Isaiah 41
1 Be silent before me, islands; let the peoples renew their strength. Let them come near, then speak; let us come together for judgment.
2 Who has stirred up one from the east, whom righteousness summons to his feet? He hands nations over to him and makes kings bow down. He turns their swords to dust, their bows to windblown chaff.
3 He pursues them and moves on in peace, along a path his feet have never traveled.
4 Who has done and carried this out, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, am the first, and with the last I am the same.
5 The islands have seen and are afraid; the ends of the earth tremble. They draw near and come.
6 Each helps his neighbor and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
7 The craftsman encourages the goldsmith; the one who smooths with the hammer encourages the one who strikes the anvil. He says of the solder, “It is good.” Then he fastens the idol with nails so it will not wobble.
8 But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, offspring of Abraham, my friend—
9 I took you from the ends of the earth and called you from its farthest corners. I said to you, “You are my servant; I have chosen you and have not rejected you.”
10 Do not be afraid, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I strengthen you, I help you, I uphold you with my righteous right hand.
11 Look, all who rage against you will be ashamed and humiliated; those who quarrel with you will come to nothing and perish.
12 You will look for your opponents and not find them; those who wage war against you will come to nothing, utterly nothing.
13 For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand. I am the one who says to you, “Do not be afraid; I will help you.”
14 Do not be afraid, worm of Jacob, people of Israel. I will help you, declares the LORD; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15 Look, I will make you a new, sharp threshing sledge, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and make the hills like chaff.
16 You will winnow them; the wind will carry them off, and the storm will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the LORD and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17 The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not abandon them.
18 I will open rivers on the bare hills and springs in the valleys. I will turn the desert into a pool and the dry land into springs of water.
19 I will put cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive tree in the desert; in the plain I will set cypress, elm, and boxwood together.
20 So that all may see and know, consider and understand together, that the hand of the LORD has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.
21 “Present your case,” says the LORD. “Bring your arguments,” says the King of Jacob.
22 “Let them bring them and tell us what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so we may consider them and know their outcome; or announce to us the things to come.
23 Announce the things that will happen later, and we will know that you are gods. Do good or do evil, so that we may be amazed and see it together.
24 Look, you are nothing, and your work is worthless; whoever chooses you is an abomination.
25 I have stirred up someone from the north, and he has come; from the rising of the sun he calls on my name. He treads on rulers as if they were clay, like a potter kneading mud.
26 Who announced this from the beginning, so we could know, and beforehand, so we could say, ‘He is right’? No one announced it, no one proclaimed it, no one heard your words.
27 I, the first, say to Zion, ‘Look, here they are!’; and to Jerusalem I will give a messenger of good news.
28 I looked, but there was no one; among them there was no adviser I could ask who could answer a word.
29 Look, they are all falsehood; their works are nothing. Their cast images are wind and emptiness.”
Read and listen to this chapter in the Shalem app, free: narration, chapter video and reading progress. Get the app