Isaiah 44–45

CHAPTER 44

No God Besides Yahweh

¹“But now hear, O Jacob, My ^aservant,

And Israel, whom I have chosen:

²Thus says Yahweh who made you

And ^aformed you from the womb, who ^bwill help you,

‘^cDo not fear, O Jacob My servant,

And you ^dJeshurun whom I have chosen.

³‘For ^aI will pour out water on ¹the thirsty ground

And streams on the dry land;

I will ^bpour out My Spirit on your ^cseed

And My blessing on your offspring;

⁴And they will spring up ¹among the grass

Like ^apoplars by streams of water.’

⁵“This one will say, ‘I am Yahweh’s’;

And this one ¹will call on the name of Jacob;

And this one will ^awrite ²on his hand, ‘Belonging to Yahweh,’

And will name Israel’s name with honor.

⁶“Thus says Yahweh, the ^aKing of Israel and his ^bRedeemer, Yahweh of hosts:

‘I am the ^cfirst, and I am the last,

And there is no God ^dbesides Me.

⁷‘Who is like Me? ^aLet him call out and declare it;

And let him tell it to Me in order,

¹From the time that I established the ancient ²people.

And let them declare to them the things that are to come

And the events that are going to take place.

⁸‘Do not be in dread and do not be afraid;

^aHave I not long since caused it to be heard to you and declared it?

And ^byou are My witnesses.

Is there any God ^cbesides Me,

Or is there any other ^dRock?

I know of none.’”

The Futility of Idolatry

⁹Those who form ¹a graven image are all of them ²futile, and their desirable things are of no profit; even their own witnesses fail to see or know, so that they will be ^aput to shame.

¹⁰Who has formed a god or cast a graven image to ^ano profit?

¹¹Behold, all his companions will be ^aput to shame. The craftsmen themselves are mere men. Let them all assemble themselves, let them stand up, let them be in dread, let them together be put to shame.

¹²The ^aman crafts iron into a cutting tool and does his work over the coals, ¹forming it with hammers and working it with his powerful arm. He also gets hungry and has no power; he drinks no water and becomes weary.

^13aAnother crafts wood, he extends a measuring line; he outlines it with ¹a stylus. He makes it with planes and outlines it with a compass and makes it like the form of a man, like the glory of ^bman, so that it may sit in a ^chouse.

¹⁴In order to cut cedars for himself, he takes a ¹cypress or an oak and ²raises it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rain makes it grow.

¹⁵Then it becomes something for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself; he also kindles a fire to bake bread. He also ^aworks to produce a god and worships it; he makes it a graven image and ^bfalls down before it.

¹⁶Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eats meat as he roasts a roast and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Aha! I am warm; I have seen the fire.”

¹⁷But the rest of it he ^amakes into a god, his graven image. He falls down before it and worships; he also ^bprays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god.”

¹⁸They do not ^aknow, nor do they understand, for He has ^bsmeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they will have no insight.

¹⁹No one causes this to return to his heart, nor is there ^aknowledge or understanding to say, “I have burned half of it in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it. Then ¹I make the rest of it into an ^babomination; ²I fall down before a block of wood!”

²⁰He ^1afeeds on ashes; a ^bdeceived heart has turned him aside. And he cannot deliver his soul, and he cannot say, “^cIs there not a lie in my right hand?”

Yahweh Forgives and Redeems

²¹“^aRemember these things, O Jacob,

And Israel, for you are ^bMy servant;

I have formed you, you are My servant;

O Israel, you will ^cnot be forgotten by Me.

²²“I have ^awiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud

And your sins like a cloud.

^bReturn to Me, for I have ^credeemed you.”

^23aShout for joy, O heavens, for Yahweh has done it!

Make a loud shout, you lower parts of the earth;

^bBreak forth into a shout of joy, you mountains,

O forest, and every tree in it;

For ^cYahweh has redeemed Jacob

And in Israel He ^dshows forth His beautiful glory.

²⁴Thus says Yahweh, your ^aRedeemer, and the one who ^bformed you from the womb,

“I, Yahweh, am the maker of all things,

^cStretching out the heavens by Myself

And spreading out the earth ¹all alone,

^25aCausing the ¹omens of boasters to be annulled,

And ²making fools out of diviners,

^bCausing wise men to turn back,

And ³making foolishness out of their knowledge,

^26aConfirming the word of His servant—

And the counsel of His messengers He will complete—

And being the One who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited!’

And of the ^bcities of Judah, ‘^cThey shall be built.’

And I will raise up her waste places again.

²⁷“It is I who says to the depth of the sea, ‘Be dried up!’

And I will make your rivers ^adry.

