“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.” (Isaiah 41:1-29 AV)