Fear thou not. This verse is most closely connected with the two preceding. The clauses in Isaiah 41:8, Isaiah 41:9 are one and all vocative; here the verb follows. The whole passage is one of great tenderness. I am with thee, on the force of the word" Immanuel"). I will strengthen thee; rather, I have strengthened thee, or I have chosen thee (Delitzsch, Cheyne). The two other verbs are also in the past tense. While primarily they declare past favours, they may also be regarded as prophetic of future ones, since "with God is no variableness.'
As Israel would grow strong through God's help, so her enemies would grow weak through God's disfavour. That enemies of all kinds may be seen to be included, the designation is four times varied—"they that are angry with thee;" "that are at strife with thee;" "that are in conflict with thee;" "that are at war with thee." The order is one of climax. Similarly, with each augmentation of the hostility there is an augmentation of the sentence of punishment—"shall be covered with shame;" "shall perish;" "shall not be found;" "shall become as nothingness."