Isaiah 41:21-29

New King James Version

The Futility of Idols

²¹“Present your case,” says the Lord.
“Bring forth your strong reasons,” says the ^(A)King of Jacob.
²²“Let^(B) them bring forth and show us what will happen;
Let them show the ^(C)former things, what they were,
That we may ^[a]consider them,
And know the latter end of them;
Or declare to us things to come.
²³^(D)Show the things that are to come hereafter,
That we may know that you are gods;
Yes, ^(E)do good or do evil,
That we may be dismayed and see it together.
²⁴Indeed ^(F)you are nothing,
And your work is nothing;
He who chooses you is an abomination.

²⁵“I have raised up one from the north,
And he shall come;
From the ^[b]rising of the sun ^(G)he shall call on My name;
^(H)And he shall come against princes as though mortar,
As the potter treads clay.
²⁶^(I)Who has declared from the beginning, that we may know?
And former times, that we may say, ‘He is righteous’?
Surely there is no one who shows,
Surely there is no one who declares,
Surely there is no one who hears your words.
²⁷^(J)The first time ^(K)I said to Zion,
‘Look, there they are!’
And I will give to Jerusalem one who brings good tidings.
²⁸^(L)For I looked, and there was no man;
I looked among them, but there was no counselor,
Who, when I asked of them, could answer a word.
²⁹^(M)Indeed they are all ^[c]worthless;
Their works are nothing;
Their molded images are wind and confusion.