Isaiah 41

Common English Bible

Victor from the east

41 Be quiet before me, coastlands.
    Let the nations renew their strength.
    Let them approach and speak.
    Let’s draw near for a judgment.
²Who has awakened one from the east
    and has authority to summon him to serve—
    giving him nations,
    conquering kings,
    making them like dust with his sword,
    like scattered straw with his bow?
³He pursues them and passes untouched,
    needing no path for his feet.
⁴Who has acted and who has done this,
    calling upon generation after generation since the beginning?
        I, the Lord, was first,
        and I will be the last!

⁵The coastlands see and fear;
    the ends of the earth tremble;
    they draw near and arrive.
⁶Each helps the other,
    each saying to the other, “Take courage!”
⁷The craftsman encourages the metalworker;
    the one who smoothes with the hammer
    encourages the one who strikes the anvil,
    saying of the welding, “That’s good,”
    and strengthening it with nails so it won’t move.

Israel as God’s servant

⁸But you, Israel my servant,
    Jacob, whom I have chosen,
    offspring of Abraham, whom I love,
⁹    you whom I took from the ends of the earth
        and called from its farthest corners,
    saying to you, “You are my servant;
    I chose you and didn’t reject you”:
¹⁰    Don’t fear, because I am with you;
    don’t be afraid, for I am your God.
    I will strengthen you,
    I will surely help you;
    I will hold you
    with my righteous strong hand.
¹¹All who rage against you will be shamed and disgraced.
    Those who contend with you
    will be as nothing and will perish.
¹²You will look for your opponents,
    and won’t find them.
    Those who fight you will be of no account and will die.
¹³I am the Lord your God,
    who grasps your strong hand,
    who says to you,
    Don’t fear; I will help you.
¹⁴Don’t fear, worm of Jacob,
    people of Israel!
I will help you, says the Lord.
    The holy one of Israel is your redeemer.
¹⁵Look, I’ve made you
    into a new threshing tool with sharp teeth.
You will thresh mountains and pulverize them;
    you will reduce hills to straw.
¹⁶When you winnow them,
    the wind will carry them off;
    the tempest will scatter them.
You will rejoice in the Lord
    and take pride in the holy one of Israel.

¹⁷The poor and the needy seek water, and there is none;
    their tongues are parched with thirst.
I, the Lord, will respond to them;
    I, the God of Israel, won’t abandon them.
¹⁸I will open streams on treeless hilltops
    and springs in valleys.
I will make the desert into ponds
    and dry land into cascades of water.
¹⁹I will plant in the desert cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive trees;
    I will put in the wilderness cypress, elm, and pine as well,
²⁰    so that they will see and know
    and observe and comprehend
    that the Lord’s hand has done this,
    and the holy one of Israel has created it.

Other gods challenged

²¹Present your case, says the Lord.
    Bring forward your evidence, says Jacob’s king.
²²Let the idols^[a] approach
    and tell us what will happen.
The prior things—what are they?
    Announce them, and we’ll think about them
    and know their significance.
    Or proclaim to us what is to come!
²³Report things that will happen in the future,
    then we’ll know that you are gods.
Do good! Or do bad!
    Then we will all be afraid and fearful.
²⁴Look! You are nobody, and your deeds are nothing.
    Whoever chooses you is disgusting.
²⁵I woke up one from the north and he came;
    from the east, one who calls my name.
He tramples governors like mud,
    as a potter treads clay.
²⁶Who announced this from the start
        so that we would know;
    from an earlier time
        so we would say, “That’s right”?
Truly, no one announced it,
    no one proclaimed it,
    and no one heard your words.
²⁷I first said it to Zion, “Look, here they are”;
    to Jerusalem I now send a herald.
²⁸But I look, and there’s no one
    among them, no counselor;
    and when I ask,
    no one can answer.
²⁹Look, all of them are frauds;
    their deeds amount to nothing;
    their images are a total delusion.