25 “I have put (A)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 [a](B)mortar,
As the potter treads on clay.”
26 Who has (C)declared this from the beginning, that we might know?
Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”?
There was (D)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 (E)Previously I said to Zion, ‘Behold, here they are.’
And to Jerusalem, ‘I will give a (F)messenger of good news.’
28 But (G)when I look, there is no one,
And there is no (H)counselor [b]among them
Who, if I ask, can (I)give an answer.
29 Behold, all of them are [c]false;
Their (J)works are (K)nothing,
Their cast metal images are (L)wind and emptiness.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 41:25 I.e., the building material
  2. Isaiah 41:28 Lit out of those
  3. Isaiah 41:29 Another reading is nothing

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