Isaiah 45:1–48:22
45 Thus says the Lord to phis anointed, to Cyrus,
qwhose right hand I have grasped,
to subdue nations before him
and rto loose the belts of kings,
to open doors before him
that gates may not be closed:
and slevel the exalted places,1
tI will break in pieces the doors of bronze
and cut through the bars of iron,
3 uI 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, vwho call you by your name.
4 For the sake of my servant Jacob,
and Israel my chosen,
vI call you by your name,
wI name you, though you do not know me.
5 xI am the Lord, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
yI equip you, though you do not know me,
6 zthat 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.
7 I form light and create darkness;
I make well-being and acreate calamity;
I am the Lord, who does all these things.
8 b“Shower, O heavens, from above,
and clet 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.
9 d“Woe to him who strives with him who formed him,
a pot among earthen pots!
eDoes the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
or ‘Your work has no handles’?
10 Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’
or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’ ”
11 Thus says fthe Lord,
the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him:
g“Ask me of things to come;
will you command me hconcerning my children and ithe work of my hands?2
12 jI made the earth
and created man on it;
it was my hands kthat stretched out the heavens,
and lI commanded all their host.
13 mI have stirred him up in righteousness,
nand I will make all his ways level;
ohe shall build my city
pand set my exiles free,
not for price or reward,”
says the Lord of hosts.
14 Thus says the Lord:
q“The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush,
and the Sabeans, men of stature,
shall come over to you rand 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.’ ”
15 sTruly, you are a God who hides himself,
O God of Israel, the Savior.
16 tAll of them are put to shame and confounded;
the makers of idols go in confusion together.
17 But Israel is saved by the Lord
with everlasting salvation;
uyou shall not be put to shame or confounded
to all eternity.
18 vFor thus says the Lord,
who created the heavens
(he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
(he established it;
he wdid not create it empty,
xhe formed it to be inhabited!):
“I am the Lord, and there is no other.
19 yI did not speak in secret,
in a land of darkness;
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
I the Lord speak athe truth;
I declare what is right.
20 b“Assemble yourselves and come;
draw near together,
you survivors of the nations!
cThey have no knowledge
who dcarry about their wooden idols,
eand keep on praying to a god
that cannot save.
21 fDeclare 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 gand a Savior;
there is none besides me.
hall the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
23 iBy myself I have sworn;
from my mouth has gone out in jrighteousness
a word that shall not return:
k‘To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance.’4
24 l“Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me,
are righteousness and mstrength;
to him shall come and be ashamed
nall who were incensed against him.
25 In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
shall be justified and shall glory.”
The Idols of Babylon and the One True God
46 oBel bows down; Nebo stoops;
their idols are on beasts and livestock;
these things you carry are borne
as burdens on weary beasts.
2 They stoop; they bow down together;
they cannot save the burden,
but pthemselves go into captivity.
3 “Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
qwho have been borne by me from before your birth,
carried from the womb;
4 reven to your old age I am he,
and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
I will carry and will save.
5 s“To whom will you liken me and make me equal,
and compare me, that we may be alike?
6 tThose who lavish gold from the purse,
and weigh out silver in the scales,
hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;
uthen they fall down and worship!
7 vThey lift it to their shoulders, they carry it,
they set it in its place, and it stands there;
wit cannot move from its place.
If one cries to it, it does not answer
or save him from his trouble.
8 “Remember this and stand firm,
recall it to mind, xyou transgressors,
9 remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
10 ydeclaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, z‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
11 acalling a bird of prey from the east,
the man of my counsel from a far country.
bI have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
I have purposed, and I will do it.
12 “Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,
you who are far from righteousness:
13 cI bring near my righteousness; it is not far off,
and my salvation will not delay;
dI will put salvation in Zion,
for Israel my glory.”
47 eCome down and sit in the dust,
O virgin fdaughter of Babylon;
gsit on the ground without a throne,
O daughter of hthe Chaldeans!
iFor you shall no more be called
tender and delicate.
2 Take the millstones and jgrind flour,
kput off your veil,
strip off your robe, uncover your legs,
pass through the rivers.
3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered,
and your disgrace shall be seen.
I will take vengeance,
and I will spare no one.
4 lOur Redeemer—the Lord of hosts is his name—
is the Holy One of Israel.
5 mSit in silence, and go into darkness,
O daughter of hthe Chaldeans;
for you shall no more be called
nthe mistress of kingdoms.
6 oI was angry with my people;
I profaned my heritage;
I gave them into your hand;
pyou showed them no mercy;
on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.
7 You said, “I shall be qmistress forever,”
so that you did not lay these things to heart
or remember their end.
8 Now therefore hear this, qyou lover of pleasures,
rwho sit securely,
who say in your heart,
s“I am, and there is no one besides me;
tI shall not sit as a widow
or know the loss of children”:
9 uThese two things shall come to you
in a moment, vin one day;
the loss of children and widowhood
shall come upon you in full measure,
win spite of your many sorceries
and the great power of your enchantments.
10 You felt secure in your wickedness;
you said, “No one sees me”;
your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,
and you said in your heart,
x“I am, and there is no one besides me.”
11 But evil shall come upon you,
which you will not know how to charm away;
disaster shall fall upon you,
for which you will not be able to atone;
yand ruin shall come upon you suddenly,
of which you know nothing.
12 zStand fast in your enchantments
and your many sorceries,
with which you have labored from your youth;
perhaps you may be able to succeed;
perhaps you may inspire terror.
13 You are wearied with your many counsels;
let them stand forth and save you,
athose who divide the heavens,
who gaze at the stars,
who at the new moons make known
what shall come upon you.
14 Behold, bthey are like stubble;
cthe fire consumes them;
they cannot deliver themselves
from the power of the flame.
No coal for warming oneself is this,
no fire to sit before!
15 Such to you are those with whom you have labored,
who have done business with you from your youth;
they wander about, each in his own direction;
there is no one to save you.
Israel Refined for God’s Glory
48 Hear this, O house of Jacob,
dwho are called by the name of Israel,
and ewho came from the waters of Judah,
fwho swear by the name of the Lord
and confess the God of Israel,
but not in truth or right.
2 For they call themselves after the holy city,
gand stay themselves on the God of Israel;
the Lord of hosts is his name.
3 “The former things hI declared of old;
they went out from my mouth, and I announced them;
then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.
4 Because I know that iyou are obstinate,
and your neck is an iron sinew
and your forehead brass,
5 hI declared them to you from of old,
before they came to pass I announced them to you,
lest you should say, j‘My idol did them,
my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’
6 “You have heard; now see all this;
and will you not declare it?
From this time forth kI announce to you new things,
hidden things that you have not known.
7 They are created now, not long ago;
before today you have never heard of them,
lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
8 You have never heard, you have never known,
from of old your ear has not been opened.
For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously,
and that lfrom before birth you were called a rebel.
9 m“For my name’s sake I defer my anger;
for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
that I may not cut you off.
10 Behold, I have refined you, nbut not as silver;
oI have tried1 you in the furnace of affliction.
11 pFor my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name2 be profaned?
qMy glory I will not give to another.
12 “Listen to me, O Jacob,
and Israel, whom I called!
I am he; rI am the first,
and I am the last.
13 My hand slaid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand sspread out the heavens;
twhen I call to them,
they stand forth together.