Where we are
By about 550 BC a new power was on the move. Cyrus II of Persia overthrew his Median overlord Astyages (550), conquered Croesus of Lydia in western Asia Minor (around 547–546), and was plainly heading toward Babylon, which fell to him in 539. For the nations along the Mediterranean coast, the “isles” of verse 1, it was a terrifying time. Every city was asking its gods what would happen next.
Chapter 41 is set in that moment, and it uses a legal setting to address it. Form critics, especially Claus Westermann, identified several trial speeches in Isaiah 40–48 (41:1–7, 41:21–29, 43:8–13, 44:6–8, 45:20–25). In each, the Lord summons the nations or their gods into court and challenges them to prove their divinity. The test is always the same: Who controls history, and who can say in advance what will happen?
Between the two trial scenes is something very different: a salvation oracle (verses 8–20), a tender promise spoken directly to Israel, beginning with “Fear thou not.” The contrast is the point. The nations respond to the crisis by building better idols. Israel is told to trust the God who raised the crisis up.
The thread through the chapter
Isaiah 41 sets two responses to fear side by side.
The first is the nations’. When the conqueror from the east appears (verses 2–3), “the isles saw it, and feared” (verse 5). Their answer is to huddle together and encourage one another, “Be of good courage,” while the carpenter cheers on the goldsmith and they nail down a new god so it won’t fall over (verses 6–7). Fear drives them to make a god they can control.
The second is Israel’s. “But thou, Israel, art my servant” (verse 8). The Lord reminds Israel who they are: descendants of Abraham, His friend, chosen and not cast away. Then comes a cascade of promises: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee… I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee” (verse 10). The weak “worm Jacob” becomes a threshing sledge that grinds mountains to chaff (verses 14–16). The thirsty find rivers on bare hilltops, and the desert fills with trees (verses 17–20).
Then the Lord returns to court and challenges the idols directly: Tell us what’s going to happen. Tell us what happened before and what it meant. Do something, good or bad, so we can see you’re real (verses 21–24). They can’t. The Lord can, because He raised up the conqueror Himself (verse 25), and He announced it first (verse 27).
So the chapter’s answer to fear is not a better defense. It is a better God, one who is “the first, and with the last” (verse 4), who holds history and holds Israel’s right hand (verse 13).
Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its verse.
The nations called to court
“Be silent before Me, you coastlands. Let the nations gather their strength. Let them come forward and speak. Let us meet together for judgment. Who has stirred up a conqueror from the east, whom victory meets at every step? Who hands nations over to him and makes him trample kings? His sword turns them to dust, his bow scatters them like straw. He pursues them and moves on unharmed, along a path his feet have never traveled. Who has done this and carried it out, calling the generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, am the first, and I will be with the last. I am He.” The coastlands saw and were afraid. The ends of the earth trembled. They drew near and came. Each one helps the other and says to his brother, “Be strong!” The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and the one who smooths metal with a hammer encourages the one who strikes the anvil. He says of the soldering, “It’s good,” and he fastens the idol with nails so it won’t totter.
1 Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: .
2 , called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule 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? .
5 The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came.
6 They helped 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 .
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee”
“But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendants of Abraham My friend: I took you from the ends of the earth and called you from its farthest corners. I said to you, ‘You are My servant. I have chosen you and have not rejected you.’ Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be anxious, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will hold you up with My victorious right hand. Everyone who rages against you will be put to shame and disgraced. Those who oppose you will become nothing and perish. You will look for your enemies and not find them. Those who fight against you will become nothing at all. For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand and say to you, ‘Do not fear. I will help you.’”
8 .
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 servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.
10 : 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 perish.
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.
The worm becomes a threshing sledge
“Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you few people of Israel. I will help you, says the Lord. Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. I will make you a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and make the hills like chaff. You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them off, and a storm will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the Lord and boast in the Holy One of Israel.”
Rivers in the desert
“The poor and needy look for water, and there is none. Their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the Lord, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will not abandon them. I will open rivers on the barren heights and springs in the valleys. I will turn the desert into a pool and the dry land into springs of water. I will plant cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive in the wilderness. I will set cypress, elm, and pine together in the desert, so that everyone may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it.”
