Isaiah 41:23 (DRB)

Passage

Shew the things that are to come hereafter, and we shall know that ye are gods. Do ye also good or evil, if you can: and let us speak, and see together.

Nearby Context

Isaiah 41:21 Bring your cause near, saith the Lord: bring hither, if you have any thing to allege, saith the King of Jacob.

Isaiah 41:22 Let them come, and tell us all things that are to come: tell us the former things what they were: and we will set our heart upon them and shall know the latter end of them, and tell us the things that are to come.

Isaiah 41:23 Shew the things that are to come hereafter, and we shall know that ye are gods. Do ye also good or evil, if you can: and let us speak, and see together.

Isaiah 41:24 Behold, you are of nothing, and your work of that which hath no being: he that hath chosen you is an abomination.

Isaiah 41:25 I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come from the rising of the sun: he shall call upon my name, and he shall make princes to be as dirt, and as the potter treading clay.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "shew", "things", "come", "hereafter", "shall", "gods", "good", and "evil". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "shew" and "things", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 22's "Let them come and tell us all..." into verse 24's "Behold you are of nothing and your...", so "shew" and "things" belong inside that flow. In Isaiah context, the local focus is the Holy One of Israel, judgment and restoration, the servant of the LORD, and Zion's hope.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "shew" and "things" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.