1‘Cyrus is my anointed king. I take hold of his right hand. I give him the power to bring nations under his control. I help him strip kings of their power to go to war against him. I break city gates open so he can go through them. I say to him,2“I will march out ahead of you. I will make the mountains level. I will break down bronze gates. I will cut through their heavy iron bars.3I will give you treasures that are hidden away. I will give you riches that are stored up in secret places. Then you will know that I am the LORD. I am the God of Israel. I am sending for you by name.4Cyrus, I am sending for you by name. I am doing it for the good of the family of Jacob. They are my servant. I am doing it for Israel. They are my chosen people. You do not know anything about me. But I am giving you a title of honour.5I am the LORD. There is no other LORD. I am the one and only God. You do not know anything about me. But I will make you strong.6Then people will know there is no God but me. Everyone from where the sun rises in the east to where it sets in the west will know it. I am the LORD. There is no other LORD.7I cause light to shine. I also create darkness. I bring good times. I also create hard times. I do all these things. I am the LORD.8‘ “Rain down my godliness, you heavens above. Let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide to receive it. Let freedom spring to life. Let godliness grow richly along with it. I have created all these things. I am the LORD.” ’9How terrible it will be for anyone who argues with their Maker! They are like a broken piece of pottery lying on the ground. Does clay say to a potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does a pot say, ‘The potter doesn’t have any skill’?10How terrible it will be for anyone who says to a father, ‘Why did you give me life?’ How terrible for anyone who says to a mother, ‘Why have you brought me into the world?’11The LORD is the Holy One of Israel. He made them. He says to them, ‘Are you asking me about what will happen to my children? Are you telling me what I should do with what my hands have made?12I made the earth. I created human beings to live there. My own hands spread out the heavens. I put all the stars in their places.13I will stir up Cyrus and help him win his battles. I will make all his roads straight. He will rebuild Jerusalem. My people have been taken away from their country. But he will set them free. I will not pay him to do it. He will not receive a reward for it,’ says the LORD who rules over all.14The LORD says to the people of Jerusalem, ‘You will get everything Egypt produces. You will receive everything the people of Cush and the tall Sabeans get in trade. All of it will belong to you. And all these people will walk behind you as slaves. They will be put in chains and come over to you. They will bow down to you. They will admit, “God is with you. There is no other God.” ’15You are a God who has been hiding yourself. You are the God of Israel. You save us.16All those who make statues of gods will be put to shame. They will be dishonoured. They will be led away in shame together.17But the LORD will save Israel. He will save them for ever. They will never be put to shame or dishonoured. That will be true for all time to come.18The LORD created the heavens. He is God. He formed the earth and made it. He set it firmly in place. He didn’t create it to be empty. Instead, he formed it for people to live on. He says, ‘I am the LORD. There is no other LORD.19I have not spoken in secret. I have not spoken from a dark place. I have not said to Jacob’s people, “It is useless to look for me.” I am the LORD. I always speak the truth. I always say what is right.20‘Come together, you people of the nations who escaped from Babylon. Gather together and come into court. Only people who do not know anything would carry around gods that are made out of wood. They pray to false gods that can’t save them.21Tell me what will happen. State your case. Talk it over together. Who spoke long ago about what would happen? Who said it a long time ago? I did. I am the LORD. I am the one and only God. I always do what is right. I am the one who saves. There is no God but me.22‘All you who live anywhere on earth, turn to me and be saved. I am God. There is no other God.23I have made a promise in my own name. I have spoken with complete honesty. I will not take back a single word. I said, “Everyone will kneel down to me. Everyone’s mouth will make promises in my name.”24They will say, “The LORD is the only one who can save us. Only he can make us strong.” ’ All those who have been angry with the LORD will come to him. And they will be put to shame.25But the LORD will save all the people of Israel. And so they will boast about the LORD.
Isaiah 45
English Standard Version
Cyrus, God’s Instrument
1Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: (Job 12:21; Isa 22:21; Isa 41:13; Isa 44:28; Isa 45:5)2“I will go before you and level the exalted places,[1] I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, (Ps 107:16; Isa 40:4)3I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. (Isa 43:1; Jer 50:37; Jer 51:13)4For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. (Isa 45:3; Isa 62:2)5I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, (Job 12:21; Isa 22:21; Isa 44:8)6that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. (Isa 37:20; Mal 1:11)7I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things. (Isa 41:23; Am 3:6)8“Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the Lord have created it. (De 32:2; Ps 85:11; Ho 10:12)9“Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’? (Ec 6:10; Isa 10:15; Isa 64:8; Ro 9:20)10Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’ or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’”11Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him: “Ask me of things to come; will you command me concerning my children and the work of my hands?[2] (Isa 29:23; Isa 41:23; Isa 64:8; Jer 31:9; Eze 39:7)12I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host. (Ge 2:1; Isa 42:5; Isa 44:24; Jer 27:5)13I have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways level; he shall build my city and set my exiles free, not for price or reward,” says the Lord of hosts. (Isa 41:2; Isa 44:28; Isa 45:2; Isa 49:25; Isa 51:14; Isa 52:3)
The Lord, the Only Savior
14Thus says the Lord: “The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you and be yours; they shall follow you; they shall come over in chains and bow down to you. They will plead with you, saying: ‘Surely God is in you, and there is no other, no god besides him.’” (Isa 14:2; Isa 43:3)15Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior. (Isa 57:17)16All of them are put to shame and confounded; the makers of idols go in confusion together. (Isa 42:17)17But Israel is saved by the Lord with everlasting salvation; you shall not be put to shame or confounded to all eternity. (Isa 54:4)18For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): “I am the Lord, and there is no other. (Ge 1:2; Ps 115:16; Isa 42:5)19I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’[3] I the Lord speak the truth; I declare what is right. (De 30:11; Isa 45:23; Isa 48:16; Jer 29:13)20“Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save. (Isa 41:1; Isa 44:17; Isa 44:18; Isa 46:1; Isa 46:7; Isa 48:5; Jer 10:5)21Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. (Isa 41:22; Isa 41:26; Isa 43:9; Isa 43:11)22“Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. (Isa 11:12; Isa 43:5)23By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’[4] (Ge 22:16; Isa 45:19; Ro 14:11; Php 2:10)24“Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him. (Isa 26:4; Isa 41:11; Isa 44:8)25In the Lord all the offspring of Israel shall be justified and shall glory.”