Isaiah:41

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* »Be silent before me , you islands ! Let the nations renew their strength ! Let them come forward and speak . Let us meet together at the place of judgment . * »Who has stirred up one from the east , calling him in righteousness to his service ? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him . He turns them to dust with his sword , to windblown chaff with his bow . * »He pursues them and moves on unscathed . He goes by a path his feet have not traveled before . * »Who has done this and carried it through , calling forth the generations from the beginning ? I , Jehovah have done this with the first of them and with the last . I am he !« * The islands have seen it and fear . The ends of the earth tremble . They approach and come forward . * Each helps the other and says to his brother : »Be strong !« * The craftsman encourages the goldsmith . He who smooths with the hammer spurs on him who strikes the anvil . He says of the welding : It is good . He nails down the idol so it will not topple . * »However you , O Israel , my servant , Jacob , whom I have chosen , you descendants of Abraham , my friend , * »‘I took you from the ends of the earth . I called you from its farthest corners . I said : ‘You are my servant . I have chosen you and have not rejected you . * »‘Do not fear for I am with you ! Do not be dismayed for I am your God . I will strengthen you and help you . I will uphold you with my righteous right hand .’ * »All who rage against you will be ashamed and disgraced . Those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish . * »Though you search for your enemies , you will not find them . Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all . * »I AM JEHOVAH , YOUR GOD ! I take hold of your right hand and say to you : Do not fear ; I will help you . * »Do not be afraid , O worm Jacob , O little Israel , for I will help you . This is the declaration of Jehovah , your Redeemer , and the Holy One of Israel . * »See I will make you into a threshing sledge , new and sharp , with many teeth . You will thresh the mountains and crush them . You will reduce the hills to chaff . * »You will winnow them . The wind will pick them up and a gale will blow them away . But you will rejoice in Jehovah and glory in the Holy One of Israel . * »The poor and needy search for water , but there is none ! Their tongues are parched with thirst . But I Jehovah will answer them . I , the God of Israel , will not forsake them . * »I will make rivers flow on barren heights , and springs within the valleys . I will turn the desert into pools of water , and the parched ground into springs . * »I will put the cedar and the acacia , the myrtle and the olive in the desert . I will set pines in the wasteland , the fir and the cypress together . * »People may see and know , may consider and understand , that the hand of Jehovah has done this , that the Holy One of Israel has created it . * »Present your case ,« says Jehovah . »Set forth your arguments , says Jacob ’s King . * »Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen . Tell us what the former things were , so that we may consider them and know their final outcome . Or declare to us the things to come . * »Tell us what the future holds , so we may know that you are gods . Do something , whether good or bad , so that we will be shocked and filled with fear . * »You are less than nothing and your works are utterly worthless ! He who chooses you is detestable . * »I have stirred up one from the north , and he comes ! One from the rising sun calls on my name . He treads on rulers as if they were mortar , as if he were a potter treading the clay . * »Who told of this from the beginning , so we could know , or beforehand , so we could say : He was right ? No one told of this , no one foretold it . No one heard any words from you !« * I was the first to tell Zion : »Look , here they are !« I gave to Jerusalem a messenger of good news . * I look but there is no one . There is no one among them to give counsel ! There is no one to give answer when I ask them . * See they are all false ! Their deeds amount to nothing ! Their images are but wind and confusion .

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