Lectionary Calendar
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

Good News Translation

Isaiah 41:6

The skilled workers help and encourage each other.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Idol;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Idol, idolatry;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Worship;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Predestination;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Isaiah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Election;   Micah, Book of;   Righteousness;   Servant of the Lord;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Wisdom of Solomon;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Courage;   Crafts;   Text of the Old Testament;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Meter in the Bible;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Each one helps the other,and says to another, “Take courage!”
Hebrew Names Version
They help everyone his neighbor; and [every one] says to his brother, Be of good courage.
King James Version
They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
English Standard Version
Everyone helps his neighbor and says to his brother, "Be strong!"
New American Standard Bible
Each one helps his neighbor And says to his brother, "Be strong!"
New Century Version
The workers help each other and say to each other, "Be strong!"
Amplified Bible
They each help his neighbor And say to his brother [as he fashions his idols], "Be of good courage!"
World English Bible
They help everyone his neighbor; and [every one] says to his brother, Be of good courage.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Euery man helped his neighbour, and saide to his brother, Be strong.
Legacy Standard Bible
Each one helps his neighborAnd says to his brother, "Be strong!"
Berean Standard Bible
Each one helps the other, and says to his brother, "Be strong!"
Contemporary English Version
Worshipers of idols comfort each other, saying, "Don't worry!"
Complete Jewish Bible
Every one helps his fellow workman, everyone says to his brother, "Be strong!"
Darby Translation
They helped every one his neighbour, and [each] said to his brother, Take courage.
Easy-to-Read Version
"Workers help each other. They encourage each other to be strong.
George Lamsa Translation
They helped every one his neighbor; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
Lexham English Bible
Each one helps his neighbor; he says to his brother, "Take courage!"
Literal Translation
Each man helps his neighbor, and says to his brother, Be strong.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Euery man hath exorted his neghboure, and brother, and bydden him be stronge.
American Standard Version
They help every one his neighbor; and every one saith to his brother, Be of good courage.
Bible in Basic English
They gave help everyone to his neighbour; and everyone said to his brother, Take heart!
JPS Old Testament (1917)
They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother: 'Be of good courage.'
King James Version (1611)
They helped euery one his neighbour, and euery one sayd to his brother, Be of good courage.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Euery man helped his neighbour, and sayd to his brother, be strong.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
every one judging for his neighbor and that to assist his brother: and one will say,
English Revised Version
They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Ech man schal helpe his neiybore, and schal seie to his brother, Be thou coumfortid.
Update Bible Version
They help every one his neighbor; and [every one] says to his brother, Be of good courage.
Webster's Bible Translation
They helped every one his neighbor; and [every one] said to his brother, Be of good courage.
New English Translation
They help one another; one says to the other, ‘Be strong!'
New King James Version
Everyone helped his neighbor, And said to his brother, "Be of good courage!"
New Living Translation
The idol makers encourage one another, saying to each other, "Be strong!"
New Life Bible
Every one helps each other, and says to his brother, "Be strong!"
New Revised Standard
Each one helps the other, saying to one another, "Take courage!"
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Every man, to his neighbour, giveth help, - And to his brother, saith Take courage!
Douay-Rheims Bible
Every one shall help his neighbour, and shall say to his brother: Be of good courage.
Revised Standard Version
Every one helps his neighbor, and says to his brother, "Take courage!"
Young's Literal Translation
Each his neighbour they help, And to his brother he saith, `Be strong.'
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Each one helps his neighbor And says to his brother, "Be strong!"

