Isa 41:1
41:1 Keep {a} silence before me, O isles; and let the people {b}
     renew [their] strength: let them come near; then let them
     speak: let us come near together to judgment.

     (a) God as though he pleaded his cause with all nations
         requires silence, that he may be heard in his right.
     (b) That is, gather all their power and supports.

Isa 41:2
41:2 Who raised up the {c} righteous [man] from the east, 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.

     (c) Who called Abraham (who was the pattern of God's
         justice in delivering his Church) from the idolatry of
         the Chaldeans to go to and fro at his commandment and
         placed him in the land of Canaan.

Isa 41:4
41:4 Who hath wrought and done [it], calling the {d} generations
     from the beginning? I the LORD, the {e} first, and with the
     last; I [am] he.

     (d) Who has created man and maintained his succession.
     (e) Though the world set up many gods, yet they diminish
         nothing of my glory: for I am all one, unchangeable,
         which have ever been and will be for ever.

Isa 41:5
41:5 The isles saw [it], and {f} feared; the ends of the earth
     were afraid, drew near, and {g} came.

     (f) Considering my excellent works among my people.
     (g) They assembled themselves and conspired against me to
         maintain their idolatry.

Isa 41:6
41:6 They helped every one his neighbour; and [every one] said
     to his brother, {h} Be of good courage.

     (h) He notes the obstinacy of the idolaters to maintain
         their superstitions.

Isa 41:8
41:8 But thou, Israel, [art] my {i} servant, Jacob whom I have
     chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.

     (i) And therefore ought not to pollute yourself with the
         superstition of the Gentiles.

Isa 41:10
41:10 Fear thou 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 {k} right hand of
      my righteousness.

      (k) That is, by the force of promise, in the performance
          of which I will show myself faithful and just.

Isa 41:12
41:12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not {l} find them, [even]
      them that contended with thee: they that war against thee
      shall be as nothing, and as a thing of naught.

      (l) Because they will be destroyed.

Isa 41:14
41:14 Fear not, thou {m} worm Jacob, [and] ye men of Israel; I
      will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy
      One of Israel.

      (m) Thus he calls them because they were contemned of all
          the world, and that they considering their own poor
          estate should seek him for help.

Isa 41:15
41:15 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument
      having teeth: thou shalt thresh the {n} mountains, and
      beat [them] small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.

      (n) I will make you able to destroy all your enemies no
          matter how mighty, and this chiefly is referred to the
          kingdom of Christ.

Isa 41:17
41:17 [When] {o} 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.

      (o) That is, they who will be afflicted in the captivity
          of Babylon.

Isa 41:18
41:18 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 {p} land springs of water.

      (p) God would rather change the order of nature than that
          they should want anything, who cry to him by true
          faith in their miseries: declaring to them by this
          that they will lack nothing by the way, when they
          return from Babylon.

Isa 41:20
41:20 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 {q} hath created it.

      (q) That is, has appointed and determined that it will
          come to pass.

Isa 41:21
41:21 {r} Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your
      strong [reasons], saith the King of Jacob.

      (r) He bids the idolaters to prove their religion and to
          bring forth their idols, that they may be tried
          whether they know all things, and can do all things,
          which if they cannot do, he concludes that they are
          not gods, but vile idols.

Isa 41:24
41:24 Behold, ye [are] of nothing, and your work of naught: an
      abomination [is he that] {s} chooseth you.

      (s) So that a man cannot make an idol, without doing that
          which God detests and abhors for he chooses his own
          devises and forsakes the Lords.

Isa 41:25
41:25 I have raised up [one] from the north, {t} and he shall
      come: from the rising of the sun shall he {u} call upon my
      name: and he shall come upon {x} princes as [upon] morter,
      and as the potter treadeth clay.

      (t) Meaning, the Chaldeans.
      (u) That is, Cyrus, who will do all things in my name and
          by my direction: by which he means that both their
          captivity and deliverance will be ordered by God's
          providence and appointment.
      (x) Both of the Chaldeans and others.

Isa 41:26
41:26 Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know?
      and in times past, that we may say, [He is] righteous?
      verily, [there is] none that sheweth, verily, [there is]
      none that declareth, verily, [there is] none that heareth
      {y} your words.

      (y) Meaning, that none of the Gentile gods can work any of
          these things.

Isa 41:27
41:27 The first [shall say] to Zion, Behold, behold {z} them:
      and I will give to Jerusalem {a} one that bringeth good
      tidings.

      (z) That is, the Israelites who return from the captivity.
      (a) That is, a continual succession of prophets and
          ministers.

Isa 41:28
41:28 For {b} 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.

      (b) When I looked whether the idols could do these things,
          I found that they had neither wisdom nor power to do
          anything: therefore he concludes that all are wicked
          that trust in such vanities.