Isaiah 41:1-18 ▼

1 Be silent to me, ye islands; and the people shall change strength: they shall draw near; then shall they speak: together we will come near for judgment.

2 Who raised up justice from the sunrising? he shall call him to his foot; he will give the nations before him; and he will bring down kings: he will give as the dust of his sword, as driven straw, his bow.

3 He will pursue them, he will pass over in peace; the path he will not come in with his feet.

4 Who made and did, calling the generations from the beginning? I Jehovah, the first, and with the last; I am he.

5 The isles saw, and they will be afraid; the extremities of the earth will tremble; they drew near and they will come.

6 They will help a man his neighbor, and he will say to his brother, Be strong.

7 And the artificer will strengthen the founder, he making smooth with the hammer, he beating the anvil, saying, It is good for the welding; he will strengthen it with nails; it shall not totter.

8 And thou, Israel, my servant Jacob whom I chose thee, the seed of Abraham my beloved:

9 Whom I held thee fast from the extremities of the earth, and I called thee from its sides, and saying to thee, Thou my servant; I chose thee, and I rejected thee not.

10 Thou shalt not fear, for I am with thee: thou shalt not look around for help for I thy God will strengthen thee; also I helped thee; also I held thee up with the right hand of my justice.

11 Behold, all they burning with anger against thee shall be ashamed and disgraced: they shall be as nothing; and the men of thy strife shall be destroyed.

12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them; the man of thy contention, the men of thy war, shall be as nothing and as no more.

13 For I Jehovah thy God holding thy right hand, saying to thee, Thou shalt not fear; I helped thee.

14 Thou shalt not fear, thou worm Jacob, ye men of Israel; I helped thee, says Jehovah, and thy redeemer the Holy One of Israel.

15 Behold, I set thee to a new cutting threshing sledge having mouths: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat small, and the hills thou shalt set as chaff.

16 Thou shalt winnow them, and the wind shall lift them up, and the storm shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in Jehovah, and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

17 The poor and the needy seeking water, and none; their tongue failing in thirst, I Jehovah will answer them; the God of Israel, I will not forsake them.

18 I will open rivers upon naked hills, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will set the desert for a pool of water, and the dry land for goings forth of water.