Isaiah 45

Chapter 45

God Uses Cyrus

¹Thus 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;

⁶That ^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,

⁷The One ^aforming light and ^bcreating darkness,

Causing ¹well-being and ^ccreating calamity;

I am the Lord who does all these.

God’s Supreme Power

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 potter, ‘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?’ ”

¹¹Thus 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.

¹⁴Thus says the Lord,

“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.’ ”

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

O God of Israel, ^bSavior!

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

The ^bmanufacturers of idols will go away together in humiliation.

¹⁷Israel has been saved by the Lord

With an ^aeverlasting salvation;

You ^bwill not be put to shame or humiliated

To all eternity.

¹⁸For 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,

‘^cSeek Me in ³a waste place’;

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.”