Isaiah 41:21-29

Christian Standard Bible

²¹ “Submit your case,” says the Lord.
“Present your arguments,” says Jacob’s King.
²² “Let them come and tell us
what will happen.^(A)
Tell us the past events,
so that we may reflect on them
and know the outcome,
or tell us the future.
²³ Tell us the coming events,^(B)
then we will know that you are gods.
Indeed, do something good or bad,
then we will be in awe^[a] when we see it.
²⁴ Look, you are nothing^(C)
and your work is worthless.
Anyone who chooses you is detestable.

²⁵ “I have stirred up one from the north,^(D) and he has come,
one from the east^(E) who invokes my^[b] name.^(F)
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,^[c]
‘Look! Here they are!’
And I gave Jerusalem a herald with good news.^(G)
28 When I look, there is no one;
there is no counselor among them;
when I ask them, they have nothing to say.^(H)
29 Look, all of them are a delusion;^[d]
their works are nonexistent;
their images are wind and emptiness.