Isaiah 41:21–29

²¹“Submit your case,” says the Lord.

“Present your arguments,” says Jacob’s King.

²²“Let them come and tell us

what will happen.^g

Tell us the past events,

so that we may reflect on them

and know the outcome,

or tell us the future.

²³Tell us the coming events,^h

then we will know that you are gods.

Indeed, do something good or bad,

then we will be in awe^B when we see it.

²⁴Look, you are nothingⁱ

and your work is worthless.

Anyone who chooses you is detestable.

²⁵“I have stirred up one from the north,^j and he has come,

one from the east^k who invokes my^C name.^l

He will march over rulers as if they were mud,

like a potter who treads the clay.

²⁶Who 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.

²⁷I was the first to say to Zion,^A

‘Look! Here they are!’

And I gave Jerusalem a herald with good news.^m

²⁸When I look, there is no one;

there is no counselor among them;

when I ask them, they have nothing to say.ⁿ

²⁹Look, all of them are a delusion;^B

their works are nonexistent;

their images are wind and emptiness.