The Lord Challenges the Nations

41:1 “Listen to me in silence, you coastlands!¹
Let the nations find renewed strength!
Let them approach and then speak,
Let us come together for debate!²
41:2 Who stirs up this one from the east?³
Who⁴ officially commissions him for service?⁵
He hands nations over to him,⁶
and enables him to subdue⁷ kings.
He makes them like dust with his sword,
like windblown straw with his bow.⁸
41:3 He pursues them and passes by unharmed,⁹
he advances with great speed.¹⁰
41:4 Who acts and carries out decrees?¹¹
Who¹² summons the successive generations from the beginning?
I, the LORD, am present at the very beginning,
and at the very end—I am the one.¹³
41:5 The coastlands¹⁴ see and are afraid,
the whole earth¹⁵ trembles,
they approach and come.
41:6 They help one another,¹⁶
one says to the other, ‘Be strong!’
41:7 The craftsman encourages the metal smith,
the who wields the hammer encourages¹⁷ the one who pounds on the anvil.
He approves the quality of the welding,¹⁸
and nails it down so it won’t fall over.”

The Lord Encourages His People

41:8 “You, my servant Israel,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
offspring of Abraham my friend,¹⁹
41:9 you whom I am bringing back²⁰ from the earth’s extremities,
and have summoned from the remote regions—
I told you, “You are my servant.”
I have chosen you and not rejected you.
41:10 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you!
Don’t be frightened, for I am your God!²¹
I strengthen you,
yes, I help you,
yes I uphold you with my saving right hand.²²
41:11 Look, all who were angry at you will be ashamed and humiliated,
your adversaries²³ will be reduced to nothing²⁴ and perish.
41:12 When you will look for your opponents,²⁵ you will not find them,
Your enemies²⁶ will be reduced to absolutely nothing.
41:13 For I am the LORD your God,
the one who takes hold of your right hand,
who says to you, ‘Don’t be afraid, I am helping you.’
41:14 Don’t be afraid, despised little Jacob,²⁷
men of²⁸ Israel.
I am helping you,” says the LORD,
your protector,²⁹ the sovereign king of Israel.³⁰
41:15 “Look, I am making you like³¹ a sharp threshing sledge,
new and double-bladed.³²
You will thresh the mountains and crush them,
you will make the hills like straw.³³
41:16 You will winnow them and the wind will blow them away,
the wind will scatter them.
You will rejoice in the LORD,
you will boast in the sovereign king of Israel.³⁴
41:17 The oppressed and the poor look for water, but there is none,
their tongues are parched from thirst.
I, the LORD, will respond to their prayers,³⁵
I, the God of Israel, will not abandon them.
41:18 I will make streams flow down the slopes,
and produce springs in the middle of the valleys.
I will turn the desert into a pool of water,
and the arid land into springs.
41:19 I will make cedars, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees grow in the desert,
I will make evergreens, firs, and cypresses grow together in the wilderness.
41:20 I will do this so³⁶ people³⁷ will observe and recognize,
so they will pay attention and understand
that the LORD’s power³⁸ has accomplished this,
and that the sovereign king of Israel³⁹ has brought it into being.”⁴⁰

The Lord Challenges the Pagan Gods

41:21 “Present your argument,” says the LORD,
“Produce your evidence,”⁴¹ says Jacob’s king.⁴²
41:22 “Let them produce evidence! Let them tell us what will happen!
Tell us about your earlier predictive oracles,⁴³
so we might examine them⁴⁴ and see how they were fulfilled.⁴⁵
Or decree for us some future events!
41:23 Predict how future events will turn out,⁴⁶
so we might know you are gods.
Yes, do something good or bad,
so we might be frightened and in awe.⁴⁷
41:24 Look, you are nothing and your accomplishments are non-existent,
the one who chooses to worship you is disgusting.⁴⁸
41:25 I have stirred up one out of the north⁴⁹ and he advances,
one from the eastern horizon who prays in my name.⁵⁰
He steps on⁵¹ rulers as if they were clay,
like a potter stomping on mud.
41:26 Who decreed this from the beginning, so we could know?
Who announced it⁵² ahead of time, so we could say, ‘He’s correct’?
Indeed, none of them decreed it!
Indeed, none of them announced it!
Indeed, no one heard you say anything!
41:27 I first decreed to Zion, ‘Look, here’s what will happen!’⁵³
I sent a herald to Jerusalem.
41:28 I look, but there is no one,
among them there is no one who serves as an adviser,
that I might ask questions and receive answers.
41:29 Look, all of them are nothing,⁵⁴
their accomplishments are non-existent;
their metal images lack any real substance.⁵⁵