Isaiah 45-50
English Standard Version
Cyrus, God's Instrument
45 Thus says the Lord to (A)his anointed, to Cyrus,
(B)whose right hand I have grasped,
to subdue nations before him
and (C)to loose the belts of kings,
to open doors before him
that gates may not be closed:
2 “I will go before you
and (D)level the exalted places,[a]
(E)I will break in pieces the doors of bronze
and cut through the bars of iron,
3 (F)I 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, (G)who call you by your name.
4 For the sake of my servant Jacob,
and Israel my chosen,
(H)I call you by your name,
(I)I name you, though you do not know me.
5 (J)I am the Lord, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
(K)I equip you, though you do not know me,
6 (L)that people 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.
7 I form light and create darkness;
I make well-being and (M)create calamity;
I am the Lord, who does all these things.
8 (N)“Shower, O heavens, from above,
and (O)let the clouds rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit;
let the earth cause them both to sprout;
I the Lord have created it.
9 (P)“Woe to him who strives with him who formed him,
a pot among earthen pots!
(Q)Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
or ‘Your work has no handles’?
10 Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’
or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’”
11 Thus says (R)the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him:
(S)“Ask me of things to come;
will you command me (T)concerning my children and (U)the work of my hands?[b]
12 (V)I made the earth
and created man on it;
it was my hands (W)that stretched out the heavens,
and (X)I commanded all their host.
13 (Y)I have stirred him up in righteousness,
(Z)and I will make all his ways level;
(AA)he shall build my city
(AB)and set my exiles free,
not for price or reward,”
says the Lord of hosts.
The Lord, the Only Savior
14 Thus says the Lord:
(AC)“The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush,
and the Sabeans, men of stature,
shall come over to you (AD)and be yours;
they shall follow you;
they shall come over in chains and bow down to you.
They will plead with you, saying:
‘Surely God is in you, and there is no other,
no god besides him.’”
15 (AE)Truly, you are a God who hides himself,
O God of Israel, the Savior.
16 (AF)All of them are put to shame and confounded;
the makers of idols go in confusion together.
17 But Israel is saved by the Lord
with everlasting salvation;
(AG)you shall not be put to shame or confounded
to all eternity.
18 (AH)For thus says the Lord,
who created the heavens
(he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
(he established it;
he (AI)did not create it empty,
(AJ)he formed it to be inhabited!):
“I am the Lord, and there is no other.
19 (AK)I did not speak in secret,
in a land of darkness;
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
(AL)‘Seek me in vain.’[c]
I the Lord speak (AM)the truth;
I declare what is right.
20 (AN)“Assemble yourselves and come;
draw near together,
you survivors of the nations!
(AO)They have no knowledge
who (AP)carry about their wooden idols,
(AQ)and keep on praying to a god
that cannot save.
21 (AR)Declare 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 (AS)and a Savior;
there is none besides me.
22 “Turn to me and be saved,
(AT)all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
23 (AU)By myself I have sworn;
from my mouth has gone out in (AV)righteousness
a word that shall not return:
(AW)‘To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance.’[d]
24 (AX)“Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me,
are righteousness and (AY)strength;
to him shall come and be ashamed
(AZ)all who were incensed against him.
25 In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
shall be justified and shall glory.”
The Idols of Babylon and the One True God
46 (BA)Bel bows down; Nebo stoops;
their idols are on beasts and livestock;
these things you carry are borne
as burdens on weary beasts.
2 They stoop; they bow down together;
they cannot save the burden,
but (BB)themselves go into captivity.
3 “Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
(BC)who have been borne by me from before your birth,
carried from the womb;
4 (BD)even to your old age I am he,
and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
I will carry and will save.
5 (BE)“To whom will you liken me and make me equal,
and compare me, that we may be alike?
6 (BF)Those who lavish gold from the purse,
and weigh out silver in the scales,
hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;
(BG)then they fall down and worship!
7 (BH)They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it,
they set it in its place, and it stands there;
(BI)it cannot move from its place.
If one cries to it, it does not answer
or save him from his trouble.
8 “Remember this and stand firm,
recall it to mind, (BJ)you transgressors,
9 remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me,
10 (BK)declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, (BL)‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
11 (BM)calling a bird of prey from the east,
the man of my counsel from a far country.
