Isaiah 41:21

Amplified Bible

"Present your case [for idols made by men's hands]," says the LORD. "Produce your evidence [of divinity]," Says the king of Jacob.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“Submit your case,” says the Lord.“Present your arguments,” says Jacob’s King.

Hebrew Names Version
Produce your cause, says the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, says the King of Ya`akov.

King James Version
Produce your cause, saith the Lord ; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.

English Standard Version
Set forth your case, says the Lord ; bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.

New American Standard Bible
"Present your case," the LORD says. "Bring forward your evidence," The King of Jacob says.

New Century Version
The Lord says, "Present your case." The King of Jacob says, "Tell me your arguments.

World English Bible
Produce your cause, says Yahweh; bring forth your strong reasons, says the King of Jacob.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Stand to your cause, saith the Lord: bring forth your strong reasons, saith ye King of Iaakob.

Legacy Standard Bible
"Bring near your case," Yahweh says."Bring forward your mighty arguments,"The King of Jacob says.

Berean Standard Bible
"Present your case," says the LORD. "Submit your arguments," says the King of Jacob.

Contemporary English Version
I am the Lord , the King of Israel! Come argue your case with me. Present your evidence.

Complete Jewish Bible
"Present your case," says Adonai , "Produce your arguments," says Ya‘akov's king.

Darby Translation
Produce your cause, saith Jehovah; bring forward your arguments, saith the King of Jacob.

Easy-to-Read Version
The Lord , the king of Jacob, says, "Come, present your arguments. Show me your proof.

George Lamsa Translation
Bring near your cause, says the LORD; bring near your counsels, says the King of Jacob.

Good News Translation
The Lord , the king of Israel, has this to say: "You gods of the nations, present your case. Bring the best arguments you have!

Lexham English Bible
"Present your legal case," says Yahweh. "Bring your evidence," says the king of Jacob.

Literal Translation
Bring your cause, says Jehovah; let your strong reasons come near, says the King of Jacob.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Stonde at youre cause (saieth the LORDE) and bringe forth youre strogest grounde, counceleth the kinge of Iacob.

American Standard Version
Produce your cause, saith Jehovah; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.

Bible in Basic English
Put forward your cause, says the Lord; let your strong argument come out, says the King of Jacob.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your reasons, saith the King of Jacob.

King James Version (1611)
Produce your cause, saith the Lord, bring foorth your strong reasons, saith the King of Iacob.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Stande at your cause saith the Lord, & bryng foorth your strongest grounde, saith the kyng of Iacob.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Your judgement draws nigh, saith the Lord God; your counsel have drawn nigh, saith the King of Jacob.

English Revised Version
Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Make ye niy youre doom, seith the Lord; brynge ye, if in hap ye han ony thing, seith the kyng of Jacob.

Update Bible Version
Produce your cause, says Yahweh; bring forth your strong reasons, says the King of Jacob.

Webster's Bible Translation
Produce your cause, saith the LORD; bring forth your strong [reasons], saith the King of Jacob.

New English Translation
"Present your argument," says the Lord . "Produce your evidence," says Jacob's king.

New King James Version
"Present your case," says the LORD. "Bring forth your strong reasons," says the King of Jacob.

New Living Translation
"Present the case for your idols," says the Lord . "Let them show what they can do," says the King of Israel.

New Life Bible
"Let your cause be known," says the Lord. "Bring what you have to prove it," says the King of Jacob.

New Revised Standard
Set forth your case, says the Lord ; bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Bring near your contention, Saith Yahweh, - Advance your defences, Saith the King of Jacob:

Douay-Rheims Bible
Bring your cause near, saith the Lord: bring hither, if you have any thing to allege, saith the King of Jacob.

Revised Standard Version
Set forth your case, says the LORD; bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.

Young's Literal Translation
Bring near your cause, saith Jehovah, Bring nigh your mighty ones, saith the king of Jacob.

THE MESSAGE
"Set out your case for your gods," says God . "Bring your evidence," says the King of Jacob. "Take the stand on behalf of your idols, offer arguments, assemble reasons. Spread out the facts before us so that we can assess them ourselves. Ask them, ‘If you are gods, explain what the past means— or, failing that, tell us what will happen in the future. Can't do that? How about doing something—anything! Good or bad—whatever. Can you hurt us or help us? Do we need to be afraid?' They say nothing, because they are nothing— sham gods, no-gods, fool-making gods.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Present your case," the LORD says. "Bring forward your strong arguments," The King of Jacob says.

