Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know…?: The interrogative pronoun Who introduces two rhetorical questions here. This is the first one. In both questions Yahweh challenges the gods of the nations to say which of them in the past had predicted Cyrus’ military victories. The pronoun it refers to these victories mentioned in the previous verse. From the beginning refers to the distant past (see the comments on 40.21). That we might know repeats the phrase found in verses 22-23. The sense here is that if the gods had announced Cyrus’ rise to power long ago, then everyone would have known about it beforehand. Good News Translation has a valid rendering for this whole line, saying “Which of you predicted that this would happen.” Good News Translation leaves that we might know implied. It also refers to the gods in the second person even though the Hebrew text does not do it until the last line of this verse with the pronoun your. Hebrew poetry often switches between second and third person for the same referent, but other languages may prefer to use second person for the gods throughout this verse, as in Good News Translation (see also the first example below).

And beforetime, that we might say, “He is right”: This question is parallel to the first one. Who declared it is implied here. Translators may repeat it for clarity. Beforetime is an archaic way in English of saying “in advance.” New International Version and Revised English Bible have “beforehand.” Good News Translation combines it with the previous line. That we might say, “He is right” means that if a god had predicted Cyrus’ victories, then everyone would admit he was right when they occurred. Say may be rendered “admit.” The Hebrew word rendered He is right comes from a root that usually means “just” or “righteous.” The word translated “victory” in verse 2 comes from the same root (see the comments there). Here it means “correct.” The direct speech in this question may be rendered indirectly as follows: “Who announced it so that we might admit that he was right?”

Bible en français courant provides a helpful model for the first two lines of this verse, saying “Who, then, announced this event in advance, so that we might know about it? Who predicted it, so that we might say: ‘He was right’?”

There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed, none who heard your words: This is Yahweh’s answer to the two questions. The three synonymous clauses in this answer have a similar form in Hebrew: ʾap (conjunction meaning “also”; see verse 10) + ʾayin (negative particle; see verse 11) + participle. The repetition of this form three times emphasizes what Yahweh is saying. Not one of the gods had ever predicted the rise of Cyrus. In translation the emphasis can be made by repeating a word such as “none” or “nobody” as well as by presenting the text in a format that draws attention to each clause (see the examples below). Bible en français courant ends the verse as follows: “None among you, that is certain, was capable of doing it; no one has heard you say anything.”

Translation examples for this verse are:

• Which of you announced in the past these events
that we might know about them?
Which of you told of it before
that we might be able to admit you were right?
Not one of you announced it.
Not one of you told of it.
Not one of you was heard to speak of it.

• Who among you announced long ago these events,
so that we might have known about them?
Who among you told of it before,
so that we might be able to say, ‘Yes, he was correct’?
No one announced it.
No one told of it.
No one was heard to speak of it.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .