Isaiah 41:1-20

English Standard Version

Fear Not, for I Am with You

41 ^(A)Listen to me in silence, ^(B)O coastlands;
let the peoples renew their strength;
let them approach, then let them speak;
let us together draw near for judgment.

²^(C)Who stirred up one from the east
    whom victory meets at every ^(D)step?^[a]
^(E)He gives up nations before him,
    so that he tramples kings underfoot;
he makes them like dust with his sword,
    ^(F)like driven stubble with his bow.
³He pursues them and passes on safely,
    by paths his feet have not trod.
⁴^(G)Who has performed and done this,
    calling the generations from the beginning?
^(H)I, the Lord, the first,
    and with the last; I am he.

⁵^(I)The coastlands have seen and are afraid;
    the ends of the earth tremble;
    they have drawn near and come.
⁶Everyone helps his neighbor
    and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
⁷^(J)The 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 ^(K)so that it cannot be moved.

⁸But you, Israel, ^(L)my servant,
    Jacob, ^(M)whom I have chosen,
    the offspring of Abraham, ^(N)my friend;
⁹you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
    and called ^(O)from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are ^(P)my servant,
    ^(Q)I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
¹⁰fear 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 ^(R)my righteous right hand.

¹¹^(S)Behold, 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^(T)You shall seek those who contend with you,
    but you shall not find them;
^(U)those who war against you
    shall be as nothing at all.
¹³For 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.”

¹⁴Fear not, you ^(V)worm Jacob,
    you men of Israel!
I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord;
    your ^(W)Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
¹⁵^(X)Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge,
    new, sharp, and having teeth;
you shall thresh ^(Y)the mountains and crush them,
    and you shall make the hills like chaff;
¹⁶^(Z)you shall winnow them, and ^(AA)the wind shall carry them away,
    and the tempest shall scatter them.
^(AB)And you shall rejoice in the Lord;
    in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.

¹⁷^(AC)When 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^(AD)I will open rivers on the bare heights,
    and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
^(AE)I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
    and the dry land springs of water.
¹⁹^(AF)I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
    the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
I will set in the desert ^(AG)the cypress,
    the plane and the pine together,
²⁰that they may see and know,
    may consider and understand together,
that ^(AH)the hand of the Lord has done this,
    the Holy One of Israel has created it.