Isaiah 41
God's Assurance to
Israel |
1 |
Keep silence before me, O islands; and
let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then
let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.
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2 |
Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him,
and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust
to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow.
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3 |
He pursued them, and passed
safely; even by the way that he had not gone with his
feet.
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4 |
Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.
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5 |
The isles saw it, and feared;
the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came.
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6 |
They helped every one his neighbor; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
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7 |
So the carpenter encouraged the
goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him
that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the soldering:
and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be
moved.
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8 |
But thou, Israel, art my
servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. 2
Chr. 20.7 · Jas. 2.23
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9 |
Thou whom I have taken from the
ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and
said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and
not cast thee away.
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10 |
Fear thou not; for I am with thee:
be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee;
yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand
of my righteousness.
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11 |
Behold, all they that were incensed
against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as
nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.
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12 |
Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find
them, even them that contended with thee: they that war
against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of
nought.
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13 |
For I the LORD thy
God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will
help thee.
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14 |
Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel.
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15 |
Behold, I will make thee a new sharp
threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains,
and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as
chaff.
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16 |
Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall
carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou
shalt rejoice in the LORD, and shalt
glory in the Holy One of Israel.
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17 |
When the poor and needy seek
water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for
thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the
God of Israel will not forsake them.
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18 |
I will open rivers in high places, and
fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a
pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
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19 |
I will plant in the wilderness the cedar,
the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in
the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree
together:
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20 |
that they may see, and know, and
consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath
created it.
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The LORD's Challenge to False Gods |
21 |
Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith
the King of Jacob.
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22 |
Let them bring them forth, and
show us what shall happen: let them show the former things, what
they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end
of them; or declare us things for to come.
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23 |
Show the things that are to come
hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: yea, do good,
or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.
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24 |
Behold, ye are of nothing, and
your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth
you.
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25 |
I have raised up one from the
north, and he shall come: from the rising of the sun shall he call
upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as upon mortar,
and as the potter treadeth clay.
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26 |
Who hath declared from the beginning,
that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous? yea, there is none that showeth, yea, there
is none that declareth, yea, there is none that heareth
your words.
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27 |
The first shall say to Zion,
Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth
good tidings.
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28 |
For I beheld, and there was no
man; even among them, and there was no counselor, that, when
I asked of them, could answer a word.
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29 |
Behold, they are all vanity; their
works are nothing: their molten images are wind and
confusion.
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