7So the craftsman encourages the smelter,
         And he who smooths metal with the hammer encourages him who beats the anvil,
         Saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
         And he fastens it with nails,
         So that it will not totter.

8“But you, Israel, My servant,
         Jacob whom I have chosen,
         Descendant of Abraham My friend,

9You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
         And called from its remotest parts
         And said to you, ‘You are My servant,
         I have chosen you and not rejected you.

10‘Do not fear, for I am with you;
         Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
         I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
         Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

11“Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored;
         Those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.

12“You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them,
         Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.

13“For I am the LORD your God, who upholds your right hand,
         Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’

14“Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel;
         I will help you,” declares the LORD, “and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

15“Behold, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges;
         You will thresh the mountains and pulverize them,
         And will make the hills like chaff.

16“You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away,
         And the storm will scatter them;
         But you will rejoice in the LORD,
         You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

17“The afflicted and needy are seeking water, but there is none,
         And their tongue is parched with thirst;
         I, the LORD, will answer them Myself,
         As the God of Israel I will not forsake them.

18“I will open rivers on the bare heights
         And springs in the midst of the valleys;
         I will make the wilderness a pool of water
         And the dry land fountains of water.

19“I will put the cedar in the wilderness,
         The acacia and the myrtle and the olive tree;
         I will place the juniper in the desert
         Together with the box tree and the cypress,

20That they may see and recognize,
         And consider and gain insight as well,
         That the hand of the LORD has done this,
         And the Holy One of Israel has created it.

21“Present your case,” the LORD says.
         “Bring forward your strong arguments,”
         The King of Jacob says.

22Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place;
         As for the former events, declare what they were,
         That we may consider them and know their outcome.
         Or announce to us what is coming;

23Declare the things that are going to come afterward,
         That we may know that you are gods;
         Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.

24Behold, you are of no account,
         And your work amounts to nothing;
         He who chooses you is an abomination.

25“I have aroused one from the north, and he has come;
         From the rising of the sun he will call on My name;
         And he will come upon rulers as upon mortar,
         Even as the potter treads clay.”

26Who has declared this from the beginning, that we might know?
         Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”?
         Surely there was no one who declared,
         Surely there was no one who proclaimed,
         Surely there was no one who heard your words.

27“Formerly I said to Zion, ‘Behold, here they are.’
         And to Jerusalem, ‘I will give a messenger of good news.’

28“But when I look, there is no one,
         And there is no counselor among them
         Who, if I ask, can give an answer.

29“Behold, all of them are false;
         Their works are worthless,
         Their molten images are wind and emptiness.

NASB ©1995

American Standard Version
So the carpenter encourageth the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smiteth the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good; and he fasteneth it with nails, that is should not be moved.

Douay-Rheims Bible
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.

Darby Bible Translation
And the artizan encouraged the founder, he that smootheth with the hammer him that smiteth on the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good; and he fasteneth it with nails, that it be not moved.

English Revised Version
So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smiteth the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.

Webster's Bible Translation
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 should not be moved.

World English Bible
So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith. He who smoothes with the hammer encourages him who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, "It is good;" and he fastens it with nails, that it might not totter.

Young's Literal Translation
And strengthen doth an artisan the refiner, A smoother with a hammer, Him who is beating on an anvil, Saying, 'For joining it is good,' And he strengtheneth it with nails, it is not moved!February 20. "Fear Thou Not, for I am with Thee" (Isa. Xli. 10).
"Fear thou not, for I am with thee" (Isa. xli. 10). Satan is always trying to weaken our faith by fear. He is a great metaphysician and knows the paralyzing effect of fear, that it is the great enemy of faith, and that faith is the great secret of help. If he can get us fearing he will stop our trusting and hinder the very blessing we need. Job found the peril of fear and gives us the sorrowful testimony, "I feared a fear and it came upon me." Fear is born of Satan, and if we would only take time …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

February 21. "Be not Dismayed, for I am Thy God" (Isa. Xli. 10).
"Be not dismayed, for I am thy God" (Isa. xli. 10). How tenderly God is always comforting our fears! How sweetly He says in Isaiah xli. 10, "Fear not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness." And yet again with still tenderer thoughtfulness, "I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee." Not only does He say it once, but He keeps holding our right hand and repeating such promises. …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

