Yesaya 44:7

44:7 Who is like me? Let him make his claim! ¹ 

Let him announce it and explain it to me –

since I established an ancient people – ² 

let them announce future events! ³ 

Yesaya 46:10

46:10 who announces the end from the beginning

and reveals beforehand ⁴  what has not yet occurred,

who says, ‘My plan will be realized,

I will accomplish what I desire,’

Yesaya 48:3-7

48:3 “I announced events beforehand, ⁵ 

I issued the decrees and made the predictions; ⁶ 

suddenly I acted and they came to pass.

48:4 I did this ⁷  because I know how stubborn you are.

Your neck muscles are like iron

and your forehead like bronze. ⁸ 

48:5 I announced them to you beforehand;

before they happened, I predicted them for you,

so you could never say,

‘My image did these things,

my idol, my cast image, decreed them.’

48:6 You have heard; now look at all the evidence! ⁹ 

Will you not admit that what I say is true? ¹⁰ 

From this point on I am announcing to you new events

that are previously unrevealed and you do not know about. ¹¹ 

48:7 Now they come into being, ¹²  not in the past;

before today you did not hear about them,

so you could not say,

‘Yes, ¹³  I know about them.’

[44:7]  ¹ tn Heb “let him call” or “let him proclaim” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “Let him stand up and speak.”

[44:7]  ² tc The Hebrew text reads, “from (the time) I established an ancient people, and the coming things.” Various emendations have been proposed. One of the options assumes the reading מַשְׁמִיעִים מֵעוֹלָם אוֹתִיּוֹת (mashmi’im me’olam ’otiyyot); This literally reads “the ones causing to hear from antiquity coming things,” but more idiomatically would read “as for those who predict from antiquity what will happen” (cf. NAB, NEB, REB). The emendation directs the attention of the reader to those who claim to be able to predict the future, challenging them to actually do what they claim they can do. The MT presents Yahweh as an example to whom these alleged “predictors of the future” can compare themselves. Since the ancient versions are unanimous in their support of the MT, the emendations should be set aside.

[44:7]  ³ tn Heb and those things which are coming let them declare for themselves.”

[46:10]  ⁴ tn Or “from long ago”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “from ancient times.”

[48:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “the former things beforehand I declared.”

[48:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “and from my mouth they came forth and I caused them to be heard.”

[48:4]  ⁷ tn The words “I did this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text v. 4 is subordinated to v. 3.

[48:4]  ⁸ sn The image is that of a person who has tensed the muscles of the face and neck as a sign of resolute refusal.

[48:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “gaze [at] all of it”; KJV “see all this.”

[48:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[as for] you, will you not declare?”

[48:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and hidden things, and you do not know them.”

[48:7]  ¹² tn Heb “are created” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “They are brand new.”

[48:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “look”; KJV, NASB “Behold.”