Isaiah 44–45

Chapter 44

¹“But now hear, O Jacob my servant,

Israel whom I have chosen!

²Thus says the Lord who made you,

who formed you from the womb and will help you:

Fear not, O Jacob my servant,

Jeshurun whom I have chosen.

³For I will pour water on the thirsty land,

and streams on the dry ground;

I will pour my Spirit upon your descendants,

and my blessing on your offspring.

⁴They shall spring up like grass amid waters,^y

like willows by flowing streams.

⁵This one will say, ‘I am the Lord’s,’

another will call himself by the name of Jacob,

and another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’

and surname himself by the name of Israel.”

⁶Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel

and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:

“I am the first and I am the last;

besides me there is no god.

⁷Who is like me? Let him proclaim it,

let him declare and set it forth before me.

Who has announced from of old the things to come?^z

Let them tell us what is yet to be.

⁸Fear not, nor be afraid;

have I not told you from of old and declared it?

And you are my witnesses!

Is there a God besides me?

There is no Rock; I know not any.”

⁹All who make idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit; their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame. ¹⁰Who fashions a god or casts an image, that is profitable for nothing? ¹¹Behold, all his fellows shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are but men; let them all assemble, let them stand forth, they shall be terrified, they shall be put to shame together.

¹²The ironsmith fashions it^b and works it over the coals; he shapes it with hammers, and forges it with his strong arm; he becomes hungry and his strength fails, he drinks no water and is faint. ¹³The carpenter stretches a line, he marks it out with a pencil; he fashions it with planes, and marks it with a compass; he shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. ¹⁴He cuts down cedars; or he chooses a holm tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest; he plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. ¹⁵Then it becomes fuel for a man; he takes a part of it and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread; also he makes a god and worships it, he makes it a graven image and falls down before it. ¹⁶Half of it he burns in the fire; over the half he eats flesh, he roasts meat and is satisfied; also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” ¹⁷And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol; and falls down to it and worships it; he prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for thou art my god!”

¹⁸They know not, nor do they discern; for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their minds, so that they cannot understand. ¹⁹No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire, I also baked bread on its coals, I roasted flesh and have eaten; and shall I make the residue of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” ²⁰He feeds on ashes; a deluded mind has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

²¹Remember these things, O Jacob,

and Israel, for you are my servant;

I formed you, you are my servant;

O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.

²²I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud,

and your sins like mist;

return to me, for I have redeemed you.

²³Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it;

shout, O depths of the earth;

break forth into singing, O mountains,

O forest, and every tree in it!

For the Lord has redeemed Jacob,

and will be glorified in Israel.

²⁴Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,

who formed you from the womb:

“I am the Lord, who made all things,

who stretched out the heavens alone,

who spread out the earth—Who was with me?—

²⁵who frustrates the omens of liars,

and makes fools of diviners;

who turns wise men back,

and makes their knowledge foolish;

²⁶who confirms the word of his servant,

and performs the counsel of his messengers;

who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited,’

and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built,

and I will raise up their ruins’;

²⁷who says to the deep, ‘Be dry,

I will dry up your rivers’;

²⁸who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd,

and he shall fulfil all my purpose’;

saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’

and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’ ”

Chapter 45

¹Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,

whose right hand I have grasped,

to subdue nations before him

and ungird the loins of kings,

to open doors before him

that gates may not be closed:

²“I will go before you

and level the mountains,^d

I will break in pieces the doors of bronze

and cut asunder the bars of iron,

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.

⁴For the sake of my servant Jacob,

and Israel my chosen,

I call you by your name,

I surname you, though you do not know me.

⁵I am the Lord, and there is no other,

besides me there is no God;

I gird you, though you do not know me,

⁶that men 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.

⁷I form light and create darkness,

I make weal and create woe,

I am the Lord, who do all these things.

⁸“Shower, O heavens, from above,

and let the skies rain down righteousness;

let the earth open, that salvation may sprout forth,^e

and let it cause righteousness to spring up also;

I the Lord have created it.

⁹“Woe to him who strives with his Maker,

an earthen vessel with the potter!^f

Does the clay say to him who fashions it, ‘What are you making’?

or ‘Your work has no handles’?

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

or to a woman, ‘With what are you in travail?’ ”

¹¹Thus says the Lord,

the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker:

“Will you question me about my children,

or command me concerning the work of my hands?

¹²I made the earth,

and created man upon it;

it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,

and I commanded all their host.

¹³I have aroused him in righteousness,

and I will make straight all his ways;

he shall build my city

and set my exiles free,

not for price or reward,”

says the Lord of hosts.

¹⁴Thus says the Lord:

“The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Ethiopia,

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 make supplication to you, saying:

‘God is with you only, and there is no other,

no god besides him.’ ”

¹⁵Truly, thou art a God who hidest thyself,

O God of Israel, the Savior.

¹⁶All of them are put to shame and confounded,

the makers of idols go in confusion together.

¹⁷But Israel is saved by the Lord

with everlasting salvation;

you shall not be put to shame or confounded

to all eternity.

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 a chaos,

he formed it to be inhabited!):

“I am the Lord, and there is no other.

¹⁹I did not speak in secret,

in a land of darkness;

I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,

‘Seek me in chaos.’

I the Lord speak the truth,

I declare what is right.

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.

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.

²²“Turn to me and be saved,

all the ends of the earth!

For I am God, and there is no other.

²³By myself I have sworn,

from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness

a word that shall not return:

‘To me every knee shall bow,

every tongue shall swear.’

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.

²⁵In the Lord all the offspring of Israel

shall triumph and glory.”