(BN)I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;
I have purposed, and I will do it.
12 “Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,
you who are far from righteousness:
13 (BO)I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off,
and my salvation will not delay;
(BP)I will put salvation in Zion,
for Israel my glory.”
The Humiliation of Babylon
47 (BQ)Come down and sit in the dust,
O virgin (BR)daughter of Babylon;
(BS)sit on the ground without a throne,
O daughter of (BT)the Chaldeans!
(BU)For you shall no more be called
tender and delicate.
2 Take the millstones and (BV)grind flour,
(BW)put off your veil,
strip off your robe, uncover your legs,
pass through the rivers.
3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered,
and your disgrace shall be seen.
I will take vengeance,
and I will spare no one.
4 (BX)Our Redeemer—the Lord of hosts is his name—
is the Holy One of Israel.
5 (BY)Sit in silence, and go into darkness,
O daughter of (BZ)the Chaldeans;
for you shall no more be called
(CA)the mistress of kingdoms.
6 (CB)I was angry with my people;
I profaned my heritage;
I gave them into your hand;
(CC)you showed them no mercy;
on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.
7 You said, “I shall be (CD)mistress forever,”
so that you did not lay these things to heart
or remember their end.
8 Now therefore hear this, (CE)you lover of pleasures,
(CF)who sit securely,
who say in your heart,
(CG)“I am, and there is no one besides me;
(CH)I shall not sit as a widow
or know the loss of children”:
9 (CI)These two things shall come to you
in a moment, (CJ)in one day;
the loss of children and widowhood
shall come upon you in full measure,
(CK)in spite of your many sorceries
and the great power of your enchantments.
10 You felt secure in your wickedness;
you said, “No one sees me”;
your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,
and you said in your heart,
(CL)“I am, and there is no one besides me.”
11 But evil shall come upon you,
which you will not know how to charm away;
disaster shall fall upon you,
for which you will not be able to atone;
(CM)and ruin shall come upon you suddenly,
of which you know nothing.
12 (CN)Stand fast in your enchantments
and your many sorceries,
with which you have labored from your youth;
perhaps you may be able to succeed;
perhaps you may inspire terror.
13 You are wearied with your many counsels;
let them stand forth and save you,
(CO)those who divide the heavens,
who gaze at the stars,
who at the new moons make known
what shall come upon you.
14 Behold, (CP)they are like stubble;
(CQ)the fire consumes them;
they cannot deliver themselves
from the power of the flame.
No coal for warming oneself is this,
no fire to sit before!
15 Such to you are those with whom you have labored,
who have done business with you from your youth;
they wander about, each in his own direction;
there is no one to save you.
Israel Refined for God's Glory
48 Hear this, O house of Jacob,
(CR)who are called by the name of Israel,
and (CS)who came from the waters of Judah,
(CT)who swear by the name of the Lord
and confess the God of Israel,
but not in truth or right.
2 For they call themselves after the holy city,
(CU)and stay themselves on the God of Israel;
the Lord of hosts is his name.
3 “The former things (CV)I declared of old;
they went out from my mouth, and I announced them;
then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.
4 Because I know that (CW)you are obstinate,
and your neck is an iron sinew
and your forehead brass,
5 (CX)I declared them to you from of old,
before they came to pass I announced them to you,
lest you should say, (CY)‘My idol did them,
my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’
6 “You have heard; now see all this;
and will you not declare it?
From this time forth (CZ)I announce to you new things,
hidden things that you have not known.
7 They are created now, not long ago;
before today you have never heard of them,
lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
8 You have never heard, you have never known,
from of old your ear has not been opened.
For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously,
and that (DA)from before birth you were called a rebel.
9 (DB)“For my name's sake I defer my anger;
for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
that I may not cut you off.
10 Behold, I have refined you, (DC)but not as silver;
(DD)I have tried[e] you in the furnace of affliction.
11 (DE)For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name[f] be profaned?
(DF)My glory I will not give to another.
The Lord's Call to Israel
12 “Listen to me, O Jacob,
and Israel, whom I called!
I am he; (DG)I am the first,
and I am the last.
13 My hand (DH)laid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand (DI)spread out the heavens;
(DJ)when I call to them,
they stand forth together.
