Isaiah 47:12

Persist ¹  in trusting ²  your amulets and your many incantations, which you have faithfully recited ³  since your youth! Maybe you will be successful ⁴  – maybe you will scare away disaster. ⁵ 

"Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have laboured at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror.

"Stand fast now in your spells And in your many sorceries With which you have labored from your youth; Perhaps you will be able to profit, Perhaps you may cause trembling.

"Call out the demon hordes you have worshiped all these years. Ask them to help you strike terror into the hearts of people once again.

But don't give up. From your great repertoire of enchantments there must be one you haven't yet tried. You've been at this a long time. Surely [something] will work.

Go on now with your secret arts, and all your wonder-working, to which you have given yourself up from your earliest days; it may be that they will be of profit to you, or by them you may put fear into your attackers.

Stand fast in your enchantments and your many sorceries, with which you have labored from your youth; perhaps you may be able to succeed, perhaps you may inspire terror.

"Stand now with your enchantments And the multitude of your sorceries, In which you have labored from your youth––Perhaps you will be able to profit, Perhaps you will prevail.

Persist ¹  in trusting ²  your amulets and your many incantations, which you have faithfully recited ³  since your youth! Maybe you will be successful ⁴  – maybe you will scare away disaster. ⁵ 

¹ tn Heb “stand” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “Stand fast.”

² tn The word “trusting” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See v. 9.

³ tn Heb “in that which you have toiled.”

⁴ tn Heb “maybe you will be able to profit.”

⁵ tn Heb “maybe you will cause to tremble.” The object “disaster” is supplied in the translation for clarification. See the note at v. 9.