Targum Isaiah 41

Listen unto my word, ye islands, and let the kingdoms increase their strength: let them come nigh, then let them speak; let us approach one another for judgment.

Who openly brought Abraham from the east? He brought the chosen of the righteous in truth to his place, He delivered up nations before him, and broke in pieces mighty kings, he cast the slain down like the dust before his sword, and he pursued them? like stubble before his bow.

He pursued them, and passed safely by; the roughness of the path shall not affect his feet.

Who hath promised these things and established them? Who hath spoken, and it was done? And who hath ranged the generations in their order from the beginning? I, the Lord, I created the world from the beginning; yea, ages after ages are mine, and besides me there is no God.

The isles shall see and be afraid; they that are at the ends of the earth shall tremble; they shall draw nigh, they shall come.

Let every one help his neighbour, and every one say to his brother, Be of good courage.

Shall they not be confounded in their works? Because the artificer encourageth the silversmith, and he that smiteth with the great hammer him that smiteth with the small: It is time, one saith, for the soldering, it is ready; he fasteneth it with nails, that it may not be moved.

But thou, Israel, my servant, Jacob, in whom I delight, the seed of Abraham my friend:

I have brought thee out of the families of the earth, I have chosen thee out of a kingdom: and I have said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I delight in thee, and I will not thrust thee away.

Fear not, for my WORD shall be thy support; 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 truth.

Behold, all the nations that are incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.

Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee, they shall be as nothing; the men that stirred themselves up to make war with thee shall be less than nothing.

For I am the Lord thy God, that will hold thee fast by thy right hand; who saith unto thee, Fear not, my WORD shall be thy help.

Fear ye not, ye tribes of the house of Jacob, ye seed of Israel, my WORD shall be your help, saith the Lord, and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

Behold, I will make you a mighty threshing instrument full of sharp edges: thou shalt slay the nations, thou shalt consume the kingdoms, thou shalt make them like chaff.

Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and my WORD shall scatter them as the whirlwind scattereth the chaff; but as for thee, thou shalt rejoice in the Word of the Lord, thou shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.

The poor and the needy long after instruction, as the thirsty after water, but do not find it; their spirit faints in affliction. I, the Lord, will hear their prayer; I, the God of Israel, will not cast them off.

I will gather their captives from the midst of the nations, and I will lead them in the right path; and I will open for them rivers in torrentbeds, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the desert pools of water, and the land that is a thirsty place springs of water.

I will put cedars, acacias, and myrtles, and oil trees in the wilderness; I will make the fir tree, the elm, and the box tree to grow in the desert together:

In order that they may see, and know, and put my fear in their heart, and may consider together, that the might of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

Produce your cause, saith the Lord, bring forth your arguments, saith the King of Jacob.

Let them approach, and show us what shall happen unto us; Let them declare the former things what they were, that we may consider and know their event: or declare unto us the things that shall come.

Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know whether ye worship idols in which there is any profit, whether they are able to do good, or to do evil; that we may consider and argue together.

Behold, ye are nothing, and your works are to no purpose; that in which ye delight is an abomination.

I will certainly bring a king who is mightier than the north wind, and he shall go forth as the going forth of the sun in might from the east: I will strengthen him by my name, and he shall come, and tread the rulers of the nations under foot, as those who tread the dust under foot, as the potter who prepares the clay.

Who hath declared this from the beginning that we should know it? and beforetime, that we may say, It is true? Yea, there was none that foretold it; yea, none that declared it; yea, none that heard your words.

The words of consolation which the prophets prophesied from of old concerning Zion, behold, they shall come to pass! and unto Jerusalem I will give one that bringeth good tidings.

And it was made known to me, that there was no man whose works were good, and of these there was none who would take counsel, that I should ask them, and they would answer a word.

Behold, all of them are nothing, and their work less than nothing: their thoughts are plunder and destruction.