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The Prophecy
of Isaias 41
Let the islands keep silence before me, and the nations
take new strength: let them come near, and then speak,
let us come near to judgment together.
Who hath raised up the just one from the east, hath
called him to follow him? he shall give the nations
in his sight, and he shall rule over kings: he shall
give them as the dust to his sword, as stubble driven
by the wind, to his bow.
He shall pursue them, he shall pass in peace, no path
shall appear after his feet.
Who hath wrought and done these things, calling the
generations from the beginning? I the Lord, I am the
first and the last.
The islands saw it, and feared, the ends of the earth
were astonished, they drew near, and came.
Every one shall help his neighbour, and shall say to
his brother: Be of good courage.
The coppersmith striking with the hammer encouraged
him that forged at that time, saying: It is ready for
soldering: and he strengthened it with nails, that it
should not be moved.
But thou Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen,
the seed of Abraham my friend:
In whom I have taken thee from the ends of the earth,
and from the remote parts thereof have called thee,
and said to thee: Thou art my servant, I have chosen
thee, and have not cast thee away.
Fear not, for I am with thee: turn not aside, for I
am thy God: I have strengthened thee, and have helped
thee, and the right hand of my just one hath upheld
thee.
Behold all that fight against thee shall be confounded
and ashamed, they shall be as nothing, and the men shall
perish that strive against thee.
Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find the men that
resist thee: they shall be as nothing: and as a thing
consumed the men that war against thee.
For I am the Lord thy God, who take thee by the hand,
and say to thee: Fear not, I have helped thee.
Fear not, thou worm of Jacob, you that are dead of Israel:
I have helped thee, saith the Lord: and thy Redeemer
the Holy One of Israel.
I have made thee as a new thrashing wain, with teeth
like a saw: thou shall thrash the mountains, and break
them in pieces: and shalt make the hills as chaff.
Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away,
and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt
rejoice in the Lord, in the Holy One of Israel thou
shalt be joyful.
The needy and the poor seek for waters, and there are
none: their tongue hath been dry with thirst. I the
Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake
them.
I will open rivers in the high bills, and fountains
in the midst of the plains: I will turn the desert into
pools of waters, and the impassable land into streams
of waters.
I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, and the thorn,
and the myrtle, and the olive tree: I will set in the
desert the fir tree, the elm, and the box tree together:
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.
Bring your cause near, saith the Lord: bring hither,
if you have any thing to allege, saith the King of Jacob.
Let them come, and tell us all things that are to come:
tell us the former things what they were: and we will
set our heart upon them, and shall know the latter end
of them, and tell us the things that are to come.
Shew the things that are to come hereafter, and we shall
know that ye are gods. Do ye also good or evil, if you
can: and let us speak, and see together.
Behold, you are of nothing, and your work of that which
hath no being: he that hath chosen you is an abomination.
I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come
from the rising of the sun: he shall call upon my name,
and he shall make princes to be as dirt, and as the
potter treading clay.
Who bath declared from the beginning, that we may know:
and from time of old, that we may say: Thou art just.
There is none that sheweth, nor that foretelleth, nor
that heareth your words.
The first shall say to Sion: Behold they are here, and
to Jerusalem I will give an evangelist.
And I saw, and there was no one even among them to consult,
or who, when I asked, could answer a word.
Behold they are all in the wrong, and their works are
vain: their idols are wind and vanity. |