Isaiah 45:1–46:13
1 Thus says the Lord to aCyrus His anointed,
Whom I have taken by the 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,
The Lord, 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 the Lord, and athere is no other;
bBesides Me there is no God.
I will 1cgird you, though you have not known Me;
6 That 1amen may know from the rising to the setting of the sun
That there is bno one besides Me.
I am the Lord, and there is no other,
7 The One aforming light and bcreating darkness,
Causing 1well-being and ccreating calamity;
I am the Lord who does all these.
8 “aDrip down, O heavens, from above,
And let the clouds pour down righteousness;
Let the bearth open up and salvation bear fruit,
cAnd righteousness spring up with it.
I, the Lord, have created it.
9 “Woe to the one who aquarrels with his 1Maker—
An earthenware vessel 2among the vessels of earth!
Will the bclay say to the 1potter, ‘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, ‘To what are you 1giving birth?’ ”
11 Thus says the aLord, the Holy One of Israel, and his 1bMaker:
“2cAsk Me about the things to come 3concerning My dsons,
And you shall commit 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 1ordained call their host.
13 “I have aroused him in arighteousness
And I will bmake all his ways smooth;
He will cbuild My city and will let My exiles go dfree,
Without any payment or reward,” says the Lord of hosts.
“The 1products of aEgypt and the merchandise of 2bCush
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:
‘3Surely, fGod is 4with you, and gthere is none else,
No other God.’ ”
15 Truly, You are a God who ahides Himself,
O God of Israel, bSavior!
16 They will be aput to shame and even humiliated, all of them;
The bmanufacturers of idols will go away together in humiliation.
17 Israel has been saved by the Lord
With an aeverlasting salvation;
You bwill not be put to shame or humiliated
To all eternity.
18 For thus says the Lord, who acreated the heavens (He is the God who bformed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it 1a cwaste place, but formed it to be dinhabited),
“I am the Lord, and ethere is none else.
19 “aI have not spoken in secret,
In 1some dark land;
I did not say to the 2boffspring of Jacob,
I, the Lord, dspeak righteousness,
eDeclaring things that are upright.
20 “aGather yourselves and come;
Draw near together, you fugitives of the nations;
bThey have no knowledge,
Who ccarry about 1their wooden idol
And dpray to a god who cannot save.
21 “aDeclare and set forth your case;
Indeed, let them consult together.
bWho has announced this from of old?
Who has long since declared it?
Is it not I, the Lord?
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 the Lord are righteousness and strength.’
Men will come to Him,
And ball who were angry at Him will be put to shame.
25 “In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
Will be ajustified and will bglory.”
Babylon’s Idols and the True God
1 aBel has bowed down, Nebo stoops over;
Their images are consigned to the beasts and the cattle.
The things 1that you carry are burdensome,
A load for the weary beast.
2 They stooped over, they have bowed down together;
They could not rescue the burden,
But 1have themselves agone into captivity.
3 “aListen to Me, O house of Jacob,
And all bthe remnant of the house of Israel,
You who have been cborne by Me from 1birth
And have been carried from the womb;
4 Even to your old age aI 1will be the same,
And even to your 2bgraying years I will bear you!
I have 3done it, and I will carry you;
And I will bear you and I will deliver you.
5 “aTo whom would you liken Me
And make Me equal and compare Me,
That we would be alike?
6 “Those who alavish gold from the purse
And weigh silver on the scale
Hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;
They bbow down, indeed they worship it.
7 “They alift it upon the shoulder and carry it;
They set it in its place and it stands there.
bIt does not move from its place.
Though one may cry to it, it ccannot answer;
It dcannot deliver him from his distress.
8 “aRemember this, and be 1assured;
bRecall it to 2mind, you ctransgressors.
9 “Remember the aformer things long past,
For I am God, and there is bno other;
I am God, and there is cno one like Me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘aMy purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;
11 Calling a abird of prey from the beast,
The man of 1My purpose from a far country.
Truly I have cspoken; truly I will bring it to pass.
I have planned it, surely I will do it.
12 “aListen to Me, you bstubborn-minded,
Who are cfar from righteousness.
13 “I abring near My righteousness, it is not far off;
And My salvation will not delay.
And I will grant bsalvation in Zion,
And My cglory for Israel.