21 Present your case, says Jehovah;
submit your evidence, says the King of Jacob.
22 Let them come forward and recount to us
their prophecies of events heretofore.
What were they? Tell us,
that we may examine them
and know whether they were fulfilled.
Or predict the future for us:
23 Tell us of events to come hereafter,
so that we may know you are gods.
Perform something good or evil
at which we will be dazzled and all stand in awe.
24 It is clear you are of no account,
that your works amount to nothing;
whoever accepts you is himself an abomination.
25 I have raised up one from the north
who calls on my name,
who shall come from the direction of sunrise.
He shall come upon dignitaries as on mud,
tread them as clay like a potter.
26 Who announced this beforehand, so we would know,
declared it ahead of time,
that we might say, He was right?
Indeed, not one could foretell it,
not one make it known;
no one has heard from you
any [prophetic] utterance.
27 But to Zion, he shall be its harbinger;
I will appoint him as
a herald of good tidings to Jerusalem.
28 For when I looked there was no one,
not one who could offer counsel,
or when I questioned them,
who could answer a word.
29 Surely they are all iniquitous,
their works worthless;
their outpourings are but wind and emptiness.