²⁸“It is I who says of ^aCyrus, ‘He is My shepherd!

And all My good pleasure he will complete.’

And saying of Jerusalem, ‘^bShe will be built,’

And of the temple, ‘¹Your foundation will be laid.’”

CHAPTER 45

Cyrus, Yahweh’s Anointed

¹Thus says Yahweh to ^aCyrus His anointed,

Whom I have taken hold of by his right ^bhand,

To ^csubdue nations before him

And ¹to ^dloose the loins of kings,

To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:

²“I will go before you and ^amake the ¹rough places smooth;

I will ^bshatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron ^cbars.

³“I will give you the ^1atreasures of darkness

And hidden wealth of secret places,

So that you may know that it is I,

Yahweh, the God of Israel, who ^bcalls you by your name.

⁴“For the sake of ^aJacob My servant,

And Israel My chosen one,

I have also ^bcalled you by your name;

I have given you a title of honor

Though you have ^cnot known Me.

⁵“I am Yahweh, and ^athere is no other;

^bBesides Me there is no God.

I will ^1cgird you, though you have not known Me,

⁶That ^athey may know from the rising to the setting of the sun

That there is ^bno one besides Me.

I am Yahweh, and there is no other,

⁷The One ^aforming light and ^bcreating darkness,

Producing peace and ^ccreating calamity;

I am Yahweh who does all these.

Yahweh the Maker

⁸“^aDrip down, O heavens, from above,

And let the skies pour down righteousness;

Let the ^bearth open up and salvation bear fruit,

^cAnd righteousness ¹spring up with it.

I, Yahweh, have created it.

⁹“Woe to the one who ^acontends with his ¹Maker—

An earthenware vessel ²among the vessels of earth!

Will the ^bclay say to the ³potter, ‘What are you doing?’

Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands’?

¹⁰“Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’

Or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor pains?’”

¹¹Thus says ^aYahweh, the Holy One of Israel, and his ^1bMaker:

“^2cAsk Me about the things that are to come ³concerning My ^dsons,

And you shall ⁴commit to Me ^ethe work of My hands.

¹²“It is I who ^amade the earth and created man upon it.

I ^bstretched out the heavens with My hands,

And I commanded ^call their host.

¹³“I have awakened him in ^arighteousness,

And I will ^bmake all his ways smooth;

He will ^cbuild My city and will ^dlet My exiles go,

Without any payment or reward,” says Yahweh of hosts.

¹⁴Thus says Yahweh,

“The fruit of the labor of ^aEgypt and the profit of ^1bEthiopia

And the Sabeans, men of stature,

Will ^ccome over to you and will be yours;

They will walk behind you; they will come over in ^dchains

And will ^ebow down to you;

They will make supplication to you:

‘²Surely, ^fGod is ³with you, and ^gthere is none else,

No other God.’”

¹⁵Truly, You are a God who ^ahides Himself,

O God of Israel, ^bSavior!

¹⁶They will be ^aput to shame and even dishonored, all of them;

The ^bcraftsmen of idols will go away together in dishonor.

¹⁷Israel has been saved by Yahweh

With an ^aeverlasting salvation;

You ^bwill not be put to shame or dishonored

To all eternity.

¹⁸For thus says Yahweh, who ^acreated the heavens (He is the God who ^bformed the earth and made it; He established it and did not create it ¹a ^cformless place, but formed it to be ^dinhabited),

“I am Yahweh, and ^ethere is none else.

¹⁹“^aI have not spoken in secret,

In ¹some dark land;

I did not say to the ^bseed of Jacob,

‘^cSeek Me in ²a formless place’;

I, Yahweh, ^dspeak righteousness,

^eDeclaring things that are upright.

²⁰“^aGather yourselves and come;

Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations;

^bThey do not know,

Who ^ccarry about their graven image of wood

And ^dpray to a god who cannot save.

²¹“^aDeclare and draw near with your case;

Indeed, let them consult together.

^bWho has made this heard from of old?

Who has long since declared it?

Is it not I, Yahweh?

And there is ^cno other God besides Me,

A righteous God and a ^dSavior;

There is none except Me.

²²“^aTurn to Me and ^bbe saved, all the ends of the earth;

For I am God, and there is no other.

²³“^aI have sworn by Myself,

The ^bword has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness

And will not turn back,

That to Me ^cevery knee will bow, every tongue will ^dswear allegiance.

²⁴“They will say of Me, ‘Only ^ain Yahweh are righteousness and strength.’

Men will come to Him,

And ^ball who were angry at Him will be put to shame.

²⁵“In Yahweh all the seed of Israel

Will be ^ajustified and will ^bboast.”