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. ^r

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, ^s

then we will know that you are gods.

Indeed, do something good or bad,

then we will be in awe ^tand perceive.

²⁴Look, you are nothing ^u

and your work is worthless.

Anyone who chooses you is detestable.

²⁵“I have raised up one from the north, ^vand he has come,

one from the east ^wwho invokes My ^xname. ^y

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: ^z

Look! Here they are!

And I gave a herald of good news to Jerusalem. ^a

²⁸When I look, there is no one;

there is no counselor among them;

when I ask them, they have nothing to say. ^b

²⁹Look, all of them are a delusion; ^c

their works are nonexistent;

their images are wind and emptiness.