Isa 41 | NASB1995 | STEP | “ Coastlands , listen to Me in silence , And let the peoples gain new strength ; Let them come forward , then let them speak ; Let us come together for judgment .

Isaiah 41

Israel Encouraged

1 ^a“Coastlands, listen to Me ^bin silence,
And let the peoples ^cgain new strength;
^dLet them come forward, then let them speak;
^eLet us come together for judgment.
2 ^f“Who has aroused one from the east
Whom He ^gcalls in righteousness to His ^{▼▼ Lit foot}feet?
He ⁱdelivers up nations before him
And subdues kings.
He makes them like ^jdust with his sword,
As the wind-driven ^kchaff with his bow.
3 “He pursues them, passing on in safety,
By a way he had not been ^{▼▼ Lit going}traversing with his feet.
4 ^m“Who has performed and accomplished it,
Calling forth the generations from the beginning?
‘ ⁿI, the Lord, am the first, and with the last. ^oI am He.’”

5 The ^pcoastlands have seen and are afraid;
The ^qends of the earth tremble;
They have drawn near and have come.
6 Each one helps his neighbor
And says to his brother, “Be strong!”
7 So the ^rcraftsman encourages the ^ssmelter,
And he who smooths metal with the hammer encourages him who beats the anvil,
Saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
And he fastens it with nails,
^t So that it will not totter.
8 “But you, Israel, ^uMy servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
Descendant of ^vAbraham My ^wfriend,
9 You whom I have ^{▼▼ Or taken hold of
,} ^ytaken from the ends of the earth,
And called from its ^zremotest parts
And said to you, ‘You are ^aaMy servant,
I have ^abchosen you and not rejected you.
10 ‘Do not ^acfear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, surely ^adI will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous ^aeright hand.’
11 “Behold, ^afall those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored;
^agThose who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.
12 ^ah“You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them,
Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.
13 “For I am the Lord your God, ^aiwho upholds your right hand,
Who says to you, ‘ ^ajDo not fear, I will help you.’
14 “Do not fear, you ^akworm Jacob, you men of Israel;
I will help you,” declares the Lord, ^{▼▼ Or even your Redeemer, the Holy One}“and ^amyour Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15 “Behold, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges;
^anYou will thresh the ^aomountains and pulverize them,
And will make the hills like chaff.
16 “You will ^apwinnow them, and the wind will carry them away,
And the storm will scatter them;
But you will ^aqrejoice in the Lord,
You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

17 “The ^{▼▼ Or poor}afflicted and needy are seeking ^aswater, but there is none,
And their tongue is parched with thirst;
I, the Lord, ^atwill answer them Myself,
As the God of Israel I ^auwill not forsake them.
18 “I will open ^avrivers on the bare heights
And springs in the midst of the valleys;
I will make ^awthe wilderness a pool of water
And the dry land fountains of water.
19 “I will put the cedar in the wilderness,
The acacia and the ^axmyrtle and the ^{▼▼ Or oleaster}olive tree;
I will place the ^azjuniper in the desert
Together with the box tree and the cypress,
20 That ^bathey may see and recognize,
And consider and gain insight as well,
That the ^bbhand of the Lord has done this,
And the Holy One of Israel has created it.

21 ^{▼▼ Lit Bring near}“Present your case,” the Lord says.
“Bring forward your strong arguments,”
The ^bdKing of Jacob says.
22 ^beLet them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place;
As for the ^bfformer events, declare what they were,
That we may consider them and know their outcome.
Or announce to us what is coming;
23 ^bgDeclare the things that are going to come afterward,
That we may know that you are gods;
Indeed, ^bhdo good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.
24 Behold, ^biyou are of ^{▼▼ Lit nothing}no account,
And ^bkyour work amounts to nothing;
He who chooses you is an ^blabomination.

25 “I have aroused ^bmone from the north, and he has come;
From the rising of the sun he will call on My name;
And he will come upon rulers as upon ^bnmortar,
Even as the potter treads clay.”
26 Who has ^bodeclared this from the beginning, that we might know?
Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”?
Surely there was ^bpno one who declared,
Surely there was no one who proclaimed,
Surely there was no one who heard your words.
27 ^bq“Formerly I said to Zion, ‘Behold, here they are.’
And to Jerusalem, ‘I will give a ^brmessenger of good news.’
28 “But ^bswhen I look, there is no one,
And there is no ^btcounselor ^{▼▼ Lit out of those}among them
Who, if I ask, can ^bvgive an answer.
29 “Behold, all of them are ^{▼▼ Another reading is nothing}false;
Their ^bxworks are ^byworthless,
Their molten images are ^bzwind and emptiness.