The Lantern

Isaiah41

God’s Help to Israel

Be silent before me, coastlands; and let peoples exchange strength. Let them draw near, then let them speak; together let us come near for judgment.

Who has roused from the east one whom righteousness calls to its foot? He gives nations before him and makes him tread down kings; he makes them like dust with his sword, like driven stubble with his bow.

He pursues them, he passes on in peace, on a path his feet have not come.

Who has worked and done it, calling the generations from the head? I, the LORD, am the first, and with the last ones I am he.

The coastlands saw and feared, the ends of the earth trembled; they drew near and came.

Each helps his neighbor, and to his brother he says, Be strong.

And a craftsman strengthens a goldsmith, one who smooths with a hammer the one striking the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good — and he fastens it with nails so it will not totter.

But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, seed of Abraham my friend;

you whom I took hold of from the ends of the earth, and from its far corners I called you, and I said to you, You are my servant; I have chosen you and I have not rejected you.

Do not fear, for I am with you; do not look about in dread, for I am your God. I strengthen you, I also help you, I also uphold you with my righteous right hand.

See, all who burn against you will be ashamed and humiliated; they will be like nothing, and the men of your quarrel will perish.

You will seek them and not find them, the men of your strife; they will be like nothing and like nought, the men of your war.

For I, the LORD your God, am holding your right hand, saying to you, Do not fear — I have helped you.

Do not fear, worm Jacob, men of Israel! I have helped you — the utterance of the LORD — and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

See, I have set you as a threshing sledge, sharp and new, master of many edges. You will thresh mountains and crush them, and hills you will make like chaff.

You will winnow them and a wind will carry them off, and a storm will scatter them; and you will rejoice in the LORD, in the Holy One of Israel you will glory.

The afflicted and the needy are seeking water and there is none; their tongue is parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.

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 springs of water.

I will put in the wilderness cedar, acacia and myrtle and olive tree; I will set in the desert plain cypress, fir and box tree together —

so that they may see and know, and set their hearts and understand together, that the hand of the LORD has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.

Meaningless Idols

Bring near your case, says the LORD; bring forward your strong arguments, says the King of Jacob.

Let them bring them forward and tell us what will happen. The former things — what were they? Tell us, and let us set our heart and know their outcome; or make us hear the things to come.

Tell the things that are to come hereafter, and we will know that you are gods. Yes, do good or do evil, that we may look about us and see together.

See, you are from nothing, and your work is from nought; an abomination is the one who chooses you.

I have roused one from the north and he has come; from the rising of the sun he calls on my name. And he comes on rulers as on mud, as a potter tramples clay.

Who told it from the head, that we might know, and from beforehand, that we might say, He is right? No one told, no one made it heard, no one heard your words.

First to Zion — see, here they are! And to Jerusalem I give a herald of good news.

And I looked, and there was no one; and among these there was no counselor, that I might ask them and they return a word.

See, all of them are iniquity; their deeds are nought; wind and emptiness are their cast images.