Isaiah 41:1 (DBY)

Passage

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.

Nearby Context

Isaiah 41:1 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.

Isaiah 41:2 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.

Isaiah 41:3 He pursued them, he passed on in safety, by a way he had never come with his feet.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "keep", "silence", "before", "islands", "peoples", "renew", "strength", and "come". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "keep" and "silence", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The next verse adds "Who raised up from the east him...", so "keep" and "silence" should be read forward into that movement. In Isaiah context, the local focus is the Holy One of Israel, judgment and restoration, the servant of the LORD, and Zion's hope.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "keep" and "silence" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.