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“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. 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. 3 He pursued them, [and] passed safely; [even] by
the way [that] he had not gone with his feet. 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. 5 The isles saw [it], and feared;
the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came. 6 They helped
every one his neighbour; and [every one] said to his brother, Be of good
courage. 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 sodering: and he fastened it with nails, [that] it should
not be moved. 8 But thou, Israel, [art] my servant, Jacob whom I have
chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend. 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.”
“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. 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. 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. 13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right
hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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: 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.”
“21 ¶ Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong
[reasons], saith the King of Jacob. 22 Let them bring [them] forth, and
shew us what shall happen: let them shew 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. 23 Shew 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. 24 Behold, ye
[are] of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination [is he that]
chooseth you. 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] morter, and as the potter treadeth
clay. 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 sheweth, yea, [there is] none that declareth, yea, [there is] none
that heareth your words. 27 The first [shall say] to Zion, Behold,
behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good
tidings. 28 For I beheld, and [there was] no man; even among them, and
[there was] no counsellor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a
word. 29 Behold, they [are] all vanity; their works [are] nothing: their
molten images [are] wind and confusion.” (Isaiah 41:1-29 AV)
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