Isaiah 43:9 - Exposition

All the nations ; rather, all ye nations. Israel is a witness on the one hand, a multitude of nations on the other, recalling the contention of Elijah with the four hundred priests of Baal ( 1 Kings 18:22 ). The people; rather, the peoples. Who among them can declare this? i.e. which of them can show any prediction made by their gods comparable to the one contained in Isaiah 43:1 -77 And show us former things. "Exhibit the past history of the world in well-attested documents" (Kay); "Make mention of past events which they have correctly foretold" (Cheyne, Delitzsch). According to the former rendering, the contrast is between the solemn, serious history of early times in Genesis, and the grotesque and extravagant myths, in which the nations generally embodied their views of the primitive ages. Let them bring forth their witnesses . Witnesses that the prophecies were really delivered before the events happened, or that the accounts of past times are such as have really come down to them from their ancestors. Or let them hear and say, It is truth . It is uncertain whether we ought to translate the initial vau here by "and" or by "or." If the former, the sense is, "And then let them ( i.e. the witnesses) give ear to the assertions made, and declare them true;" if the latter, we may render, with Dr. Kay, "Or, if they have no witnesses, let them listen to the sacred records, and confess them to be the truth. "