Verse 1

The Lord Challenges the Nations“Listen to me in silence, you coastlands! Let the nations find renewed strength! Let them approach and then speak; let us come together for debate!

Referenced Verses

  • Isa 1:18 : 18 Come, let’s consider your options,” says the LORD.“Though your sins have stained you like the color red, you can become white like snow; though they are as easy to see as the color scarlet, you can become white like wool.
  • Hab 2:20 : 20 But the LORD is in his majestic palace. The whole earth is speechless in his presence!”
  • Zech 2:13 : 13 Be silent in the LORD’s presence, all people everywhere, for he is being moved to action in his holy dwelling place.
  • Joel 3:10-11 : 10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears! Let the weak say,‘I too am a warrior!’ 11 Lend your aid and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves to that place.” Bring down, O LORD, your warriors!
  • Isa 41:6-7 : 6 They help one another; one says to the other,‘Be strong!’ 7 The craftsman encourages the metalsmith, the one who wields the hammer encourages the one who pounds on the anvil. He approves the quality of the welding, and nails it down so it won’t fall over.”
  • Isa 11:11 : 11 At that time the Lord will again lift his hand to reclaim the remnant of his people from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the seacoasts.
  • Isa 34:1 : 1 The Lord Will Judge Edom Come near, you nations, and listen! Pay attention, you people! The earth and everything it contains must listen, the world and everything that lives in it.
  • Isa 8:9-9 : 9 You will be broken, O nations; you will be shattered! Pay attention, all you distant lands of the earth! Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered! Get ready for battle, and you will be shattered! 10 Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted! Issue your orders, but they will not be executed! For God is with us!
  • Job 23:3-7 : 3 O that I knew where I might find him, that I could come to his place of residence! 4 I would lay out my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. 5 I would know with what words he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me. 6 Would he contend with me with great power? No, he would only pay attention to me. 7 There an upright person could present his case before him, and I would be delivered forever from my judge.
  • Job 31:35-36 : 35 Job’s Appeal“If only I had someone to hear me! Here is my signature– let the Almighty answer me! If only I had an indictment that my accuser had written. 36 Surely I would wear it proudly on my shoulder, I would bind it on me like a crown;
  • Job 38:3 : 3 Get ready for a difficult task like a man; I will question you and you will inform me!
  • Job 40:7-9 : 7 “Get ready for a difficult task like a man. I will question you and you will inform me! 8 Would you indeed annul my justice? Would you declare me guilty so that you might be right? 9 Do you have an arm as powerful as God’s, and can you thunder with a voice like his? 10 Adorn yourself, then, with majesty and excellency, and clothe yourself with glory and honor!
  • Ps 46:10 : 10 He says,“Stop your striving and recognize that I am God! I will be exalted over the nations! I will be exalted over the earth!”
  • Isa 41:21-22 : 21 The Lord Challenges the Pagan Gods“Present your argument,” says the LORD.“Produce your evidence,” says Jacob’s king. 22 “Let them produce evidence! Let them tell us what will happen! Tell us about your earlier predictive oracles, so we may examine them and see how they were fulfilled. Or decree for us some future events!
  • Isa 48:16 : 16 Approach me! Listen to this! From the very first I have not spoken in secret; when it happens, I am there.” So now, the Sovereign LORD has sent me, accompanied by his Spirit.
  • Isa 49:1 : 1 Ideal Israel Delivers the Exiles Listen to me, you coastlands! Pay attention, you people who live far away! The LORD summoned me from birth; he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world.
  • Isa 50:8 : 8 The one who vindicates me is close by. Who dares to argue with me? Let us confront each other! Who is my accuser? Let him challenge me!
  • Mic 6:1-3 : 1 The Lord Demands Justice, not Ritual Listen to what the LORD says:“Get up! Defend yourself before the mountains! Present your case before the hills!” 2 Hear the LORD’s accusation, you mountains, you enduring foundations of the earth! For the LORD has a case against his people; he has a dispute with Israel! 3 “My people, how have I wronged you? How have I wearied you? Answer me!