Isaiah 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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Isaiah 41: DARBY
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Isaiah 41
41
The Lord Is the Eternal Creator
1The Lord says,
“Faraway countries, be quiet and listen to me!
Nations be brave.#41:1 be brave Or “be strong again,” as in Isa. 40:31.
Come to me and speak.
We will meet together
and decide who is right.
2Who woke up the man who is coming from the east?
He called Justice to march with him.
He uses his sword to crush nations.
He uses his bow and conquers kings—
they run away like straw blown by the wind.
3He chases armies and is never hurt.
He goes places he has never been before.
4Who was able to make all this happen?
Who controlled the lives of everyone from the beginning?
I, the Lord, am the one.
I was here at the beginning,
and I will be here when all things are finished.
5People along the coast saw this,
and they were frightened.
Nations at the ends of the earth
shook with fear.
They have come near.
They have arrived.
6“Workers help each other. They encourage each other to be strong. 7One worker cuts wood to make a statue. He encourages the man who works with gold. Another worker uses a hammer and makes the metal smooth. Then he encourages the man at the anvil.#41:7 anvil A heavy metal block. A worker puts hot metal on an anvil and beats the hot metal to change its shape. This last worker says, ‘This work is good; the metal will not come off.’ Then he nails the statue to a base so that it will not fall over. And it never moves!”
Only the Lord Can Save Us
8The Lord says, “You, Israel, are my servant.
Jacob, I chose you.
You are from the family of my friend, Abraham.
9You were in a faraway country,
but I reached out to you.
I called you from that faraway place.
I said, ‘You are my servant.’
I chose you,
and I have not rejected you.
10Don’t worry—I am with you.
Don’t be afraid—I am your God.
I will make you strong and help you.
I will support you with my right hand that brings victory.
11Look, some people are angry with you,
but they will be ashamed and disgraced.
Your enemies will be lost and disappear.
12You will look for the people who were against you,
but you will not be able to find them.
Those who fought against you
will disappear completely.
13I am the Lord your God,
who holds your right hand.
And I tell you, ‘Don’t be afraid!
I will help you.’
14People of Israel, descendants of Jacob, you may be weak and worthless,#41:14 Jacob … worthless Literally, “Worm of Jacob, men of Israel.”
but do not be afraid.
I myself will help you.”
This is what the Lord himself says.
“I am the Holy One of Israel,
the one who saves you.
15Look, I have made you like a new threshing board with many sharp teeth.
You will trample mountains and crush them.
You will make the hills#41:15 mountains … hills Symbols of the power of Israel’s enemies. like chaff.
16You will throw them into the air,
and the wind will blow them away and scatter them.
Then you will be happy in the Lord.
You will be proud of the Holy One of Israel.
17“The poor and needy look for water,
but they cannot find any.
Their tongues are dry with thirst.
I, the Lord, will answer their prayers.
I, the God of Israel, will not leave them to die.
18I will make rivers flow on dry hills.
I will make springs of water flow through the valleys.
I will change the desert into a lake filled with water.
There will be springs of water in that dry land.
19I will make trees grow in the desert.
There will be cedar, acacias, olive trees, cypress, fir trees, and pines.
20I will do this so that people will see it and know who did it.
They will notice what happened.
Then they will understand that the Lord’s hand made it happen,
that the Holy One of Israel created it all.”
The Lord Challenges the False Gods
21The Lord, the king of Jacob, says, “Come, present your arguments. Show me your proof. 22Let your idols come in and tell us what will happen. Idols, tell us what happened in the beginning. We will listen closely so that we can make a decision. Tell us what will happen in the future. 23What signs did you give in the past to prove that you really are gods? Do something! Do anything, good or bad, so that we can see that you are alive. Then we might fear and respect you.
24“Look, you false gods are worthless. You cannot do anything. Only some horrible fool#41:24 fool Literally, “horrible thing.” The Hebrew word usually describes idols and other wicked things that God hates. would want to worship you.”
The Lord Proves He Is the Only God
25“I called someone in the north#41:25 someone in the north This probably means Cyrus, a king of Persia. He ruled about 550–530 B.C. to come.
He is coming from the east where the sun rises,
and he honors my name.
He tramples kings
the way a potter softens clay with his feet.
26“Who told us about this before it happened
so that we could say he was right?
None of your idols told us anything.
They didn’t say a word,
and they cannot hear anything you say.
27I, the Lord, was the first one to tell Zion about these things.
I sent a messenger to Jerusalem to say,
‘Look, your people are coming back!’”
28I looked at those false gods.
Not one of them said anything.
They had no advice to offer.
I asked them questions,
but they didn’t say a word.
29Those gods are all less than nothing.
They cannot do anything.
They are worthless.
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