Isaiah 41; Isaiah 42

1 Be quiet before me, coastlands. Let the nations renew their strength. Let them approach and speak. Let's draw near for a judgment.

2 Who has awakened one from the east and has authority to summon him to serve— giving him nations, conquering kings, making them like dust with his sword, like scattered straw with his bow?

3 He pursues them and passes untouched, needing no path for his feet.

4 Who has acted and who has done this, calling upon generation after generation since the beginning? I, the LORD, was first, and I will be the last!

5 The coastlands see and fear; the ends of the earth tremble; they draw near and arrive.

6 Each helps the other, each saying to the other, "Take courage!"

7 The craftsman encourages the metalworker; the one who smoothes with the hammer encourages the one who strikes the anvil, saying of the welding, "That's good," and strengthening it with nails so it won't move.

8 But you, Israel my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, offspring of Abraham, whom I love,

9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, "You are my servant; I chose you and didn't reject you":

10 Don't fear, because I am with you; don't be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will surely help you; I will hold you with my righteous strong hand.

11 All who rage against you will be shamed and disgraced. Those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.

12 You will look for your opponents, and won't find them. Those who fight you will be of no account and will die.

13 I am the LORD your God, who grasps your strong hand, who says to you, Don't fear; I will help you.

14 Don't fear, worm of Jacob, people of Israel! I will help you, says the LORD. The holy one of Israel is your redeemer.

15 Look, I've made you into a new threshing tool with sharp teeth. You will thresh mountains and pulverize them; you will reduce hills to straw.

16 When you winnow them, the wind will carry them off; the tempest will scatter them. You will rejoice in the LORD and take pride in the holy one of Israel.

17 The poor and the needy seek water, and there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will respond to them; I, the God of Israel, won't abandon them.

18 I will open streams on treeless hilltops and springs in valleys. I will make the desert into ponds and dry land into cascades of water.

19 I will plant in the desert cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive trees; I will put in the wilderness cypress, elm, and pine as well,

20 so that they will see and know and observe and comprehend that the LORD's hand has done this, and the holy one of Israel has created it.

21 Present your case, says the LORD. Bring forward your evidence, says Jacob's king.

22 Let the idols approach and tell us what will happen. The prior things—what are they? Announce them, and we'll think about them and know their significance. Or proclaim to us what is to come!

23 Report things that will happen in the future, then we'll know that you are gods. Do good! Or do bad! Then we will all be afraid and fearful.

24 Look! You are nobody, and your deeds are nothing. Whoever chooses you is disgusting.

25 I woke up one from the north and he came; from the east, one who calls my name. He tramples governors like mud, as a potter treads clay.

26 Who announced this from the start so that we would know; from an earlier time so we would say, "That's right"? Truly, no one announced it, no one proclaimed it, and no one heard your words.

27 I first said it to Zion, "Look, here they are"; to Jerusalem I now send a herald.

28 But I look, and there's no one among them, no counselor; and when I ask, no one can answer.

29 Look, all of them are frauds; their deeds amount to nothing; their images are a total delusion.

1 But here is my servant, the one I uphold; my chosen, who brings me delight. I've put my spirit upon him; he will bring justice to the nations.

2 He won't cry out or shout aloud or make his voice heard in public.

3 He won't break a bruised reed; he won't extinguish a faint wick, but he will surely bring justice.

4 He won't be extinguished or broken until he has established justice in the land. The coastlands await his teaching.

5 God the LORD says— the one who created the heavens, the one who stretched them out, the one who spread out the earth and its offspring, the one who gave breath to its people and life to those who walk on it—

6 I, the LORD, have called you for a good reason. I will grasp your hand and guard you, and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations,

7 to open blind eyes, to lead the prisoners from prison, and those who sit in darkness from the dungeon.

8 I am the LORD; that is my name; I don't hand out my glory to others or my praise to idols.

9 The things announced in the past—look—they've already happened, but I'm declaring new things. Before they even appear, I tell you about them.

10 Sing to the LORD a new song! Sing his praise from the ends of the earth! You who sail the sea and all that fills it, the coastlands and their residents.

11 Let the desert and its towns shout aloud, the villages that Kedar inhabits. Let the cliff dwellers sing; from the top of the mountains let them shout.

12 Let them give the LORD glory and declare God's praise in the coastlands.

13 The LORD will go out like a soldier; like a warrior God will stir up rage. God will shout, will roar; over enemies he will prevail.

14 I've kept still for a very long time. I've been silent and restrained myself. Like a woman in labor I will moan; I will pant, I will gasp.

15 I will wither mountains and valleys, and I will dry up all their vegetation. I will turn rivers into deserts, and I will dry up pools.

16 I will make the blind walk a road they don't know, and I will guide them in paths they don't know. But I will make darkness before them into light and rough places into level ground. These things I will do; I won't abandon them.

17 Turned backward, utterly shamed are those who trust in idols, who say to a cast image, "You are our god!"

18 Hear, deaf ones, and blind ones, look and see!

19 Who is blind if not my servant and deaf like my messenger whom I send? Who is blind like the restored one, blind like the servant of the LORD?

20 You have seen many things, but don't keep watch. With ears open, you don't hear.

21 The LORD desired for the sake of his righteousness to expand and glorify the Instruction.

22 But this is a people plundered and looted, everyone trapped in holes and hidden in dungeons. They have become plunder with no one to rescue, loot with no one to say, "Give it back."

23 Which of you will listen to this, will pay attention and respond from now on?

24 Who gave Jacob to the looter, and Israel to the plunderers? Wasn't it the LORD, the one we sinned against? They were not willing to walk in God's ways, and wouldn't listen to his teaching.

25 So God poured out on Jacob the heat of his anger and the fury of battle. It scorched him, and he didn't know it; it burned him, but he didn't give it much thought.