Isaiah 41:21-29

New American Standard Bible

²¹ “^[a]Present your case,” the Lord says.
“Bring forward your evidence,”
The ^(A)King of Jacob says.
^22 (B)Let them bring them forward and declare to us what is going to take place;
As for the ^(C)former events, declare what they were,
So that we may consider them and know their outcome.
Or announce to us what is coming;
^23 (D)Declare the things that are going to come afterward,
So that we may know that you are gods;
Indeed, ^(E)do good or evil, that we may be afraid and fear together.
²⁴ Behold, ^(F)you are less than nothing,
And ^(G)your work is less than nothing!
He who chooses you is an ^(H)abomination.

²⁵ “I have put ^(I)one from the north into motion, and he has come;
From the rising of the sun he will call on My name;
And he will come upon rulers as upon ^[b](J)mortar,
As the potter treads on clay.”
²⁶ Who has ^(K)declared this from the beginning, that we might know?
Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”?
There was ^(L)no one at all who declared,
There was no one at all who proclaimed,
There was no one at all who heard your words.
²⁷ “^(M)Previously I said to Zion, ‘Behold, here they are.’
And to Jerusalem, ‘I will give a ^(N)messenger of good news.’
²⁸ But ^(O)when I look, there is no one,
And there is no ^(P)counselor ^[c]among them
Who, if I ask, can ^(Q)give an answer.
²⁹ Behold, all of them are ^[d]false;
Their ^(R)works are ^(S)nothing,
Their cast metal images are ^(T)wind and emptiness.