Jubilee2000 - Isaiah - 41

41:1  Listen unto me, O islands; and let the peoples strengthen themselves; let them come near; then let them speak; let us come near together to judgment.

41:2  Who raised up righteousness from the east, called him that he might follow him, gave the Gentiles before him, and made [him] rule over kings? He gave [them] as the dust to his sword [and] as driven stubble to his bow.

41:3  He pursued them [and] passed in peace by the way [that] his feet had never entered.

41:4  Who has wrought and done [it]? Who calls the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and I, myself am with those who are last.

41:5  The isles saw [it] and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid; they congregated and came.

41:6  Each one helped his neighbour; and [each one] said to his brother, Be of good courage.

41:7  So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, [and] he that smooths [with] the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It [is] well joined and he strengthened it with nails, [that] it should not be moved.

41:8  But thou, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, [art] the seed of Abraham my friend.

41:9  For I have taken thee from the ends of the earth and called thee from the boundaries thereof and said unto thee Thou [shalt be] my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.

41:10  Do not fear for I [am] with thee; do not be dismayed, for I [am] thy God, who strengthens thee; I will help thee always; I will always uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

41:11  Behold, all those that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded; they shall be as nothing; and those that strive with thee shall perish.

41:12  Thou shalt seek them and shalt not find them, [even] those that contended with thee; those that war against thee shall be as nothing and as a thing of nought.

41:13  For I [am] the LORD thy God that holds thy right hand saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.

41:14  Fear not, thou worm Jacob, ye dead of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

41:15  Behold, I have placed thee as a threshing instrument, as a new [sharp] threshing instrument having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains and beat [them] small and shalt make the hills as chaff.

41:16  Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; but thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, thou shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.

41:17  The poor and needy seek the waters that are not; their tongue fails for thirst; I the LORD will hear them; [I] the God of Israel will not forsake them.

41:18  I will open rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the plains; I will turn the wilderness into pools of water and the dry land into springs of water.

41:19  I will bring forth in the wilderness cedars, thorns, myrtles, and olive trees; I will set in the desert the fir tree [and] the pine and the box tree together:

41:20  That they may see and know and take warning and understand together that the hand of the LORD does this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.

41:21  Explain your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your foundations, saith the King of Jacob.

41:22  Let them bring forth and declare unto us what shall happen; tell us what has happened from the beginning, and we shall consider it in our hearts; and we shall know what his end shall be, and cause us to understand that which is to come.

41:23  Give us news of that which is to come hereafter that we may know that ye [are] gods; or at least do good or do evil that we may have something to tell, and together we shall marvel.

41:24  Behold, ye [are] of nothing and your works of vanity; an abomination [is he that] chooses you.

41:25  I have raised up [one] from the north, and he came from the rising of the sun; he called in my name and came unto princes as [upon] clay and as the potter treads clay.

41:26  Who has declared from the beginning, that we shall know? and beforetime that we shall say, [He is] righteous? yea, [there is] no one that declares this, yea, [there is] no one that teaches, yea, [there is] no one that hears your words.

41:27  I [am] the first that has taught these things unto Zion, and unto Jerusalem I brought the news.

41:28  For I beheld, and [there was] no one; and [I asked] regarding these things, and [there was] no counsellor; I asked them, and they did not answer a word.

41:29  Behold, they [are] all vanity; their works [are] nothing: their molten images [are] wind and confusion.: