Isaiah 41

Isaiah 41, verse 1. ¹“Be renewed before Me, O coastlands, for the rulers will gain their strength. Let them come near and speak together, then let them declare judgment. Isaiah 41, verse 2. ²Who raised up righteousness from the east, and called it to his feet, that it should go forth? He will establish it before the Gentiles and amaze kings. He shall bury their swords in the earth and cast away their bows as sticks. Isaiah 41, verse 3. ³He will pursue them, and the way of His feet will pass through in peace. Isaiah 41, verse 4. ⁴Who worked and performed these things? He called righteousness, He who calls it from generations of old. I, God, am the first, and into the future I Am. Isaiah 41, verse 5. ⁵The Gentiles saw His righteousness and feared. The ends of the earth drew near and came together, Isaiah 41, verse 6. ⁶each one judging for his neighbor, that he might help his brother. One will say, Isaiah 41, verse 7. ⁷‘The craftsman is strong, as is the metalworker who strikes with the hammer and forges at the same time.’ Sometimes one will say, ‘It is put together well, and they fastened it with nails. They arranged them, and they shall not be moved.’ Isaiah 41, verse 8. ⁸“But you, O Israel, are My servant, and Jacob, whom I chose, the seed of Abraham, whom I loved. Isaiah 41, verse 9. ⁹I took you from the ends of the earth, and called you from its height. I said to you, ‘You are My servant. I chose you, and have not forsaken you. Isaiah 41, verse 10. ¹⁰Fear not, for I am with you. Do not go astray, for I am your God who strengthens you; and I will help and secure you with My righteous right hand.’ Isaiah 41, verse 11. ¹¹Behold, all your adversaries shall be put to shame and disgraced. For they shall be as though they did not exist, and all who oppose you shall perish. Isaiah 41, verse 12. ¹²You shall seek but not find the men who rage against you, for those who war against you shall be as though they did not exist. Isaiah 41, verse 13. ¹³For I am your God who holds your right hand, saying to you, ‘Fear not.’ Isaiah 41, verse 14. ¹⁴O Jacob, O Israel, few in number, I will help you, and I will redeem you, O Israel,” says God. Isaiah 41, verse 15. ¹⁵“Behold, I will make you like new saw-shaped threshing wheels of a wagon, and you shall thresh the mountains and beat the hills to powder, and make them like chaff. Isaiah 41, verse 16. ¹⁶You shall crush them, and the wind shall carry them away; and the whirlwind will scatter them; but you shall be glad among the saints, O Israel. Isaiah 41, verse 17. ¹⁷The poor and needy shall rejoice exceedingly, for when they shall seek water, but there is none, and their tongues are parched with thirst, I, the Lord God, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. Isaiah 41, verse 18. ¹⁸But I will open rivers in the mountain and fountains in the midst of the plains. I will make the desert into marsh-meadows, and the dry land into aqueducts. Isaiah 41, verse 19. ¹⁹I will plant the cedar, the box-tree, the myrtle, the cypress, and the white poplar in the waterless ground, Isaiah 41, verse 20. ²⁰so they may see, know, consider, and understand together that the Lord’s hand did all these things; and the Holy One of Israel created them. Isaiah 41, verse 21. ²¹“Your judgment draws near,” says the Lord God. “Your counsels draw near,” says the King of Jacob. Isaiah 41, verse 22. ²²“Let them draw near, and tell you what will happen; or tell you about the former things, what they were; and we shall be able to understand and know them, and know what are the last things; and tell us about the future. Isaiah 41, verse 23. ²³Declare to us things coming at the end of time, and we will know you are gods. Do good and evil, and we shall marvel and see it together. Isaiah 41, verse 24. ²⁴Where do you come from? Where does your work come from? They chose you, an abomination out of the earth. Isaiah 41, verse 25. ²⁵I raised up one from the north and from the rising of the sun, and they shall be called by My name. Let the rulers come, and you will be trampled down, as potter's clay and as a potter tramples down the clay. Isaiah 41, verse 26. ²⁶For who will declare the things from the beginning, that we may also know the former things and say they are true? There is no one who foretells or hears your words. Isaiah 41, verse 27. ²⁷I will give Zion the power to rule, and I shall comfort Jerusalem in the way. Isaiah 41, verse 28. ²⁸For I looked, and there was no one from the nations or from their idols to declare it to me. If I should ask them where they are from, they would not answer me. Isaiah 41, verse 29. ²⁹For they are the ones who made you, so you think, and in vain they are leading you astray.