Isaiah Chapter 41 verse 22 Holy Bible

ASV Isaiah 41:22

Let them bring forth, and declare unto us what shall happen: declare ye the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or show us things to come.
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BBE Isaiah 41:22

Let the future be made clear to us: give us news of the past things, so that we may give thought to them; or of the things to come, so that we may see if they are true.
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DARBY Isaiah 41:22

Let them bring them forward, and declare to us what shall happen: shew the former things, what they are, that we may give attention to them, and know the end of them; -- or let us hear things to come:
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KJV Isaiah 41:22

Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.
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WBT Isaiah 41:22


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WEB Isaiah 41:22

Let them bring forth, and declare to us what shall happen: declare you the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or show us things to come.
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YLT Isaiah 41:22

They bring nigh, and declare to us that which doth happen, The first things -- what they `are' declare ye, And we set our heart, and know their latter end, Or the coming things cause us to hear.
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Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 22. - Let them... show us what will happen. God claims that the power of predicting the future is his own inalienable prerogative. He defies the idol-gods and their votaries to give any clear prediction of future events. No doubt the claim to possess the power was made very generally among the idolatrous nations, who almost universally practised divination, and in many cases possessed oracles. But it was a false claim, based upon fraud and cunning, which deceived men as often as dependence was placed upon it (Herod., 1:53, 91) and landed them in misfortune. The former things... things for to come. Some commentators regard "the former things" as things actually past - "the beginnings of history, for instance, which to the heathen nations were wrapped in darkness" (Kay); but it seems better, on the whole, to understand (with Vitringa, Stier, Hahn, Cheyne, and Delitzsch) by "the former things" those in the immediate future, by "things for to come" those about to happen in remoter times. The former are, of course, much the easier to predict, since they fall to some extent within the domain of human foresight; the latter are more difficult; but the idol-gods are challenged to produce either the one or the other. What they be. A definite and clear statement is required to preclude such vague and ambiguous utterances as the heathen oracles delighted to put forth. That we may consider them (or, lay them to heart), and know the latter end of them; i.e. compare them with the event, when the time comes.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(22) The former things.--Not, as the Authorised Version suggests, the things of the remote past, but those that lie at the head, or beginning of things to come--the near future. Can the false gods predict them as the pledge and earnest of predictions that go farther? Can they see a single year before them? We note that the challenge exactly corresponds to Isaiah's own method of giving "signs" that his words are not idly spoken (Isaiah 7:10-14; Isaiah 38:7-8). The other meaning is maintained, however, by some critics as more in harmony with Isaiah 43:18. The things "for to come" lie, as it were, in the middle future, the "hereafter" of Isaiah 41:23, in the more remote. All are alike hidden from the gods of the heathen oracles.