Is 41:1-7

1Keep silence before me, O coastlands;^*

let the nations renew their strength.

Let them draw near and speak;

let us come together for judgment.

2Who has stirred up from the East the champion of justice,

and summoned him to be his attendant?

To him he delivers nations

and subdues kings;

With his sword he reduces them to dust,

with his bow, to driven straw.

3He pursues them, passing on without loss,

by a path his feet scarcely touch.

4Who has performed these deeds?

Who has called forth the generations from the beginning?^a

I, the LORD, am the first,

and at the last^* I am he.

5The coastlands see, and fear;

the ends of the earth tremble:

they approach, they come on.

6Each one helps his neighbor,

one says to the other, “Courage!”

7The woodworker encourages the goldsmith,

the one who beats with the hammer, him who strikes on the anvil,

Saying of the soldering, “It is good!”

then fastening it with nails so it will not totter.