Isaiah 41; Isaiah 42; 1 Thessalonians 1

1 Let the islands keep silence before me, and the nations take new strength: let them come near, and then speak, let us come near to judgment together.

2 Who hath raised up the just one from the east, hath called him to follow him? he shall give the nations in his sight, and he shall rule over kings: he shall give them as the dust to his sword, as stubble driven by the wind, to his bow.

3 He shall pursue them, he shall pass in peace, no path shall appear after his feet.

4 Who hath wrought and done these things, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, I am the first and the last.

5 The islands saw it, and feared, the ends of the earth were astonished, they drew near, and came.

6 Every one shall help his neighbour, and shall say to his brother: Be of good courage.

7 The coppersmith striking with the hammer encouraged him that forged at that time, saying: It is ready for soldering: and he strengthened 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 In whom I have taken thee from the ends of the earth, and from the remote parts thereof have called thee, and said to thee: Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee, and have not cast thee away.

10 Fear not, for I am with thee: turn not aside, for I am thy God: I have strengthened thee, and have helped thee, and the right hand of my just one hath upheld thee.

11 Behold all that fight against thee shall be confounded and ashamed, they shall be as nothing, and the men shall perish that strive against thee.

12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find the men that resist thee: they shall be as nothing: and as a thing consumed the men that war against thee.

13 For I am the Lord thy God, who take thee by the hand, and say to thee: Fear not, I have helped thee.

14 Fear not, thou worm of Jacob, you that are dead of Israel: I have helped thee, saith the Lord: and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel.

15 I have made thee as a new thrashing wain, with teeth like a saw: thou shalt thrash the mountains, and break them in pieces: 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, in the Holy One of Israel thou shalt be joyful.

17 The needy and the poor seek for waters, and there are none: their tongue hath been dry with thirst. I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.

18 I will open rivers in the high hills, and fountains in the midst of the plains: I will turn the desert into pools of waters, and the impassable land into streams of waters.

19 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, and the thorn, and the myrtle, and the olive tree: I will set in the desert the fir tree, the elm, 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 Bring your cause near, saith the Lord: bring hither, if you have any thing to allege, saith the King of Jacob.

22 Let them come, and tell us all things that are to come: tell us the former things what they were: and we will set our heart upon them and shall know the latter end of them, and tell us the things that are to come.

23 Shew the things that are to come hereafter, and we shall know that ye are gods. Do ye also good or evil, if you can: and let us speak, and see together.

24 Behold, you are of nothing, and your work of that which hath no being: he that hath chosen you is an abomination.

25 I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come from the rising of the sun: he shall call upon my name, and he shall make princes to be as dirt, and as the potter treading clay.

26 Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know: and from time of old, that we may say: Thou art just. There is none that sheweth, nor that foretelleth, nor that heareth your words.

27 The first shall say to Sion: Behold they are here, and to Jerusalem I will give an evangelist.

28 And I saw, and there was no one even among them to consult, or who, when I asked, could answer a word.

29 Behold they are all in the wrong, and their works are vain: their idols are wind and vanity.

1 Behold my servant, I will uphold him: my elect, my soul delighteth in him: I have given my spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

2 He shall not cry, nor have respect to person, neither shall his voice be heard abroad.

3 The bruised reed he shall not break, and smoking flax he shall not quench, he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.

4 He shall not be sad, nor troublesome, till he set judgment in the earth, and the islands shall wait for his law.

5 Thus saith the Lord God that created the heavens, and stretched them out: that established the earth, and the things that spring out of it: that giveth breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them that tread thereon.

6 I the Lord have called thee in justice, and taken thee by the hand, and preserved thee. And I have given thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles:

7 That thou mightest open the eyes of the blind, and bring forth the prisoner out of prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

8 I the Lord, this is my name: I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to graven things.

9 The things that were first, behold they are come: and new things do I declare: before they spring forth, I will make you hear them.

10 Sing ye to the Lord a new song, his praise is from the ends of the earth: you that go down to the sea, and all that are therein: ye islands, and ye inhabitants of them.

11 Let the desert and the cities thereof be exalted: Cedar shall dwell in houses: ye inhabitants of Petra, give praise, they shall cry from the top of the mountains.

12 They shall give glory to the Lord, and shall declare his praise in the islands.

13 The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, as a man of war shall he stir up zeal: he shall shout and cry: he shall prevail against his enemies.

14 I have always held my peace, I have kept silence, I have been patient, I will speak now as a woman in labour: I will destroy, and swallow up at once.

15 I will lay waste the mountains and hills, and will make all their grass to wither: and I will turn rivers into islands, and will dry up the standing pools.

16 And I will lead the blind into the way which they know not: and in the paths which they were ignorant of I will make them walk: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight: these things have I done to them, and have not forsaken them.

17 They are turned back: let them be greatly confounded, that trust in a graven thing, that say to a molten thing: You are our god.

18 Hear, ye deaf, and, ye blind, behold that you may see.

19 Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, but he to whom I have sent my messengers? Who is blind, but he that is sold? or who is blind, but the servant of the Lord?

20 Thou that seest many things, wilt thou not observe them? thou that hast ears open, wilt thou not hear?

21 And the Lord was willing to sanctify him, and to magnify the law, and exalt it.

22 But this is a people that is robbed and wasted: they are all the snare of young men, and they are hid in the houses of prisons: they are made a prey, and there is none to deliver them: a spoil, and there is none that saith: Restore.

23 Who is there among you that will give ear to this, that will attend and hearken for times to come?

24 Who hath given Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to robbers? hath not the Lord himself, against whom we have sinned? And they would not walk in his ways, and they have not hearkened to his law.

25 And he hath poured out upon him the indignation of his fury, and a strong battle, and hath burnt him round about, and he knew not: and set him on fire, and he understood not.

1 Paul and Sylvanus and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians: in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Grace be to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for you all: making a remembrance of you in our prayers without ceasing,

3 Being mindful of the work of your faith and labour and charity: and of the enduring of the hope of our Lord Jesus Christ before God and our Father.

4 Knowing, brethren, beloved of God, your election:

5 For our gospel hath not been unto you in word only, but in power also: and in the Holy Ghost and in much fulness, as you know what manner of men we have been among you for your sakes.

6 And you became followers of us and of the Lord: receiving the word in much tribulation, with joy of the Holy Ghost:

7 So that you were made a pattern to all that believe in Macedonia and in Achaia.

8 For from you was spread abroad the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and in Achaia but also in every place: your faith which is towards God, is gone forth, so that we need not to speak any thing.

9 For they themselves relate of us, what manner of entering in we had unto you: and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.

10 And to wait for his Son from heaven (whom he raised up from the dead), Jesus, who hath delivered us from the wrath to come.