Old Testament Commentary - Isaiah 41

by Don R. Hender

Scriptural Text [& Editorial]	Commentary & Explanation	Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
CHAPTER 41 To Israel the Lord says: Ye are my servants; I will preserve you—Idols are nothing—One shall bring good tidings to Jerusalem.	This is conversation concerning scattered Israel upon the isles of the sea, the people of the Lord: Those who are the servants/diciples of the Lord—To such that are his, Jerusalem ~ Zion ~ Israel, the Lord will preserve you and declare you gods—Idols are nothing—One shall bring good tidings to Jerusalem, the Lord's elect.
1 KEEP ^asilence before me, O islands; and let the people ^brenew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near ^ctogether to judgment. 2 Who raised up the righteous man from the ^aeast, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him ^brule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow. 3 He pursued them, and passed safely; even by the way that he had not gone with his feet.
4 Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the ^afirst, and with the last; I am he. 5 The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came. 6 They ^ahelped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
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 ^ashould not be moved. 8 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my ^afriend. 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 ^aservant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
10 ¶ ^aFear 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. 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 ^aperish. 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.
13 For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. 14 Fear not, thou ^aworm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the ^bLORD, and thy ^credeemer, the ^dHoly One of Israel.
15 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the ^amountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. 16 Thou shalt ^afan 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. 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 ^aforsake them.
18 I will open ^arivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the ^bwilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. 19 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the ^ashittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the ^bfir tree, and the ^cpine, and the box tree together: 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 ^acreated it.
21 Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your ^astrong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. 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. 23 Shew the things that are to come hereafter, *that we may know that ye are* gods^a**: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.	*23^a that we may know that ye are* gods** When all is known and revealed, such as that product of the revealed truths of the restoration, it will, it has been shown who we are and that we are children of God and have the potential of being even as our Father, gods even as he is God.
24 Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an ^aabomination is he that chooseth you. 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. 26 Who hath ^adeclared 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.
27 The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings. 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. 29 Behold, they are all ^avanity; their works are nothing: their molten ^bimages are wind and confusion.