Discovery BoxIsaiah 41:1 
Context41:1 “Listen to me in silence, you coastlands! 1
Let the nations find renewed strength!
Let them approach and then speak;
let us come together for debate! 2
Isaiah 41:21-23
Context41:21 “Present your argument,” says the Lord.
“Produce your evidence,” 3 says Jacob’s king. 4
41:22 “Let them produce evidence! Let them tell us what will happen!
Tell us about your earlier predictive oracles, 5
so we may examine them 6 and see how they were fulfilled. 7
Or decree for us some future events!
41:23 Predict how future events will turn out, 8
so we might know you are gods.
Yes, do something good or bad,
so we might be frightened and in awe. 9
1 tn Or “islands” (KJV, NIV, CEV); TEV “distant lands”; NLT “lands beyond the sea.”
2 tn The Hebrew term מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) could be translated “judgment,” but here it seems to refer to the dispute or debate between the Lord and the nations.
3 tn Heb “strong [words],” see HALOT 870 s.v. *עֲצֻמוֹת.
4 sn Apparently this challenge is addressed to the pagan idol gods, see vv. 23-24.
5 tn Heb “As for the former things, tell us what they are!”
6 tn Heb “so we might set [them to] our heart.”
7 tn Heb “and might know their outcome.”
8 tn Heb “Declare the coming things, with respect to the end.”
9 tc The translation assumes the Qere (וְנִרְאֶה [vÿnir’eh], from יָרֵא [yare’], “be afraid”).
tn Heb “so we might be frightened and afraid together.” On the meaning of the verb שָׁתָע (shata’), see the note at v. 10.
