Rely Upon the Lord Your God – Isaiah 41:1-29
41 Be silent before me, O islands! Let the nations renew their strength! Let them come forward and speak; let us meet together at the place of judgment. (2) Who has aroused a ruler from the east, one whom God’s righteousness summons to his service? He hands nations over to him, and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow. (3) He pursues them and moves on unscathed, he marches on along a path his feet have not traveled before. (4) Who has produced this and accomplished it, calling forth the generations from the beginning of time? It is I, Jehovah—I am the first, before all generations, and I will be with the last generation—I am the one. (5) The islands have seen it, and are afraid; the ends of the earth tremble. They draw near to each other and come together; (6) each one helps his neighbor and says to his brother, Be strong. (7) So the craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and the one who smooths out the metal with a hammer encourages the one who strikes the anvil. He says of the soldering, It is good. Then he nails down the idol so that it will not topple.
(8) But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob—the one whom I have chosen, the descendants of Abraham my friend, (9) you whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and have called from its farthest corners, and to whom I have declared, You are my servant, I have chosen you and have not rejected you—(10) to you I say, Do not be afraid, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; surely, I will help you; surely, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (11) Listen! All those who rage against you will be brought to shame and disgrace; those who oppose you will be as nothing and will perish. (12) You will seek them—them who fight against you—but you will not find them; those who wage war against you will be like nothing, like nothing at all. (13) Such will be the case because I, Jehovah your God, will hold your right hand and say to you, Do not be afraid; I will help you. (14) Do not be afraid, O Jacob you worm, and you men of Israel; I will help you, declares Jehovah. Indeed, your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
(15) Look! I have made you to be a new sharp threshing implement with double-edged blades. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff. (16) You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up, and a gale will blow them away. You will rejoice in Jehovah, and exult in the Holy One of Israel.
(17) The poor and the needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, Jehovah, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. (18) I will make rivers flow on the bare heights, and cause springs to gush within the valleys. I will turn the desert into a pool of water, and the parched ground into springs. (19) In the desert I will plant the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive tree. In the wasteland I will plant the pine, together with the fir tree and the cypress. (20) I will do all this so that men may see and know, that together they may consider and understand, that the hand of Jehovah has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created this.
(21) Present your case, demands Jehovah; produce your compelling arguments, declares the King of Jacob. (22) Let them bring forth their idols and let those idols inform us about the future. Tell us what is about to happen in the immediate future, so that we may consider these things and take note of their outcome; or make known to us events that will occur in the distant future. (23) Tell us the things that are still to come, so that we may know that you are gods. Indeed, do good, or do evil, so that all of us may be dismayed and filled with fear. (24) Look! You are worthless, and your works are utterly useless; whoever chooses you to be their god is detestable.
(25) I have stirred up a ruler from the north, and he is coming—from the place of the rising sun one who invokes my name. He will tread upon rulers as though they were mud, he will be like a potter kneading the clay. (26) Who has foretold this from the beginning, so that we might know about it? Who has declared these things beforehand, so that we may confess, He is right? Indeed, there is none who declared these things, there is none who revealed them. Indeed, O you idols, no one has heard any word from you! (27) I am the first one to proclaim to Zion, Look! Look! There it is! And I sent messengers to Jerusalem bearing the good news. (28) But when I look, I find no one—there is none among them who can give counsel, there is none who can give an answer when I ask them. (29) Look! Their idols are all worthless; they produce nothing—their molten images are nothing more than wind and emptiness.
Now proceed to the next section of this study, entitled, Exploring the Passage.
