41:1  " 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.

41:2  " Who has aroused one from the east Whom He calls in righteousness to His feet? He delivers up nations before him And subdues kings He makes them like dust with his sword, As the wind-driven chaff with his bow.

41:3  "He pursues them, passing on in safety, By a way he had not traversed with his feet.

41:4  " Who has performed and accomplished it, Calling forth the generations from the beginning?' I, the LORD, proclaim myself the first, and with the last I proclaim myself as He.'"

41:5  The coastlands have seen and fear; The ends of the earth tremble; They have drawn near and have come.

41:6  Each one helps his neighbor And says to his brother, "Remain strong!"

41:7  So the craftsman encourages the smelter, And he who smooths metal with the hammer encourages him who beats the anvil, Saying of the soldering, "It looks good"; And he fastens it with nails, So that it will not totter.

41:8  "But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, Descendant of Abraham My friend,

41:9  You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called from its remotest parts And said to you, ' I consider You My servant, I have chosen you and not rejected you.

41:10  'Do not fear, for I remain with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I proclaim Myself as your God I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.'

41:11  "Behold, all those who have anger with you will have shame and dishonor; Those who contend with you will come to nothing and will perish.

41:12  " You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them, Those who war with you will come to nothing and non-existent.

41:13  "For I proclaim myself as the LORD your God, who upholds your right hand, Who says to you, ' Do not fear, I will help you.'

41:14  "Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel; I will help you," declares the LORD, "and your Redeemer you will acknowledge as the Holy One of Israel.

41:15  "Behold, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges; You will thresh the mountains and pulverize them, And will make the hills like chaff.

41:16  "You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away, And the storm will scatter them; But you will rejoice in the LORD, You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

41:17  "The afflicted and needy seek water, but find none, And their tongue parches with thirst; I, the LORD, will answer them Myself, As the God of Israel I will not forsake them.

41:18  "I will open rivers on the bare heights And springs in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water And the dry land fountains of water.

41:19  "I will put the cedar in the wilderness, The acacia and the myrtle and the olive tree; I will place the juniper in the desert Together with the box tree and the cypress,

41:20  That they may see and recognize, And consider and gain insight as well, That the hand of the LORD has done this, And the Holy One of Israel has created it.

41:21  "Present your case," the LORD says. "Bring forward your strong arguments," The King of Jacob says.

41:22   Let them bring forth and declare to us what will take place; As for the former events, declare what had turned out, That we may consider them and know their outcome. Or announce to us what will come;

41:23  Declare the things that will happen to come afterward, That we may know that you serve as gods; Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.

41:24  Behold, you have become of no account, And your work amounts to nothing; He who chooses you has become an abomination.

41:25  " I have aroused one from the north and he has come; From the riseing of the sun he will call on my name; And he will come upon rulers as upon mortar; Even as the potter treads clay."

41:26  Who has declared this from the beginning, that we might know? Or from former times, that we may say, "He has spoken correctly!"? Surely no one declared, Surely no one proclaimed, Surely no one heard your words.

41:27  " Formerly I said to Zion, 'Behold, here we see them ' And to Jerusalem, 'I will give a messenger of good news.'

41:28  "But when I look, I see no one, And no counselor appears among them Who, if I ask, can give an answer.

41:29  "Behold, all of them prove false; Their works prove worthless, Their molten images seem wind and emptiness.