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| 1 Keep silence before me, islands; and let the peoples renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us draw near together to judgment. |
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| 2 Who raised up from the east him whom righteousness calleth to its foot? He gave the nations before him, and caused him to have dominion over kings; he gave them as dust to his sword, as driven stubble to his bow. |
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| 3 He pursued them, he passed on in safety, by a way he had never come with his feet. |
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| 4 Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Jehovah, the first; and with the last, I am HE. |
The first, and with the last – God is the only one that should be recognized. Q361:1; CR276:5
All others go into forgetfulness. I will be the God eventually, in the end. Q361:1
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| 5 The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth trembled: they drew near, and came. |
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| 6 They helped every one his neighbour, and each said to his brother, Take courage. |
Of good courage – A right kind of courage, a godly courage. R5330:1
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| 7 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. |
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| 8 But thou, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, my friend |
Abraham my friend – Being in heart accord with God, Abraham was granted a measure of covenant relationship. R4595:3
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| 9 --thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called from the extremities thereof, and to whom I said, Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee and not rejected thee, |
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| 10 --Fear 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. |
Fear thou not – He who exercises much faith may have quietude. R5345:5
For I am with thee – We need this assurance to carry out the responsibilities of the Lord's service. R1652:1
Hand of my righteousness – With the power of his truth. R1307:6
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| 11 Lo, all that are incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded; they that strive with thee shall be as nothing, and shall perish. |
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| 12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them--them that contend with thee; they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. |
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| 13 For I, Jehovah, thy God, hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. |
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| 14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith Jehovah, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. |
Thy redeemer – The Father. All that our Redeemer has done for us has been the carrying out of the Plan of Jehovah. R4085:3
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| 15 Behold, I have made of thee a new sharp threshing instrument having double teeth: thou shalt thresh and beat small the mountains, and shalt make the hills as chaff; |
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| 16 thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; and thou shalt rejoice in Jehovah, thou shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel. |
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| 17 The afflicted and the needy seek water, and there is none; their tongue faileth for thirst: I, Jehovah, will answer them, I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. |
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| 18 I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness into a pool of water, and the dry land into water-springs. |
I will open rivers – Now commencing to be fulfilled. R1379:6*
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| 19 I will give in the wilderness the cedar, acacia, myrtle, and oleaster; I will set in the desert the cypress, pine, and box-tree together; |
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| 20 that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of Jehovah hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it. |
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| 21 Produce your cause, saith Jehovah; bring forward your arguments, saith the King of Jacob. |
Produce your cause – To scoffers we say: Account for the peculiar fitness of the testimony of the "stone witness" by your worldly wisdom. C374
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| 22 Let them bring them forward, and declare to us what shall happen: shew the former things, what they are, that we may give attention to them, and know the end of them; --or let us hear things to come: |
Let them – The fallen angels. R2172:6
Shew us what shall happen – Scoffers: Venture to prophesy of the future and see how well your prophecies will result. C374
The former things – Things before, or to come. R2172:6
Things for to come – Scoffers: Prove that it requires no inspiration to foretell future events. C374
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| 23 declare the things that are to happen hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods; yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be astonished, and behold it together. |
That ye are gods – Mighty ones. C374; R2172:6
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| 24 Behold, ye are less than nothing, and your work is of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you. ... |
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| 25 I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come, --from the rising of the sun, he who will call upon my name; and he shall come upon princes as on mortar, and as the potter treadeth clay. |
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| 26 Who hath declared it from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, It is right? Indeed, there is none that declareth; no, none that sheweth; no, none that heareth your words. |
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| 27 The first, I said to Zion, Behold, behold them! and to Jerusalem, I will give one that bringeth glad tidings. |
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| 28 And 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. |
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| 29 Behold, they are all vanity, their works are nought, their molten images are wind and emptiness. |
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