| Chapter 41 |
1 | Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew [their] strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.
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2 | Who raised up the righteous [man] from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made [him] rule over kings? he gave [them] as the dust to his sword, [and] as driven stubble to his bow.
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3 | He pursued them, [and] passed safely; [even] by the way [that] he had not gone with his feet.
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4 | Who hath wrought and done [it], calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I [am] he.
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5 | The isles saw [it], and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came.
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6 | They helped every one his neighbour; and [every one] said to his brother, Be of good courage.
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7 | So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, [and] he that smootheth [with] the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It [is] ready for the sodering: and he fastened it with nails, [that] it should not be moved.
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8 | But thou, Israel, [art] my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
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9 | [Thou] whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou [art] my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
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10 | Fear thou not; for I [am] with thee: be not dismayed; for I [am] thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
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11 | Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.
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12 | Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, [even] them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought.
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13 | For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
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14 | Fear not, thou worm Jacob, [and] ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
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15 | Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat [them] small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
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16 | Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, [and] shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.
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17 | [When] the poor and needy seek water, and [there is] none, [and] their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
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18 | I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
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19 | I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, [and] the pine, and the box tree together:
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20 | That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.
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21 | Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong [reasons], saith the King of Jacob.
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22 | Let them bring [them] forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they [be], that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.
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23 | Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye [are] gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold [it] together.
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24 | Behold, ye [are] of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination [is he that] chooseth you.
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25 | I have raised up [one] from the north, and he shall come: from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as [upon] morter, and as the potter treadeth clay.
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26 | Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, [He is] righteous? yea, [there is] none that sheweth, yea, [there is] none that declareth, yea, [there is] none that heareth your words.
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27 | The first [shall say] to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.
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28 | For I beheld, and [there was] no man; even among them, and [there was] no counsellor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.
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29 | Behold, they [are] all vanity; their works [are] nothing: their molten images [are] wind and confusion.
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