Yesha 'yahu (Isa) 41
41
1“Keep silence before me, coastlands!
Let the peoples replenish their strength!
Let them approach; then let them speak.
Let us assemble for judgment.”
2Who has raised from the east one who is just
and called him to be in his service?
He hands nations over to him
and subjects kings to him;
his sword reduces them to dust,
his bow to driven straw.
3He pursues them, passing on unscathed,
hardly touching the path with his feet.
4Whose work is this? Who has brought it about?
He who called the generations from the beginning,
“I, Adonai, am the first;
and I am the same with those who are last.”
5The coastlands have seen and became afraid.
The ends of the earth have trembled.
They have approached, and now they have come.
6Every one helps his fellow workman,
everyone says to his brother, “Be strong!”
7The woodworker encourages the goldsmith,
the polisher encourages the hammerer;
he says of the soldering, “Yes, that’s good,”
then puts nails in [the idol] to keep it from moving.
8“But you, Isra’el, my servant;
Ya‘akov, whom I have chosen,
descendants of Avraham my friend,
9I have taken you from the ends of the earth,
summoned you from its most distant parts
and said to you, ‘You are my servant’ —
I have chosen you, not rejected you.
10Don’t be afraid, for I am with you;
don’t be distressed, for I am your God.
I give you strength, I give you help,
I support you with my victorious right hand.
11All those who were angry with you
will be disgraced, put to shame;
those who fought against you
will be destroyed, brought to nothing.
12You will seek them but not find them,
those who contended with you;
yes, those who made war with you
will be brought to nothing, nothing at all.
13For I, Adonai, your God,
say to you, as I hold your right hand,
‘Have no fear; I will help you.
14Have no fear, Ya‘akov, you worm,
you men of Isra’el!’
I will help you,” says Adonai;
“Your redeemer is the Holy One of Isra’el.
15“I will make you into a threshing-sledge,
new, with sharp, pointed teeth,
to thresh the mountains and crush them to dust,
to reduce the hills to chaff.
16As you fan them, the wind will carry them off,
and the whirlwind will scatter them.
Then you will rejoice in Adonai,
you will glory in the Holy One of Isra’el.
17“The poor and needy look for water in vain;
their tongues are parched with thirst.
I, Adonai, will answer them.
I, the God of Isra’el, will not leave them.
18I will open up rivers on the barren hills
and wells down in the broad valleys.
I will turn the desert into a lake
and dry ground into springs.
19I will plant the desert with cedars,
acacias, myrtles and olive trees;
In the ‘Aravah I will put cypresses
together with elm trees and larches.”
20Then the people will see and know,
together observe and understand
that the hand of Adonai has done this,
that the Holy One of Isra’el created it.
21“Present your case,” says Adonai,
“Produce your arguments,” says Ya‘akov’s king.
22Bring out those idols!
Have them foretell the future for us,
tell us about past events,
so that we can reflect on them
and understand their consequences.
Or tell us about events yet to come,
23state what will happen in the future,
so that we can know you are gods.
At least, do something, either good or bad —
anything, to make us awestruck and fearful!
24You can’t! — because you are less than nothing.
Whoever chooses you is an abomination!
25“I roused someone from the north,
and he has come from the rising sun;
he will call on my name.
He will trample on rulers as if they were mud,
like a potter treading clay.”
26Who said this at the start, so we could know,
or foretold it, so we could say, “He’s right”?
In fact, no one said it; no one foretold it —
the fact is, nobody hears what you say.
27I am the first to declare it to Tziyon,
to send Yerushalayim a messenger with good news.
28But when I look around, there is no one —
not a single one can give counsel,
who, when I ask, can give an answer.
29Look at them all! What they do is nothing!
Their idols are so much wind and waste.
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Yesha 'yahu (Isa) 41: CJB
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Learn More About Complete Jewish BibleIsaiah 41
41
1Keep silence before me, islands; and let the peoples renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us draw near together to judgment. 2Who raised up from the east him whom righteousness calleth to its foot? He gave the nations before him, and caused him to have dominion over kings; he gave them as dust to his sword, as driven stubble to his bow. 3He pursued them, he passed on in safety, by a way he had never come 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 HE. 5The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth trembled: they drew near, and came. 6They helped every one his neighbour, and each said to his brother, Take courage. 7And the artizan encouraged the founder, he that smootheth with the hammer him that smiteth on the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good; and he fasteneth it with nails, that it be not moved. 8But thou, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, my friend 9— thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called from the extremities thereof, and to whom I said, Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee and not rejected thee,
10— Fear not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God#GodHebrew: Elohim I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. 11Lo, all that are incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded; they that strive with thee shall be as nothing, and shall perish. 12Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them — them that contend with thee; they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. 13For I, Jehovah, thy God#GodHebrew: Elohim hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. 14Fear not, thou worm Jacob, ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith Jehovah, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. 15Behold, I have made of thee a new sharp threshing instrument having double teeth: thou shalt thresh and beat small the mountains, and shalt make the hills as chaff; 16thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; and thou shalt rejoice in Jehovah, thou shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel. 17The afflicted and the needy seek water, and there is none; their tongue faileth for thirst: I, Jehovah, will answer them, I, the God#GodHebrew: Elohim of Israel, will not forsake them. 18I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness into a pool of water, and the dry land into water-springs. 19I will give in the wilderness the cedar, acacia, myrtle, and oleaster; I will set in the desert the cypress, pine, and box-tree together; 20that they may 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.
21Produce your cause, saith Jehovah; bring forward your arguments, saith the King of Jacob. 22Let them bring them forward, and declare to us what shall happen: shew the former things, what they are, that we may give attention to them, and know the end of them; — or let us hear things to come: 23declare the things that are to happen hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods; yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be astonished, and behold it together. 24Behold, ye are less than nothing, and your work is of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you. ... 25I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come, — from the rising of the sun, he who will call upon my name; and he shall come upon princes as on mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay. 26Who hath declared it from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, It is right? Indeed, there is none that declareth; no, none that sheweth; no, none that heareth your words. 27The first, I said to Zion, Behold, behold them! and to Jerusalem, I will give one that bringeth glad tidings. 28And I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, — and there was no counsellor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word. 29Behold, they are all vanity, their works are nought, their molten images are wind and emptiness.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.