Meaningless Idols

21 “Present your case,” says the LORD.

“Submit your arguments,” says the King of Jacob.

22 “Let them come and tell us what will happen.

Tell the former things,

so that we may reflect on them and know the outcome.

Or announce to us what is coming.

23 Tell us the things that are to come,

so that we may know that you are gods.

Yes, do something good or evil,

that we may look on together in dismay.

24 Behold, you are nothing

and your work is of no value.

Anyone who chooses you is detestable.

25 I have raised up one from the north, and he has come—

one from the east who calls on My name.

He will march over rulers as if they were mortar,

like a potter who treads the clay.

26 Who has declared this from the beginning,

so that we may know,

and from times past,

so that we may say: ‘He was right’?

No one announced it, no one foretold it,

no one heard your words.

27 I was the first to tell Zion:[fn]

‘Look, here they are!’

And I gave to Jerusalem

a herald of good news.

28 When I look, there is no one;

there is no counselor among them;

when I ask them,

they have nothing to say.

29 See, they are all a delusion;

their works amount to nothing;

their images are as empty as the wind.