Isaiah 41:24-29

41:24 Look, you are nothing, and your accomplishments are nonexistent;

the one who chooses to worship you is disgusting. ¹ 

41:25 I have stirred up one out of the north ²  and he advances,

one from the eastern horizon who prays in my name. ³ 

He steps on ⁴  rulers as if they were clay,

like a potter treading the clay.

41:26 Who decreed this from the beginning, so we could know?

Who announced it ⁵  ahead of time, so we could say, ‘He’s correct’?

Indeed, none of them decreed it!

Indeed, none of them announced it!

Indeed, no one heard you say anything!

41:27 I first decreed to Zion, ‘Look, here’s what will happen!’ ⁶ 

I sent a herald to Jerusalem. ⁷ 

41:28 I look, but there is no one,

among them there is no one who serves as an adviser,

that I might ask questions and receive answers.

41:29 Look, all of them are nothing, ⁸ 

their accomplishments are nonexistent;

their metal images lack any real substance. ⁹ 

[41:24]  ¹ tn Heb “an object of disgust [is he who] chooses you.”

[41:25]  ² sn That is, Cyrus the Persian. See the note at v. 2.

[41:25]  ³ tn Heb “[one] from the rising of the sun [who] calls in my name.”

[41:25]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text has וְיָבֹא (vÿyavo’, “and he comes”), but this is likely a corruption of an original וַיָּבָס (vayyavas), from בּוּס (bus, “step on”).

[41:26]  ⁵ tn The words “who announced it” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The interrogative particle and verb are understood by ellipsis (see the preceding line).

[41:27]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text reads simply, “First to Zion, ‘Look here they are!’” The words “I decreed” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[41:27]  ⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[41:29]  ⁸ tc The Hebrew text has אָוֶן (’aven, “deception,” i.e., “false”), but the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has אין (“nothing”), which forms a better parallel with אֶפֶס (’efes, “nothing”) in the next line. See also 40:17 and 41:12.

[41:29]  ⁹ tn Heb “their statues are wind and nothing”; NASB “wind and emptiness”; NIV “wind and confusion.”