Yesaya 41:5-8

41:5 The coastlands ¹  see and are afraid;

the whole earth ²  trembles;

they approach and come.

41:6 They help one another; ³ 

one says to the other, ‘Be strong!’

41:7 The craftsman encourages the metalsmith,

the one who wields the hammer encourages ⁴  the one who pounds on the anvil.

He approves the quality of the welding, ⁵ 

and nails it down so it won’t fall over.”

The Lord Encourages His People

41:8 “You, my servant Israel,

Jacob whom I have chosen,

offspring of Abraham my friend, ⁶ 

[41:5]  ¹ tn Or “islands” (NIV, CEV); NCV “faraway places”; NLT “lands beyond the sea.”

[41:5]  ² tn Heb “the ends of the earth,” but this is a merism, where the earth’s extremities stand for its entirety, i.e., the extremities and everything in between them.

[41:6]  ³ tn Heb “each his neighbor helps”; NCV “The workers help each other.”

[41:7]  ⁴ tn The verb “encourages” is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[41:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “saying of the welding, ‘It is good.’”

[41:8]  ⁶ tn Or perhaps, “covenantal partner” (see 1 Kgs 5:15 HT [5:1 ET]; 2 Chr 20:7).