Isaiah 41

Do Not Fear, for I Am with You

1“Islands, be silent before me!
Let peoples renew their strength.
Let them approach, then speak;
let us come together for judgment. 2Who stirred up one from the east,
whom righteousness summons to its feet?
He hands nations over to him and brings kings low;
he makes them dust before his sword,
driven stubble before his bow. 3He pursues them and passes safely on,
by a path his feet have never traveled. 4Who has worked and done this,
calling generations from the beginning?
I, the LORD, am first,
and with the last I am he.”

5The islands see and fear; earth’s ends tremble.
They draw near and come. 6Each helps his neighbor,
saying to his brother, “Be strong!” 7The craftsman encourages the goldsmith,
the one who smooths with a hammer the one who strikes the anvil.
He says of the soldering, “It is good,”
and secures the idol with nails so it will not wobble. 8“But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I chose,
offspring of Abraham who loved me—

9I took hold of you from earth’s ends,
called you from its farthest corners.
I said, ‘You are my servant;
I have chosen you and have not rejected you.’ 10Do not fear, for I am with you.
Do not look around in dismay, for I am your God.
I strengthen you; I help you;
I uphold you with my righteous right hand. 11Look, all who rage against you will be ashamed and disgraced.
Those who contend with you will become nothing and perish. 12You will look for your opponents and not find them.
Those who fight you will become nothing, nothing at all.

13For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand
and tell you, ‘Do not fear; I help you.’ 14Do not fear, worm Jacob, people of Israel.
I help you,” declares the LORD;
your Redeemer is Israel’s Holy One. 15“Look, I make you a new threshing sledge, sharp and double-edged.
You will thresh mountains and crush them,
make hills like chaff. 16You will winnow them; wind will carry them off,
and a tempest scatter them.
But you will rejoice in the LORD,
and glory in Israel’s Holy One.

17The poor and needy seek water, but there is none;
their tongues are parched with thirst.
I, the LORD, will answer them;
I, Israel’s God, will not abandon them. 18I will open rivers on bare heights, springs within valleys.
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
dry land sources of water. 19I will put cedar, acacia, myrtle, and oil tree in the wilderness;
in the desert I will set cypress, plane, and pine together, 20so they may see and know, consider and understand together
that the LORD’s hand has done this,
that Israel’s Holy One has created it.

21Present your case,” says the LORD.
“Bring forward your strongest arguments,” says Jacob’s King. 22Let them come forward and tell us what will happen.
Tell us what the former things were,
so we may consider and know their outcome;
or announce to us what is coming. 23Tell us what will happen afterward,
so we may know you are gods.
Do good or do harm,
so we may be dismayed and see it together! 24Look, you are less than nothing,
and your work is worthless.
Whoever chooses you is an abomination.

25“I stirred up one from the north, and he came;
from the rising sun he calls on my name.
He comes upon rulers like clay,
like a potter trampling mud. 26Who announced it from the beginning so we could know,
in advance so we could say, ‘He is right’?
No one announced it, no one made it heard;
no one heard your words. 27I was first to tell Zion, ‘Look, here they are!’
I give Jerusalem a bearer of good news. 28I look, but there is no one;
among these there is no counselor
who can answer a word when I ask.

29Look, all of them are emptiness;
their deeds are nothing,
their cast images wind and waste.