Isaiah 41

“Keep silent before me, islands,

Who has raised up one from the east?

He pursues them,

Who has worked and done it,

The islands have seen, and fear.

Everyone helps his neighbor.

So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith.

“But you, Israel, my servant,

You whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth,

Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you.

Behold, all those who are incensed against you will be disappointed and confounded.

You will seek them, and won’t find them,

For I, Yahweh your God, will hold your right hand,

Don’t be afraid, you worm Jacob,

Behold, I have made you into a new sharp threshing instrument with teeth.

You will winnow them,

The poor and needy seek water, and there is none.

I will open rivers on the bare heights,

I will put cedar, acacia, myrtle, and oil trees in the wilderness.

that they may see, know, consider, and understand together,

Produce your cause,” says Yahweh.

“Let them announce, and declare to us what shall happen.

Declare the things that are to come hereafter,

Behold, you are of nothing,

“I have raised up one from the north, and he has come;

Who has declared it from the beginning, that we may know?

I am the first to say to Zion, ‘Behold, look at them;’

When I look, there is no man;

Behold, all of them, their deeds are vanity and nothing.