King James Version: Isaiah Chapter 41
1 Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their
strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near
together to judgment.
2 Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his
foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he
gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow.
3 He pursued them, and passed safely; even by the way that he had
not gone with his feet.
4 Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the
beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.
5 The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew
near, and came.
6 They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his
brother, Be of good courage.
7 So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth
with the hammer him that smote the anvil , saying, It is ready for the
sodering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.
8 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed
of Abraham my friend.
9 Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee
from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I
have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy
God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee
with the right hand of my righteousness .
11 Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed
and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with
thee shall perish.
12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that
contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing,
and as a thing of nought.
13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee,
Fear not; I will help thee.
14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee,
saith the LORD, and thy redeemer , the Holy One of Israel.
15 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having
teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt
make the hills as chaff .
16 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the
whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, and
shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their
tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel
will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the
valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land
springs of water.
19 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the
myrtle , and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the
pine, and the box tree together:
20 That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand
together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One
of Israel hath created it.
21 Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong
reasons, saith the King of Jacob.
22 Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let
them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider
them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to
come.
23 Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that
ye are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and
behold it together.
24 Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an
abomination is he that chooseth you.
25 I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: from the
rising of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon
princes as upon morter, and as the potter treadeth clay.
26 Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? and
beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous? yea, there is none that
sheweth, yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that
heareth your words.
27 The first shall say to Zion , Behold, behold them: and I will give to
Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.
28 For I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there
was no counsellor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.
29 Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten
images are wind and confusion.
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