Isaiah 40:27-31; Isaiah 41:1-16

27 Why do you complain, Ya'akov; why do you say, Isra'el, "My way is hidden from ADONAI, my rights are ignored by my God"?

28 Haven't you known, haven't you heard that the everlasting God, ADONAI, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not grow tired or weary? His understanding cannot be fathomed.

29 He invigorates the exhausted, he gives strength to the powerless.

30 Young men may grow tired and weary, even the fittest may stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in ADONAI will renew their strength, they will soar aloft as with eagles' wings; when they are running they won't grow weary, when they are walking they won't get tired.

1 "Keep silence before me, coastlands! Let the peoples replenish their strength! Let them approach; then let them speak. Let us assemble for judgment."

2 Who has raised from the east one who is just and called him to be in his service? He hands nations over to him and subjects kings to him; his sword reduces them to dust, his bow to driven straw.

3 He pursues them, passing on unscathed, hardly touching the path with his feet.

4 Whose work is this? Who has brought it about? He who called the generations from the beginning, "I, ADONAI, am the first; and I am the same with those who are last."

5 The coastlands have seen and became afraid. The ends of the earth have trembled. They have approached, and now they have come.

6 Every one helps his fellow workman, everyone says to his brother, "Be strong!"

7 The woodworker encourages the goldsmith, the polisher encourages the hammerer; he says of the soldering, "Yes, that's good," then puts nails in [the idol] to keep it from moving.

8 "But you, Isra'el, my servant; Ya'akov, whom I have chosen, descendants of Avraham my friend,

9 I have taken you from the ends of the earth, summoned you from its most distant parts and said to you, 'You are my servant' - I have chosen you, not rejected you.

10 Don't be afraid, for I am with you; don't be distressed, for I am your God. I give you strength, I give you help, I support you with my victorious right hand.

11 All those who were angry with you will be disgraced, put to shame; those who fought against you will be destroyed, brought to nothing.

12 You will seek them but not find them, those who contended with you; yes, those who made war with you will be brought to nothing, nothing at all.

13 For I, ADONAI, your God, say to you, as I hold your right hand, 'Have no fear; I will help you.

14 Have no fear, Ya'akov, you worm, you men of Isra'el!' I will help you," says ADONAI; "Your redeemer is the Holy One of Isra'el.

15 "I will make you into a threshing-sledge, new, with sharp, pointed teeth, to thresh the mountains and crush them to dust, to reduce the hills to chaff.

16 As you fan them, the wind will carry them off, and the whirlwind will scatter them. Then you will rejoice in ADONAI, you will glory in the Holy One of Isra'el.