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 forsake them.
18 I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
19 ; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, 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 created it.
The idols on trial
“Present your case,” says the Lord. “Bring your best arguments,” says the King of Jacob. “Let them come and tell us what is going to happen. Tell us what the earlier events were, so we can think about them and know how they turned out. Or announce to us what is coming. Tell us what will happen in the future, and we will know you are gods. Do something, good or bad, so we will be alarmed and see it together. But look: you are less than nothing, and your work is worthless. Whoever chooses you is detestable. I stirred up one from the north, and he has come. From the east he calls on My name. He tramples rulers like mortar, like a potter treading clay. Who announced this from the beginning, so we could know it? Who told us beforehand, so we could say, ‘He was right’? No one announced it. No one foretold it. No one heard a word from you. I was the first to tell Zion, ‘Look, here they are!’ I gave Jerusalem a messenger of good news. When I look, there is no one; no counselor among them who can answer when I ask. Look, they are all a delusion. Their works are nothing. Their images are wind and emptiness.”
21 Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong 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 : yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.
24 Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work of nought: an abomination is he that chooseth you.
25 I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: : and he shall come upon princes as upon mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay.
26 Who hath declared 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 vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.
Seeing Christ in Isaiah 41
The God who speaks in Isaiah 41 calls Himself “the first, and with the last,” and says “I am he” (verse 4), titles that Jesus applies to Himself in John and Revelation and in the Doctrine and Covenants. He is the gōʾēl, the kinsman-Redeemer of Israel (verse 14), who buys back His family from bondage.
He also knows the weakness He addresses. Israel is called a worm, and Jesus, in the psalm He quoted from the cross, is the one who said, “I am a worm, and no man” (Ps. 22:6). The Lord who holds Israel’s right hand (verse 13) is the One who descended below all things (D&C 122:8), and so His “Fear not” is not spoken from a distance.
Liken it to yourself
- When I’m afraid, do I tend to build something I can control, or turn to the God who controls history?
- Who in my life is saying “Be of good courage” about something empty? Am I one of those voices for someone else?
- Have I ever felt like a “worm”? What does it mean that the Lord calls me His servant and His friend’s descendant in the same breath?
- The Lord says He will hold my right hand (verse 13). What would it look like this week to let Him?
- Where in my life is “dry ground” that I need to ask the Lord to make grow?
Worth exploring next
- The trial speeches. Read Isa. 41:1–7, Isa. 41:21–29, Isa. 43:8–13, Isa. 44:6–8, and Isa. 45:20–25 in a row.
- “Fear not.” Collect the “fear not” promises in Isa. 41:10–14, Isa. 43:1–5, Isa. 44:2–8, and compare D&C 6:33–37 and D&C 68:6.
- Abraham, the friend of God. Read 2 Chr. 20:7, James 2:21–23, and Abr. 2:6–11.
- The Redeemer. Trace gōʾēl through Isa. 43:14, Isa. 44:6, Isa. 47:4, Isa. 54:5, and Isa. 59:20, and compare the book of Ruth.
- Cyrus. Read Ezra 1:1–4 and a translation of the Cyrus Cylinder side by side.
This chapter elsewhere in scripture
Sources & further reading
- Claus Westermann, Isaiah 40–66: A Commentary, Old Testament Library. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1969.
- Shalom M. Paul, Isaiah 40–66: Translation and Commentary, Eerdmans Critical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012.
- Brevard S. Childs, Isaiah, Old Testament Library. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2001.
- Joseph Blenkinsopp, Isaiah, Anchor Bible, 3 vols. New York: Doubleday, 2000–2003.
- “Cyrus”, Bible Dictionary.
- The Cyrus Cylinder, British Museum, London, museum no. 90920.
- Donald W. Parry, Jay A. Parry, and Tina M. Peterson, Understanding Isaiah, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1998.
- How Firm a Foundation, Hymns, no. 85.
- Chapter 16: The God of Israel and the Nations (Isaiah 36–47), Old Testament Student Manual: 1 Kings–Malachi (2003).