Isaiah 41:21-29

English Standard Version

The Futility of Idols

²¹Set forth your case, says the Lord;
    bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.
²²Let them bring them, and ^(A)tell us
    what is to happen.
Tell us the former things, what they are,
    that we may consider them,
that we may know their outcome;
    or declare to us the things to come.
²³^(B)Tell us what is to come hereafter,
    that we may know that you are gods;
^(C)do good, or do harm,
    that we may be dismayed and terrified.^[a]
²⁴Behold, ^(D)you are nothing,
    and your work is less than nothing;
    an abomination is he who chooses you.

²⁵^(E)I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
    ^(F)from the rising of the sun, ^(G)and he shall call upon my name;
he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,
    as the potter treads clay.
²⁶^(H)Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,
    and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?
There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,
    none who heard your words.
²⁷^(I)I was the first to say^[b] to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”
    and ^(J)I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.
²⁸^(K)But when I look, there is no one;
    among these there is no counselor
    who, when I ask, gives an answer.
²⁹^(L)Behold, they are all a delusion;
    their works are nothing;
    their metal images are empty wind.