This verse continues the idea expressed in verse 26 that there was no god who predicted Cyrus’ rise to power. It can be treated as a further answer to the questions in verse 26. Good News Translation, Revised English Bible, Bible en français courant, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch make it clear that Yahweh is criticizing the gods here by referring to them explicitly, which may be helpful in other languages.

But when I look there is no one: Yahweh emphasizes again that when he looked around to see whether there was any god who could predict the future, he found none. Yahweh alone knows and directs the events of history. The Hebrew word for no is ʾayin (see the comments on verse 11). It occurs in the next line also. For this line Revised English Bible has “When I look round there is no one.”

Among these there is no counselor indicates that Yahweh does not receive advice from any god. The demonstrative pronoun these refers to the gods of the nations. The Hebrew word rendered counselor refers to someone who gives advice to others (see 40.13).

Who, when I ask, gives an answer: If Yahweh were to ask these gods about the future, none of them would be able to reply. The reason is given in the next verse.

Translation examples for this verse are:

• But when I looked to the gods, I found none [who could do so];
none of them could advise me,
none could answer what I would ask them.

• When I looked around, there wasn’t any god [who could predict the future];
there was no advisor among them,
who could reply to my questions.

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 .