Contextual Overview

²¹"Present your case [for idols made by men's hands]," says the LORD. "Produce your evidence [of divinity]," Says the king of Jacob.²²Let them bring forward [their evidence] and tell us what is going to happen. Regarding the former events, tell what they were, That we may consider them and know their outcome; Or announce to us the things that are going to come. ²³Tell us the things that are to come afterward, That we may know that you are gods; Indeed, you should do something good or do evil, that we may be afraid and fear [you] together [as we observe the miracle]. ²⁴Hear this! You [idols] are less than nothing, And your work is worthless; The worshiper who chooses you [as a god] is repulsive. ²⁵"I have stirred up and put into action one from the north [the king of Persia, Cyrus the Great], and he has come; From the rising of the sun he will call on My Name [in prayer]. And he will trample on [the Babylonian] officials as on mortar, Even as a potter treads clay." ²⁶Who [among the idols] has declared this from the beginning, so that we could know? Or from earlier times, so that we could say, "He is [unquestionably] right!"? In fact, there was no one who declared it, Indeed, there was no one who proclaimed it; There was no one at all who heard you speak [for you pagan gods are speechless]. ²⁷"I was first to say to Zion, 'Listen carefully, here they are [the Jews who will be restored to their own land].' And to Jerusalem, 'I will provide a messenger (Isaiah) to bring the good news [that Cyrus will be stirred up and put into action to save them].' ²⁸"But when I look [on the pagan prophets and priests], there is no one [who could predict these events], And there is no counselor among them, Who, if I ask, can give an answer. ²⁹"In fact, all of these [pagan prophets and priests] are false; Their works are worthless, Their cast images are [merely] wind and emptiness.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Produce: Heb. Cause to come near, Job 23:3, Job 23:4, Job 31:37, Job 38:3, Job 40:7-9, Micah 6:1, Micah 6:2

Reciprocal: Job 5:1 - and to which Job 13:3 - I desire Isaiah 1:18 - and let us Isaiah 41:1 - let the people Isaiah 43:9 - who among Isaiah 45:20 - yourselves Isaiah 50:8 - let us Jeremiah 12:1 - talk Acts 24:25 - he 1 Peter 3:15 - a reason 2 Peter 1:19 - a more

Cross-References

Genesis 41:9
Then the chief cupbearer spoke to Pharaoh, saying, "I would mention my faults today.

Genesis 41:10
"[Two years ago] Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and he put me in confinement in the house of the captain of the guard, both me and the chief baker.

Psalms 37:19
They will not be ashamed in the time of evil, And in the days of famine they will have plenty and be satisfied.

Isaiah 9:20
They slice off [in discord] what is on the right hand but are still hungry, And they eat what is on the left hand but they are not satisfied; Each eats the flesh of his own arm.

Ezekiel 3:3
He said to me, "Son of man, eat this scroll that I am giving you and fill your stomach with it." So I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Produce your cause, saith the Lord,.... The Lord having comforted his people under their afflictions and persecutions from their enemies in the first times of Christianity, returns to the controversy between him and the idolatrous Heathens, and challenges them to bring their cause into open court, and let it be publicly tried, that it may be seen on what side truth lies:

bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob; or King of saints, the true Israel of God, who acknowledge the Lord as their King and their God, and whom he rules over, protects and defends; and this title is assumed for the comfort of them, that though he is King over all the nations of the world, yet in an eminent and peculiar sense their King; and he does not style himself the God of Jacob, though he was, because this was the thing in controversy, and the cause to be decided, whether he was the true God, or the gods of the Gentiles; and therefore their votaries are challenged to bring forth the strongest reasons and arguments they could muster together, in proof of the divinity of their idols; their "bony" arguments, as the word x signifies; for what bones are to the body, that strong arguments are to a cause, the support and stability of it.

x עצמותיכם עצם os.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Produce your cause - This address is made to the same persons who are referred to in Isaiah 41:1 - the worshippers of idols; and the prophet here returns to the subject with reference to a further argument on the comparative power of Yahweh and idols. In the former part of the chapter, God had urged his claims to confidence from the fact that he had raised up Cyrus; that the idols were weak and feeble compared with him; and from the fact that it was his fixed purpose to defend his people, and to meet and refresh them when faint and weary. In the verses which follow Isaiah 41:21, he urges his claims to confidence from the fact that he alone was able to predict future events, and calls on the worshippers of idols to show their claims in the same manner. This is the ‘cause’ which is now to be tried.

Bring forth your strong reasons - Adduce the arguments which you deem to be of the greatest strength and power (compare the notes at Isaiah 41:1). The object is, to call on them to bring forward the most convincing demonstration on which they relied, of their power and their ability to save. The argument to which God appeals is, that he had foretold future events. He calls on them to show that they had given, or could give, equal demonstration of their divinity. Lowth regards this as a call on the idol-gods to come forth in person and show their strength. But the interpretation which supposes that it refers to their reasons, or arguments, accords better with the parallelism, and with the connection.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 41:21. Bring forth your strong reasons - "Produce these your mighty powers"] "Let your idols come forward which you consider to be so very strong." Hieron. in loc. I prefer this to all other interpretations of this place; and to Jerome's own translation of it, which he adds immediately after, Afferte, si quid forte habetis. "Bring it forward, if haply ye have any thing." The false gods are called upon to come forth and appear in person; and to give evident demonstration of their foreknowledge and power by foretelling future events, and exerting their power in doing good or evil.