以赛亚书 41:23

Chinese NCV (Simplified)

把以後要來的事告訴我們，好叫我們知道你們是神；你們作這些事，或降福或降禍，以致我們彼此對望，一齊觀看。

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
要 说 明 後 来 的 事 ， 好 叫 我 们 知 道 你 们 是 　 神 。 你 们 或 降 福 ， 或 降 祸 ， 使 我 们 惊 奇 ， 一 同 观 看 。

Contextual Overview

²¹ The Lord says, "Present your case." The King of Jacob says, "Tell me your arguments. ²² Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. Have them tell us what happened in the beginning. Then we will think about these things, and we will know how they will turn out. Or tell us what will happen in the future. ²³ Tell us what is coming next so we will believe that you are gods. Do something, whether it is good or bad, and make us afraid. ²⁴ You gods are less than nothing; you can't do anything. Those who worship you should be hated. ²⁵ "I have brought someone to come out of the north I have called by name a man from the east, and he knows me. He walks on kings as if they were mud, just as a potter walks on the clay. ²⁶ Who told us about this before it happened? Who told us ahead of time so we could say, ‘He was right'? None of you told us anything; none of you told us before it happened; no one heard you tell about it. ²⁷ I, the Lord , was the first one to tell Jerusalem that the people were coming home. I sent a messenger to Jerusalem with the good news. ²⁸ I look at the idols, but there is not one that can answer. None of them can give advice; none of them can answer my questions. ²⁹ Look, all these idols are false. They cannot do anything; they are worth nothing.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

that we may know: Isaiah 42:9, Isaiah 44:7, Isaiah 44:8, Isaiah 45:8, Isaiah 46:9, Isaiah 46:10, John 13:19, Acts 15:18

do good: Isaiah 45:7, Isaiah 46:7, Jeremiah 10:5

Reciprocal: Genesis 41:25 - God Judges 6:31 - if he be 1 Samuel 12:21 - cannot profit 1 Kings 18:27 - for he is a god 2 Kings 1:6 - Thus saith Isaiah 19:12 - let them Isaiah 41:26 - righteous Isaiah 45:3 - that thou Isaiah 45:21 - who hath declared Daniel 2:9 - I shall Daniel 2:28 - that revealeth Daniel 10:21 - I will Matthew 12:17 - it John 16:4 - that when Revelation 5:2 - Who

Cross-References

Genesis 41:6
After that, seven more heads of grain sprang up, but they were thin and burned by the hot east wind.

Genesis 41:7
The thin heads of grain ate the seven full and good heads. Then the king woke up again, and he realized it was only a dream.

2 Kings 19:26
The people in those cities were weak; they were frightened and put to shame. They were like grass in the field, like tender, young grass, like grass on the housetop that is burned by the wind before it can grow.

Hosea 8:7
"Israel's foolish plans are like planting the wind, but they will harvest a storm. Like a stalk with no head of grain, it produces nothing. Even if it produced something, other nations would eat it.

Hosea 9:16
Israel is beaten down; its root is dying, and it has no fruit. If they have more children, I will kill the children they love."

Hosea 13:15
Israel is doing well among the nations, but the Lord will send a wind from the east, coming from the desert, that will dry up his springs and wells of water. He will destroy from their treasure houses everything of value.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Show the things that are to come hereafter,.... From henceforward to the consummation of all things: so the Targum,

"show what shall come to the end;''

or at the end, the end of all things; or show wonderful things, which shall be hereafter; so Jarchi interprets the word; a word like this having the signification of signs and wonders:

that we may know that ye are gods; as ye are said to be; that we may own and acknowledge you to be such, there being this clear proof of it, if it can be made out, foretelling things to come, both near and far off. The Targum is,

"that we may know whether ye worship idols, in whom there is any profit;''

as if the words were spoken not to the idols, but to the worshippers of them: "yea, do good, or do evil"; not in a moral, but in a civil sense; do good to your friends, to your worshippers; bestow favours upon them, as I do on mine; or inflict punishment on your enemies, such as despise your deity, and will not worship you, as I do on those that despise me, and will not regard my service and worship:

that we may be dismayed, and behold it together: that when we see your deity, and are convinced of it by the above proofs, we may be amazed and astonished, as not expecting such proof, and be confounded, and have no more to object unto it. The Targum is,

"that we may consider and reason together;''

and bring the matter in controversy to an issue, as it is in the next verse.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

That we may know that ye are gods - The prediction of future events is the highest evidence of omniscience, and of course of divinity. In this passage it is admitted that if they could do it, it would prove that they were worthy of adoration; and it is demanded, that if they were gods they should be able to make such a prediction as would demonstrate that they were invested with a divine nature.

Yea, do good, or do evil - Do something; show that you have some power; either defend your friends, or prostrate your foes; accomplish something - anything, good or bad, that shall prove that you have power. This is said in opposition to the character which is usually given to idols in the Scriptures - that they were dumb, deaf, dead, inactive, powerless (see Psalms 95:1-11) The command here to ‘do evil,’ means to punish their enemies, or to inflict vengeance on their foes; and the idea is, that they had no power to do anything; either to do good to their worshippers, or harm to their enemies; and that thus they showed that they were no gods. The same idea is expressed in Jeremiah 10:3-5 : ‘They (idols) are upright as the palm-tree, but speak not; they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.’

That we may be dismayed - (See the note at Isaiah 41:10). The word ‘we’ here refers to those who were the friends and worshippers of Yahweh. ‘That I, Yahweh, and my friends and worshippers, may be alarmed, and afraid of what idols may be able to do.’ God and his people were regarded as the foes of idols, and God here calls on them to prove that there is any reason why he and his people should be afraid of their power.

And behold it together - That we may all see it; that I and my people may have full demonstration of your power.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 41:23. That we may be dismayed, and behold it together - "Then shall we be struck at once with admiration and terror."] The word ונרא venere is written imperfectly in the Hebrew text; the Masoretes supply ה he at the end; and so it is read in twenty-two MSS. and four editions; that is, ונראה venireh, and we shall see. But the true reading seems to be ונירא venira, and we shall fear, with י yod supplied, from ירא yara.