Contextual Overview

1 God says, "Be silent and listen to me, you distant lands! Get ready to present your case in court; you will have your chance to speak. Let us come together to decide who is right. 2 "Who was it that brought the conqueror from the east and makes him triumphant wherever he goes? Who gives him victory over kings and nations? His sword strikes them down as if they were dust. His arrows scatter them like straw before the wind. 3 He follows in pursuit and marches safely on, so fast that he hardly touches the ground! 4 Who was it that made this happen? Who has determined the course of history? I, the Lord , was there at the beginning, and I, the Lord , will be there at the end. 5 "The people of distant lands have seen what I have done; they are frightened and tremble with fear. So they all assemble and come. 6 The skilled workers help and encourage each other. 7 The carpenter says to the goldsmith, ‘Well done!' The one who beats the idol smooth encourages the one who nails it together. They say, ‘The soldering is good'— and they fasten the idol in place with nails. 8 "But you, Israel my servant, you are the people that I have chosen, the descendants of Abraham, my friend. 9 I brought you from the ends of the earth; I called you from its farthest corners and said to you, ‘You are my servant.' I did not reject you, but chose you.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

helped: Isaiah 40:19, Isaiah 44:12, 1 Samuel 4:7-9, 1 Samuel 5:3-5, Daniel 3:1-7, Acts 19:24-28

of good courage: Heb. strong, Isaiah 35:4, Joel 3:9-11

Reciprocal: Genesis 11:3 - they said one to another Psalms 64:5 - encourage Isaiah 41:1 - let the people Isaiah 45:20 - yourselves Isaiah 46:1 - Bel Isaiah 46:6 - lavish Jeremiah 9:5 - weary Jeremiah 10:4 - fasten Jeremiah 23:14 - in the Jonah 1:7 - every

Cross-References

Ezekiel 17:10
Yes, it is planted, but will it live and grow? Won't it wither when the east wind strikes it? Won't it wither there where it is growing?"
Ezekiel 19:12
But angry hands pulled it up by the roots and threw it to the ground. The east wind dried up its fruit. Its branches were broken off; they dried up and were burned.
Hosea 13:15
Even though Israel flourishes like weeds, I will send a hot east wind from the desert, and it will dry up their springs and wells. It will take away everything of value.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

They helped everyone his neighbour,.... By advice and counsel, by the best arguments they could make use of, to withstand the new religion, and defend the old one; to prevent the embracing the one, and relinquishing the other:

and everyone said to his brother, be of good courage: or, "be strong" m; they strengthened one another's hands in their idolatrous worship, encouraged each other to oppose the prevailing doctrine; urging, that the craft of some was in danger, and the religion of them all at stake, and their gods like to fall into contempt. An instance of this may be seen in Demetrius the craftsman at Ephesus, when the Gospel mightily prevailed there, who stirred up the workmen of the same craft with himself and the like, suggesting the loss of their business, and the dishonour reflected on their goddess Diana, should the apostle go on as he did; by which we may judge how it was, more or less, in other parts of the world; see Acts 19:20.

m חזק "fortis esto, vel sis strenuus", Vatablus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

They helped every one his neighbor - The idolatrous nations. The idea is, that they formed confederations to strengthen each other, and to oppose him whom God had raised up to subdue them. The prophet describes a state of general consternation existing among them, when they supposed that all was in danger, and that their security consisted only in confederation; in increased attention to their religion; in repairing their idols and making new ones, and in conciliating the favor and securing the aid of heir gods It was natural for them to suppose that the calamities which were coming upon them by the invasion of Cyrus were the judgments of their gods, for some neglect, or some prevailing crimes, and that their favor could be secured only by a more diligent attention to their service, and by forming new images and establishing them in the proper places of worship. The prophet, therefore, describes in a graphic manner, the consternation, the alarm, and the haste, everywhere apparent among them, in attempting to conciliate the favor of their idols, and to encourage each other. Nothing is more common, than for people, when they are in danger, to give great attention to religion, though they may greatly neglect or despise it when they are in safety. Men fly to temples and churches and altars in the times of plague and the pestilence; and as regularly flee from them when the calamity is overpast.

Be of good courage - Margin, as Hebrew, ‘Be strong.’ The sense is, Do not be alarmed at the invasion of Cyrus. Make new images, set them up in the temples, show unusual zeal in religion, and the favor of the gods may be secured, and the dangers be averted. This is to be understood as the language of the idolatrous nations, among whom Cyrus, under the direction of Yahweh, was carrying his conquests and spreading desolation.


 
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