Isa 41 | ESV | STEP | Listen to me in silence , O coastlands ; let the peoples renew their strength ; let them approach , then let them speak ; let us together draw near for judgment .

1 ^aListen to me in silence, ^bO coastlands;
let the peoples renew their strength;
let them approach, then let them speak;
let us together draw near for judgment.
2 ^cWho stirred up one from the east
whom victory meets at every ^dstep? ^{▼▼Or whom righteousness calls to follow?}
^fHe gives up nations before him,
so that he tramples kings underfoot;
he makes them like dust with his sword,
^glike driven stubble with his bow.
3 He pursues them and passes on safely,
by paths his feet have not trod.
4 ^hWho has performed and done this,
calling the generations from the beginning?
ⁱI, the Lord, the first,
and with the last; I am he.
5 ^jThe coastlands have seen and are afraid;
the ends of the earth tremble;
they have drawn near and come.
6 Everyone helps his neighbor
and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
7 ^kThe craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,
and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
and they strengthen it with nails ^lso that it cannot be moved.
8 But you, Israel, ^mmy servant,
Jacob, ⁿwhom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham, ^omy friend;
9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called ^pfrom its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are ^qmy servant,
^rI have chosen you and not cast you off”;
10 fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with ^smy righteous right hand.
11 ^tBehold, all who are incensed against you
shall be put to shame and confounded;
those who strive against you
shall be as nothing and shall perish.
12 ^uYou shall seek those who contend with you,
but you shall not find them;
^vthose who war against you
shall be as nothing at all.
13 For I, the Lord your God,
hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
I am the one who helps you.”
14 Fear not, you ^wworm Jacob,
you men of Israel!
I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord;
your ^xRedeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15 ^yBehold, I make of you a threshing sledge,
new, sharp, and having teeth;
you shall thresh ^zthe mountains and crush them,
and you shall make the hills like chaff;
16 ^aayou shall winnow them, and ^abthe wind shall carry them away,
and the tempest shall scatter them.
^acAnd you shall rejoice in the Lord;
in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.
17 ^adWhen the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the Lord will answer them;
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
18 ^aeI will open rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
^afI will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.
19 ^agI will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
I will set in the desert ^ahthe cypress,
the plane and the pine together,
20 that they may see and know,
may consider and understand together,
that ^aithe hand of the Lord has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.

The Futility of Idols

21 Set forth your case, says the Lord;
bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.
22 Let them bring them, and ^ajtell us
what is to happen.
Tell us the former things, what they are,
that we may consider them,
that we may know their outcome;
or declare to us the things to come.
23 ^akTell us what is to come hereafter,
that we may know that you are gods;
^aldo good, or do harm,
that we may be dismayed and terrified. ^{▼▼Or that we may both be dismayed and see}
24 Behold, ^anyou are nothing,
and your work is less than nothing;
an abomination is he who chooses you.
25 ^aoI stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
^apfrom the rising of the sun, ^aqand he shall call upon my name;
he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,
as the potter treads clay.
26 ^arWho declared it from the beginning, that we might know,
and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?
There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,
none who heard your words.
27 ^asI was the first to say ^{▼▼Or Formerly I said} to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”
and ^auI give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.
28 ^avBut when I look, there is no one;
among these there is no counselor
who, when I ask, gives an answer.
29 ^awBehold, they are all a delusion;
their works are nothing;
their metal images are empty wind.