Isaiah 41 - 42
Do Not Fear, for I Am with You
41“aCoastlands, listen to Me bin silence,And let the peoples cgain new power;dLet them come forward, then let them speak;eLet us draw near together for judgment.2“aWho has awakened one from the eastWhom He bcalls in righteousness to His 1feet?He cgives up nations before himAnd 2has dominion over kings.He makes them like ddust with his sword,As the wind-driven echaff with his bow.3“He pursues them, passing on in peace,By a way he had not 1come with his feet.4“aWho has worked and done it,Calling forth the generations from the beginning?‘bI, Yahweh, am the first; and with the last, cI am He.’”5The acoastlands have seen and are afraid;The bends of the earth tremble;They have drawn near and have come.6Each one helps his neighborAnd says to his brother, “Be strong!”7So the acraftsman strengthens the bsmelter,And he who smooths metal with the hammer strengthens him who beats the anvil,Saying of the soldering, “It is good”;And he strengthens it with nails,cSo that it will not be shaken.8“But you, Israel, aMy servant,Jacob whom I have chosen,Seed of bAbraham My cfriend,9You whom I have 1,astrongly taken hold of from the ends of the earth,And called from its bremotest partsAnd said to you, ‘You are cMy servant,I have dchosen you and not rejected you.10‘Do not afear, for I am with you;Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.I will make you mighty, surely bI will help you;Surely I will uphold you with My righteous cright hand.’11“Behold, aall those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored;bThose who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.12“aYou 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 Yahweh your God, awho 1strongly takes hold of your right hand,Who says to you, ‘bDo not fear, I will help you.’14“Do not fear, you aworm Jacob, you men of Israel;I will help you,” declares Yahweh, “1and byour Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.15“Behold, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges;aYou will thresh the bmountains and pulverize them,And will make the hills like chaff.16“You will awinnow them, and the wind will carry them away,And the storm will scatter them;But you will brejoice in Yahweh;You will boast in the Holy One of Israel.17“The 1afflicted and needy are seeking awater, but there is none,And their tongue is parched with thirst;I, Yahweh, bwill answer them Myself,As the God of Israel I cwill not forsake them.18“I will open arivers on the bare heightsAnd springs in the midst of the valleys;I will make bthe wilderness a pool of waterAnd the dry land fountains of water.19“I will put the cedar in the wilderness,The acacia and the amyrtle and the 1olive tree;I will place the bjuniper in the desertTogether with the box tree and the cypress,20That athey may see and know,And establish and gain insight as well,That the bhand of Yahweh has done this,And the Holy One of Israel has created it.21“Bring near your case,” Yahweh says.“Bring forward your mighty arguments,”The aKing of Jacob says.22aLet them bring it forth and declare to us what is going to take place;As for the bformer events, declare what they were,That we may establish our heart on them and know their outcome.Or cause us to hear of what is coming;23aDeclare the things that are to come afterward,That we may know that you are gods;Indeed, bdo good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.24Behold, ayou are nothing,And byour work is non-existent;He who chooses you is an cabomination.25“I have awakened aone from the north, and he has come;From the rising of the sun he will call on My name;And he will come upon officials as upon bmortar,Even as the potter treads clay.”26Who has adeclared this from the beginning, that we might know?Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”?Surely there was bno one who declared;Surely there was no one who caused those words to be heard;Surely there was no one who heard your words.27“aFormerly I said to Zion, ‘Behold, here they are.’And to Jerusalem, ‘I will give a bmessenger of good news.’28“But aI look, and there is no one,And there is no bcounselor 1among themWho, if I ask, can crespond with a word.29“Behold, all of them are 1false;Their aworks are bnon-existent;Their molten images are cwind and utter formlessness.Yahweh’s Chosen Servant
42“aBehold, My bServant, whom I 1uphold;My cchosen one in whom My dsoul is well-pleased.I have put My eSpirit upon Him;He will bring forth fjustice to the 2nations.2“He will not cry out or raise His voice,Nor make His voice heard in the street.3“A crushed reed He will not breakAnd a faintly burning wick He will not extinguish;He will bring forth ajustice in truth.4“He will not be afaint or crushedUntil He has established justice in the earth;And the bcoastlands will wait expectantly for His 1law.”5Thus says the God, Yahweh, Who acreated the heavens and bstretched them out,Who spread out the cearth and its 1offspring,Who dgives breath to the people on itAnd spirit to those who walk in it,
6“I am Yahweh, I have acalled You in righteousness;I will also btake hold of You by the hand and cguard You,And I will give You as a dcovenant to the people,As a elight to the nations,7To aopen blind eyes,To bbring out prisoners from the dungeonAnd those who inhabit darkness from the prison.8“aI am Yahweh, that is bMy name;I will not give My cglory to another,Nor My praise to 1graven images.9“Behold, the aformer things have come to pass;Now I declare bnew things;Before they spring forth I cause you to hear them.”10Sing to Yahweh a anew song,Sing His praise from the bend of the earth!cYou who go down to the sea, das well as its fullness.You ecoastlands, and those who inhabit them.11Let the awilderness and its cities lift up their voices,The villages where bKedar inhabits.Let the inhabitants of cSela sing aloud,Let them shout for joy from the tops of the dmountains.12Let them agive glory to YahwehAnd declare His praise in the bcoastlands.13aYahweh will go forth like a warrior;He will awaken His bzeal like a man of war.He will make a loud shout, indeed, He will raise a war cry.He will cprevail against His enemies.