Discovery BoxIsaiah 41:6-7 
Contextone says to the other, ‘Be strong!’
41:7 The craftsman encourages the metalsmith,
the one who wields the hammer encourages 2 the one who pounds on the anvil.
He approves the quality of the welding, 3
and nails it down so it won’t fall over.”
Isaiah 41:21-22
Context41:21 “Present your argument,” says the Lord.
“Produce your evidence,” 4 says Jacob’s king. 5
41:22 “Let them produce evidence! Let them tell us what will happen!
Tell us about your earlier predictive oracles, 6
so we may examine them 7 and see how they were fulfilled. 8
Or decree for us some future events!
1 tn Heb “each his neighbor helps”; NCV “The workers help each other.”
2 tn The verb “encourages” is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
3 tn Heb “saying of the welding, ‘It is good.’”
4 tn Heb “strong [words],” see HALOT 870 s.v. *עֲצֻמוֹת.
5 sn Apparently this challenge is addressed to the pagan idol gods, see vv. 23-24.
6 tn Heb “As for the former things, tell us what they are!”
7 tn Heb “so we might set [them to] our heart.”
8 tn Heb “and might know their outcome.”
