The Lord is the Nations’ Only Hope

45:14 This is what the Lord says:

“The profit38 of Egypt and the revenue39 of Ethiopia,

along with the Sabeans, those tall men,

will be brought to you40 and become yours.

They will walk behind you, coming along in chains.41

They will bow down to you

and pray to you:42

‘Truly God is with43 you; he has no peer;44

there is no other God!’ ”

45:15 Yes, you are a God who keeps hidden,

O God of Israel, deliverer!

45:16 They will all be ashamed and embarrassed;

those who fashion idols will all be humiliated.45

45:17 Israel will be delivered once and for all by the Lord;46

you will never again be ashamed or humiliated.47

45:18 For this is what the Lord says,

the one who created the sky—

he is the true God,48

the one who formed the earth and made it;

he established it,

he did not create it without order,49

he formed it to be inhabited—

“I am the Lord, I have no peer.

45:19 I have not spoken in secret,

in some hidden place.50

I did not tell Jacob’s descendants,

‘Seek me in vain!’51

I am the Lord,

the one who speaks honestly,

who makes reliable announcements.52

45:20 Gather together and come!

Approach together, you refugees from the nations!

Those who carry wooden idols know nothing,

those who pray to a god that cannot deliver.

45:21 Tell me! Present the evidence!53

Let them consult with one another!

Who predicted this in the past?

Who announced it beforehand?

Was it not I, the Lord?

I have no peer, there is no God but me,

a God who vindicates and delivers;54

there is none but me.

45:22 Turn to me so you can be delivered,55

all you who live in the earth’s remote regions!

For I am God, and I have no peer.

45:23 I solemnly make this oath56—

what I say is true and reliable:57

‘Surely every knee will bow to me,

every tongue will solemnly affirm;58

45:24 they will say about me,

“Yes, the Lord is a powerful deliverer.” ’ ”59

All who are angry at him will cower before him.60

45:25 All the descendants of Israel will be vindicated by the Lord

and will boast in him.61