Chapter 41

God pleading against idolaters, sheweth his power and goodness by his benefits bestowed upon the Jews; ℣.17 with promise of perpetual protection: ℣.21 whereas their vain idols can no way profit them.

1. 1

   Let the islands hold their peace before me, and the Gentiles change their strength: let them come near, & then speak, let us approach to judgement together.

2. 2

   Who hath raised the just from the East, hath called him that he should follow him? He shall give the Gentiles in his sight, & he shall obtain kings: he shall give them as it were dust to his sword, as stubble taken violently with the wind, to his bow.

3. 3

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

4. 4

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

5. 5

   The islands have seen, and have been afraid, the ends of the earth have been astonied, they have approached, and come near.

6. 6

   Every one shall help his neighbour, and shall say to his brother: Be strong.

7. 7

   The coppersmith striking with the hammer encouraged him that forged at that time, saying: It is good for soldering: and he strengthened it with nails, that it should not be moved.

8. 8

   And thou Israel my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend:

9. 9

   in whom I have taken thee from the ends of the earth, and from the far parts thereof have called thee, and said to thee: Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee, & have not cast thee away.

10. 10

    Fear not, because I am with thee: decline not, because I am thy God: I have strengthened thee, and have holpen thee, and the right hand of my just one hath sustained thee.

11. 11

    Behold all that fight against thee shall be confounded and ashamed, they shall be as if they were not, and the men shall perish that gainsay thee.

12. 12

    Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find, the men thy rebels: they shall be as if they were not: and as consumption the men that war against thee.

13. 13

    Because I am the Lord thy God, taking thy hand, and saying to thee: Fear not, I have holpen thee.

14. 14

    Fear not thou worm of Jacob, ye that are dead of Israel: I have holpen thee, saith our Lord: and thy redeemer the holy one of Israel.

15. 15

    I have made thee as a new threshing wain, having teeth like a saw: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and break them in pieces: and shalt make the little hills as dust.

16. 16

    Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall take them away, & the whirlwind shall disperse them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, in the holy one of Israel thou shalt be joyful.

17. 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. 18

    I will open rivers in the high hills, and fountains in the midst of plain fields: I will make the desert into pools of waters, and the land not passable into rivers of waters.

19. 19

    I will give into 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. 20

    That they may see, and know, and recount, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the holy one of Israel hath created it.

21. 21

    Make your judgement approach, saith the Lord: bring hither, if perhaps you have any thing, said the King of Jacob.

22. 22

    Let them come, and tell us what things soever are to come: tell the former things what they have been: and we will set our heart, and shall know the later ends of them, and tell us the things that are to come.

23. 23

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

24. 24

    Behold, you are of nothing, and your work of that which is not: he is abomination that hath chosen you.

25. 25

    I have raised up from the North, and he shall come from the rising of the sun: he shall call upon my name, and shall bring the magistrates as mire, and as the plasterer treading clay.

26. 26

    Who hath shewed from the beginning, that we may know: and from the beginning that we may say: Art thou just? There is neither that sheweth, nor telleth before, nor heareth your words.

27. 27

    The first shall say to Sion: Lo I am present, and to Jerusalem: I will give an evangelist.

28. 28

    And I saw, and neither of these was there any that would consult, and being asked would answer a word.

29. 29

    Behold all are unjust, and their works vain: their idols are wind and vanity.