.’ ²³Who among you giveth ear to this? Attendeth, and heareth afterwards. ²⁴Who hath given Jacob for a spoil, And Israel to the spoilers? Is it not Jehovah—He against whom we sinned? Yea, they have not been willing in His ways to walk, Nor have they hearkened to His law. ²⁵And He poureth on him fury, His anger, and the strength of battle, And it setteth him on fire round about, And he hath not known, And it burneth against him, and he layeth it not to heart!

Chapter 43

¹And now, thus said Jehovah, Thy Creator, O Jacob, and thy Fashioner, O Israel, Be not afraid, for I have redeemed thee, I have called on thy name—thou art Mine. ²When thou passest into waters, I am with thee, And into floods, they do not overflow thee, When thou goest into fire, thou art not burnt, And a flame doth not burn against thee. ³For I—Jehovah thy God, The Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour, I have appointed Egypt thine atonement, Cush and Seba in thy stead. ⁴Since thou wast precious in Mine eyes, Thou wast honoured, and I have loved thee, And I appoint men in thy stead, And peoples instead of thy life. ⁵Be not afraid, for I am with thee, From the east I bring in thy seed, And from the west I gather thee. ⁶I am saying to the north, ‘Give up,’ And to the south, ‘Restrain not.’ Bring in My sons from afar, And My daughters from the end of the earth. ⁷Every one who is called by My name, Even for My honour I have created him, I have formed him, yea, I have made him.

⁸He brought out a blind people who have eyes, And deaf ones who have ears. ⁹All the nations have been gathered together, And the peoples are assembled, Who among them declareth this, And former things causeth us to hear? They give their witnesses, And they are declared righteous, And they hear and say, ‘Truth.’ ¹⁰Ye are My witnesses, an affirmation of Jehovah, And My servant whom I have chosen, So that ye know and give credence to Me, And understand that I am He, Before Me there was no God formed, And after Me there is none. ¹¹I—I am Jehovah, And besides Me there is no saviour. ¹²I—I declared, and saved, and proclaimed, And there is no stranger with you, And ye are My witnesses, an affirmation of Jehovah, And I am God. ¹³Even from the day I am He, And there is no deliverer from My hand, I work, and who doth turn it back?

¹⁴Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, The Holy One of Israel: ‘For your sake I have sent to Babylon, And caused bars to descend—all of them, And the Chaldeans, whose song is in the ships. ¹⁵I am Jehovah, your Holy One, Creator of Israel, your King.’ ¹⁶Thus said Jehovah, Who is giving in the sea a way, And in the strong waters a path. ¹⁷Who is bringing forth chariot and horse, A force, even a strong one: ‘Together they lie down—they rise not, They have been extinguished, As flax they have been quenched.’ ¹⁸Remember not former things, And ancient things consider not. ¹⁹Lo, I am doing a new thing, now it springeth up, Do ye not know it? Yea, I put in a wilderness a way, In a desolate place—floods. ²⁰Honour me doth the beast of the field, Dragons and daughters of an ostrich, For I have given in a wilderness waters, Floods in a desolate…