41:1 Keep silent towards Me, O isles, And the peoples pass on [to] power, They come nigh, then they speak, `Together -- to judgment we draw near.'
41:2 Who stirred up from the east a righteous one? He calleth him to His foot, He giveth before him nations, And kings He causeth him to rule, He giveth [them] as dust [to] his sword, As driven stubble [to] his bow.
41:3 He pursueth them, he passeth over in safety A path with his feet he entereth not.
41:4 Who hath wrought and done, Calling the generations from the first? I, Jehovah, the first, and with the last I [am] He.
41:5 Seen have isles and fear, ends of the earth tremble, They have drawn near, yea, they come.
41:6 Each his neighbour they help, And to his brother he saith, `Be strong.'
41:7 And strengthen doth an artizan the refiner, A smoother [with] a hammer, Him who is beating [on] an anvil, Saying, `For joining it [is] good,' And he strengtheneth it with nails, it is not moved!
41:8 -- And thou, O Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, Seed of Abraham, My lover,
41:9 Whom I have taken hold of, from the ends of the earth, And from its near places I have called thee, And I say to thee, My servant Thou [art], I have chosen thee, and not rejected thee.
41:10 Be not afraid, for with thee I [am], Look not around, for I [am] thy God, I have strengthened thee, Yea, I have helped thee, yea, I upheld thee, With the right hand of My righteousness.
41:11 Lo, all those displeased with thee, They are ashamed and blush, They are as nothing, yea, perish Do the men who strive with thee.
41:12 Thou seekest them, and findest them not, The men who debate with thee, They are as nothing, yea, as nothing, The men who war with thee.
41:13 For I, Jehovah thy God, Am strengthening thy right hand, He who is saying to thee, `Fear not, I have helped thee.'
41:14 Fear not, O worm Jacob, ye men of Israel, I helped thee, an affirmation of Jehovah, Even thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
41:15 Lo, I have set thee for a new sharp threshing instrument, Possessing teeth, thou threshest mountains, And beatest small, and hills as chaff thou makest.
41:16 Thou winnowest them, and a wind lifteth them up, And a whirlwind scattereth them, And thou -- thou rejoicest in Jehovah, In the Holy One of Israel dost boast thyself.
41:17 The poor and the needy are seeking water, And there is none, Their tongue with thirst hath failed, I, Jehovah do answer them, The God of Israel -- I forsake them not.
41:18 I open on high places rivers, And in midst of valleys fountains, I make a wilderness become a pond of water, And a dryland become springs of water.
41:19 I give in a wilderness the cedar, Shittah, and myrtle, and oil-tree, I set in a desert the fir-pine and box-wood together.
41:20 So that they see, and know, And regard, and act wisely together, For the hand of Jehovah hath done this, And the Holy One of Israel hath prepared it.
41:21 Bring near your cause, saith Jehovah, Bring nigh your mighty ones, saith the king of Jacob.
41:22 They bring nigh, and declare to us that which doth happen, The first things -- what they [are] declare ye, And we set our heart, and know their latter end, Or the coming things cause us to hear.
41:23 Declare the things that are coming hereafter, And we know that ye [are] gods, Yea, ye may do good or do evil, And we look around and see [it] together.
41:24 Lo, ye [are] of nothing, and your work of nought, An abomination -- it fixeth on you.
41:25 I have stirred up [one] from the north, And he cometh, From the rising of the sun he calleth in My name, And he cometh in [on] prefects as [on] clay, And as a potter treadeth down mire.
41:26 Who hath declared from the first, and we know? And beforetime, and we say, `Righteous?' yea, there is none declaring, Yea, there is none proclaiming, Yea, there is none hearing your sayings.
41:27 First to Zion, Behold, behold them, And to Jerusalem one proclaiming tidings I give,
41:28 And I see that there is no man, Yea, of these that there is no counsellor, And I ask them, and they return word:
41:29 `Lo, all of them [are] vanity, Nought [are] their works, Wind and emptiness their molten images!'
