Isaiah 41:1-9 ▼

1 Listen to me in silence, O coastlands; let the peoples renew their strength; let them approach, then let them speak; let us together draw near for judgment.

2 Who stirred up one from the east whom victory meets at every step? He gives up nations before him, so that he tramples kings underfoot; he makes them like dust with his sword, like driven stubble with his bow.

3 He pursues them and passes on safely, by paths his feet have not trod.

4 Who has performed and done this, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.

5 The coastlands have seen and are afraid; the ends of the earth tremble; they have drawn near and come.

6 Everyone helps his neighbor and says to his brother, “Be strong!”

7 The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith, and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, “It is good”; and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved.

8 But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend;

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 have chosen you and not cast you off”;