25 “I have stirred up one from the north,(A) and he has come,
one from the east(B) who invokes my[a] name.(C)
He will march over rulers as if they were mud,
like a potter who treads the clay.
26 Who told about this from the beginning,
so that we might know,
and from times past,
so that we might say, ‘He is right’?
No one announced it,
no one told it,
no one heard your words.
27 I was the first to say to Zion,[b]
‘Look! Here they are!’
And I gave Jerusalem a herald with good news.(D)
28 When I look, there is no one;
there is no counselor among them;
when I ask them, they have nothing to say.(E)
29 Look, all of them are a delusion;[c]
their works are nonexistent;
their images are wind and emptiness.

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Footnotes

  1. 41:25 DSS read his
  2. 41:27 Lit First to Zion
  3. 41:29 DSS, Syr read are nothing

25 I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as upon morter, and as the potter treadeth clay.

26 Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous? yea, there is none that sheweth, yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there is none that heareth your words.

27 The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.

28 For 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.

29 Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.

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