Isaiah 41:3 (DBY)

Passage

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

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.

Isaiah 41:4 Who hath wrought and done [it], calling the generations from the beginning? I, Jehovah, the first; and with the last, I [am] HE.

Isaiah 41:5 The isles saw [it], and feared; the ends of the earth trembled: they drew near, and came.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "pursued", "passed", "safety", "never", "come", and "feet". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "pursued" and "passed", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "Who raised up from the east him..." into verse 4's "Who hath wrought and done it calling...", so "pursued" and "passed" belong inside that flow. 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 "pursued" and "passed" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.