Chapter 41

Israel Encouraged

1 “aCoastlands, listen to Me bin silence,

And let the peoples cgain new strength;

dLet them come forward, then let them speak;

eLet us come together for judgment.

2 “aWho has aroused one from the east

Whom He bcalls in righteousness to His 1feet?

He cdelivers up nations before him

And subdues kings.

He makes them like ddust with his sword,

As the wind-driven echaff with his bow.

3 “He pursues them, passing on in safety,

By a way he had not been 1traversing with his feet.

4 “aWho has performed and accomplished it,

Calling forth the generations from the beginning?

‘bI, the Lord, am the first, and with the last. cI am He.’ ”

5 The acoastlands have seen and are afraid;

The bends of the earth tremble;

They have drawn near and have come.

6 Each one helps his neighbor

And says to his brother, “Be strong!”

7 So the acraftsman encourages the bsmelter,

And he who smooths metal with the hammer encourages him who beats the anvil,

Saying of the soldering, “It is good”;

And he fastens it with nails,

cSo that it will not totter.

8 “But you, Israel, aMy servant,

Jacob whom I have chosen,

Descendant of bAbraham My cfriend,

9 You whom I have 1ataken from the ends of the earth,

And called from its bremotest parts

And said to you, ‘You are cMy servant,

I have dchosen you and not rejected you.

10 ‘Do not afear, for I am with you;

Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you, surely bI will help you,

Surely I will uphold you with My righteous cright hand.’

11 “Behold, aall those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored;

bThose who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.

12 “aYou will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them,

Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.

13 “For I am the Lord your God, awho upholds your right hand,

Who says to you, ‘bDo not fear, I will help you.’

14 “Do not fear, you aworm Jacob, you men of Israel;

I will help you,” declares the Lord, “1and byour Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

15 “Behold, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges;

aYou will thresh the bmountains and pulverize them,

And will make the hills like chaff.

16 “You will awinnow them, and the wind will carry them away,

And the storm will scatter them;

But you will brejoice in the Lord,

You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

17 “The 1afflicted and needy are seeking awater, but there is none,

And their tongue is parched with thirst;

I, the Lord, bwill answer them Myself,

As the God of Israel I cwill not forsake them.

18 “I will open arivers on the bare heights

And springs in the midst of the valleys;

I will make bthe wilderness a pool of water

And the dry land fountains of water.

19 “I will put the cedar in the wilderness,

The acacia and the amyrtle and the 1olive tree;

I will place the ajuniper in the desert

Together with the box tree and the cypress,

20 That athey may see and recognize,

And consider and gain insight as well,

That the bhand of the Lord has done this,

And the Holy One of Israel has created it.

21 “1Present your case,” the Lord says.

“Bring forward your strong arguments,”

The aKing of Jacob says.

22 aLet them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place;

As for the bformer events, declare what they were,

That we may consider them and know their outcome.

Or announce to us what is coming;

23 aDeclare the things that are going to come afterward,

That we may know that you are gods;

Indeed, bdo good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.

24 Behold, ayou are of 1no account,

And byour work amounts to nothing;

He who chooses you is an cabomination.

25 “I have aroused aone from the north, and he has come;

From the rising of the sun he will call on My name;

And he will come upon rulers as upon bmortar,

Even as the potter treads clay.”

26 Who has adeclared this from the beginning, that we might know?

Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”?

Surely there was bno one who declared,

Surely there was no one who proclaimed,

Surely there was no one who heard your words.

27 “aFormerly I said to Zion, ‘Behold, here they are.’

And to Jerusalem, ‘I will give a bmessenger of good news.’

28 “But awhen I look, there is no one,

And there is no bcounselor 1among them

Who, if I ask, can cgive an answer.

29 “Behold, all of them are 1false;

Their aworks are bworthless,

Their molten images are cwind and emptiness.