Isaiah 41

1 Isles, be still to me, and folks change strength; nigh they, and then speak they; nigh we together to doom. (Ye islands, be silent before me, and let the people renew their strength; come they, and then speak they; yea, come we together for judgement.)
2 Who raised the just man from the east, and called him to follow himself? He shall give folks in his sight, and he shall wield kings; he shall give (them) as dust to his sword, and as stubble ravished of the wind to his bow. (Who raised up the just one from the east, and made him to triumph wherever he went? He shall take hold of the nations before him, and also their kings; he shall make them to be like the dust to his sword, and like stubble blown by the wind to his bow.)
3 He shall pursue them, he shall go in peace; a path shall not appear in his feet. (He shall swiftly pursue them, but he shall be safe; and no path shall be made by his feet.)
4 Who wrought and did these things? calling generations at the beginning (calling the generations from the beginning). (I did, for) I am the Lord; and I am the first, and the last.
5 Isles saw, and dreaded; the last parts of [the] earth were astonied; they came nigh, and nighed. (The islands saw it, and feared, or were afraid; the ends of the earth were astonished; they came together, and came near.)
6 Each man shall help his neighbour, and shall say to his brother, Be thou comforted (Be thou encouraged).
7 A smith of metal smiting with an hammer comforted him that polished, either made fair, in that time, saying, It is good to [the] glue; and he fastened him with nails, that he should not be moved. (A metalsmith striking with a hammer encouraged him who polished, or who made beautiful, at that time, saying, It is ready for the glue; and then he fastened it with nails, so that it could not be moved.)
8 And thou, Israel (But thou, Israel), (art) my servant, Jacob, whom I chose, the seed of Abraham, my friend,
9 in whom I took thee; from the last parts of [the] earth, and from the far parts thereof I called thee; and I said to thee, Thou art my servant; I chose thee, and casted not away thee. (I have taken thee up from the ends of the earth, and I have called thee from the far parts of it; and I said to thee, Thou art my servant; I chose thee, and did not cast thee away.)
10 Dread thou not, for I am with thee; bow thou not away, for I am thy God. I comforted thee, and helped thee; and the right hand of my just man uptook thee. (Fear thou not, for I am with thee; turn thou not away, for I am thy God. I shall strengthen thee, and I shall help thee, and I shall uphold thee with my just right hand.)
11 Lo! all men shall be shamed, and shall be ashamed, that fight against thee; they shall be as if they be not, and men shall perish, that against-say thee. (Lo! all people shall be shamed, and shall be ashamed, who say against thee; and those who fight against thee shall perish, they shall be as if they be not.)
12 Thou shalt seek them, and thou shalt not find thy rebel men; they shall be as if they be not, and as the wasting of a man fighting against thee.
13 For I am thy Lord God, taking thine hand, and saying to thee, Dread thou not, I helped thee. (For I am the Lord thy God, who taketh thy hand, and saith to thee, Fear thou not, I shall help thee.)
14 Do not thou, worm of Jacob, dread, ye that be (the) dead of Israel. I helped thee, saith the Lord, and thine again-buyer, the Holy of Israel. (Do not thou fear, O worm of Jacob, and ye louse of Israel. I shall help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.)
15 I have set thee as a new wain threshing, having sawing bills; thou shalt thresh mountains, and shalt make (them) small, and thou shalt set little hills as (but) dust. (I shall make thee like a new threshing wagon, having sawing bills; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and shalt make them small, and thou shalt turn the little hills into dust.)
16 Thou shalt winnow them, and the wind shall take them away, and a whirlwind shall scatter them; and thou shalt make full out joy in the Lord, and thou shalt be glad in the Holy (One) of Israel.
17 Needy men and poor seek waters, and those be not (The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none); the tongue of them dried (up) for thirst. I the Lord shall hear them, I (the) God of Israel shall not forsake them.
18 I shall open floods in high hills (I shall open rivers in the high hills), and wells in the midst of fields; I shall set the desert into ponds of waters, and the land without (a) way into rivers of waters.
19 I shall give in (the) wilderness a cedar, and a thorn, and a myrtle tree, and the tree of an olive; I shall set in the desert a fir tree, an elm, and a box tree together.
20 That they see, and know, and bethink, and understand together; that the hand of the Lord did this thing, and the Holy of Israel made that of nought. (So that they see, and know, and think about, and altogether understand; that the hand of the Lord did this thing, yea, that the Holy One of Israel made it out of nothing.)
21 Make ye nigh your doom (Make ye your arguments now/State ye your case), saith the Lord; bring ye (it in), if in hap ye have anything, saith the King of Jacob.
22 Nigh, and tell to us, whatever things shall come (Come near, or come close, and tell us, what shall come); tell ye the former things that were, and we shall set (them in) our heart, and shall know (them); show ye to us the last things of them, and those things that shall come.
23 Tell ye what things shall come in time to coming, and we shall know, that ye be gods; also do ye well, either evil, if ye may (and also do ye good, or evil, if ye can, to make us afraid, and in awe); and speak we, and see we (it) together.
24 Lo! ye be of nought, and your work is of that that is not; he that choose you, is abomination. (Lo! ye be nothing, and your work is nothing; he who chooseth 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 (on) my name. And he shall bring magistrates as clay, and as a potter defouling [the] earth (And he shall trample upon the magistrates like upon the earth, or upon the dirt, yea, like a potter defiling, or treading upon, his clay).
26 Who told (out) from the beginning, (so) that we (can) know, and from the beginning, (so) that we (can) say, Thou art just? none is telling, neither before-saying, neither hearing your words.
27 The first shall say to Zion, Lo! I am present; and I shall give a gospeller to Jerusalem. (The first shall say to Zion, Lo! I am here; and I shall bring a messenger of good news, or of glad tidings, to Jerusalem.)
28 And I saw, and none was of these, that took counsel, and he that was asked, answered (not) a word. (And I saw, and there was no one who gave any advice, and he who was asked, answered not a word.)
29 Lo! all men be unjust, and their works be wind and vain; the simulacra of them be wind, and (a) void thing. (Lo! all people be unrighteous, and their works be but wind, and in vain, or empty and futile; and their idols be but wind, and empty things too.)

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Isaiah 41 Commentaries

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.