November 7. "I Will Strengthen Thee; Yea, I Will Help Thee; Yea, I Will Uphold Thee" (Isa. Xli. 10).
"I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee" (Isa. xli. 10). God has three ways of helping us: First, He says, "I will strengthen thee"; that is, I will make you a little stronger yourself. And secondly, "I will help thee"; that is, I will add My strength to your strength, but you shall lead and I will help you. But thirdly, when you are ready, "I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness"; that is, I will lift you up bodily and carry you altogether, and …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

August 22. "I the Lord, the First and with the Last" (Isa. Xli. 4).
"I the Lord, the first and with the last" (Isa. xli. 4). Thousands of people get stranded after they have embarked on the great voyage of holiness, because they have depended upon the experience rather than on the Author of it. They had supposed that they were thoroughly and permanently delivered from all sin, and in the ecstacy of their first experience they imagine that they shall never again be tried and tempted as before, and when they step out into the actual facts of Christian life and find …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

February the Seventh Leaving Its Mark
"Fear not, thou worm Jacob, I will make thee a threshing instrument with teeth." --ISAIAH xli. 8-14. Could any two things be in greater contrast than a worm and an instrument with teeth? The worm is delicate, bruised by a stone, crushed beneath a passing wheel; an instrument with teeth can break and not be broken, it can grave its mark upon the rock. And the mighty God can convert the one into the other. He can take a man or a nation, who has all the impotence of the worm, and by the invigoration …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

November the Twentieth the Real Aristocracy
"Abraham, my friend." --ISAIAH xli. 8-16. I think that is the noblest title ever given to mortal man. It is the speech of the Lord God concerning one of His children. It is something to be coveted even to enjoy the friendship of a noble man; but to have the friendship of God, and to have the holy God name us as His friends, is surely the brightest jewel that can ever shine in a mortal's crown. And such recognition and such glory may be the wonderful lot of thee and me. "Abraham, my friend." The …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Fear Not
What a precious promise to the young Christian, or to the old Christian attacked by lowness of spirits and distress of mind! "Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer the Holy One of Israel. Christian brethren, there are some in this congregation, I hope many, who have solemnly devoted themselves to the cause and service of the Lord Jesus Christ: let them hear, then, the preparation which is necessary for this service set forth in the word …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 3: 1857

Thy Redeemer
You will please to notice that it looks as if this were a repetition by three different persons. Israel was cast down, and Jehovah, for that is the first word--(you will notice that the word "Lord" is in capitals, and should be translated "Jehovah")--says to his poor, tried, desponding servant, "I will help thee." No sooner is that uttered than we think we shall not be straining the text if we surmise that God the Holy Spirit, the Holy One of Israel, adds his solemn affidavit also; and declares by …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 3: 1857

The Chase
Heinrich Suso Is. xli. 17 O Lord, the most fair, the most tender, My heart is adrift and alone; My heart is aweary and thirsty-- Athirst for a joy unknown. From a child I have followed it--chased it, By wilderness, wold, and hill-- I never have reached it or seen it, yet must I follow it still. In those olden years did I seek it In the sweet fair things around, But the more I sought and I thirsted, The less, O my Lord, I found. When nearest it seemed to my grasping, It fled like a wandering thought; …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

The Fulfilled Prophecies of the Bible Bespeak the Omniscience of Its Author
In Isaiah 41:21-23 we have what is probably the most remarkable challenge to be found in the Bible. "Produce your cause, saith the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen; let them show 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. Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods." This Scripture has both a negative …
Arthur W. Pink—The Divine Inspiration of the Bible

The Millennium in Relation to Creation.
The blessings which will be brought to the world upon the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom will not be confined to the human family but will be extended to all creation. As we have shown in earlier chapters, the Curse which was pronounced by God upon the ground in the day of Adam's fall, and which resulted in a creation that has groaned and travailed ever since, is yet to be revoked. Creation is not to remain in bondage for ever. God has set a hope before it, a hope, which like ours, centers …
Arthur W. Pink—The Redeemer's Return

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