14 “Assemble, all of you, and listen!
(DK)Who among them has declared these things?
The Lord loves him;
(DL)he shall perform his purpose on Babylon,
and his arm shall be against (DM)the Chaldeans.
15 (DN)I, even I, have spoken and called him;
I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.
16 (DO)Draw near to me, hear this:
from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,
from the time it came to be I have been there.”
And now (DP)the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.
17 Thus says the Lord,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you to profit,
who leads you in the way you should go.
18 (DQ)Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!
(DR)Then your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
19 (DS)your offspring would have been like the sand,
and your descendants like its grains;
their name would never be cut off
or destroyed from before me.”
20 (DT)Go out from Babylon, flee from (DU)Chaldea,
declare this (DV)with a shout of joy, proclaim it,
send it out to the end of the earth;
say, (DW)“The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!”
21 (DX)They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;
(DY)he made water flow for them from the rock;
he split the rock and the water gushed out.
22 (DZ)“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”
The Servant of the Lord
49 Listen to me, (EA)O coastlands,
and give attention, you peoples (EB)from afar.
(EC)The Lord called me from the womb,
from the body of my mother he named my name.
2 (ED)He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
(EE)in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
in his quiver he hid me away.
3 And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, (EF)in whom I will be glorified.”[g]
4 (EG)But I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my right is with the Lord,
and my recompense with my God.”
5 (EH)And now the Lord says,
he (EI)who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him;
and that Israel might be gathered to him—
for (EJ)I am honored in the eyes of the Lord,
and my God has become my strength—
6 he says:
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
(EK)I will make you (EL)as a light for the nations,
that (EM)my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
7 Thus says the Lord,
(EN)the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
(EO)to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
the servant of rulers:
(EP)“Kings shall see and arise;
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
The Restoration of Israel
8 Thus says the Lord:
(EQ)“In a (ER)time of favor I have answered you;
in a day of salvation I have helped you;
I will keep you (ES)and give you
as a covenant to the people,
to establish the land,
(ET)to apportion the desolate heritages,
9 (EU)saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’
to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’
(EV)They shall feed along the ways;
on all bare heights shall be their pasture;
10 (EW)they shall not hunger or thirst,
neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them,
for he who has pity on them (EX)will lead them,
and by springs of water will guide them.
11 (EY)And I will make all my mountains a road,
and my highways shall be raised up.
12 (EZ)Behold, these shall come from afar,
and behold, (FA)these from the north and from the west,[h]
and these from the land of Syene.”[i]
13 (FB)Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For the Lord (FC)has comforted his people
and will have compassion on his afflicted.
14 But Zion said, (FD)“The Lord has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.”
15 (FE)“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
16 Behold, (FF)I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
17 Your builders make haste;[j]
(FG)your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.
18 (FH)Lift up your eyes around and see;
they all gather, they come to you.
(FI)As I live, declares the Lord,
(FJ)you shall put them all on as an ornament;
you shall bind them on as a bride does.
19 “Surely your waste and your desolate places
and your devastated land—
(FK)surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants,
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 (FL)The children of your bereavement
will yet say in your ears:
(FM)‘The place is too narrow for me;
make room for me to dwell in.’
21 Then you will say in your heart:
‘Who has borne me these?
(FN)I was bereaved and barren,
exiled and put away,
but who has brought up these?
Behold, I was left alone;
from where have these come?’”
22 Thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations,
(FO)and raise my signal to the peoples;
(FP)and they shall bring your sons in their arms,[k]
and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
23 (FQ)Kings shall be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.
(FR)With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,
and (FS)lick the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;
(FT)those who wait for me (FU)shall not be put to shame.”
24 Can the prey be taken from the mighty,
or the captives of a tyrant[l] be rescued?
25 For thus says the Lord:
(FV)“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,
and the prey of the tyrant be rescued,
for I will contend with those who contend with you,
and I will save your children.
26 (FW)I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,
and they shall be drunk (FX)with their own blood as with wine.
Then all flesh shall know
that (FY)I am the Lord your Savior,
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Israel's Sin and the Servant's Obedience
50 Thus says the Lord:
“Where is (FZ)your mother's certificate of divorce,
with which (GA)I sent her away?
Or (GB)which of my creditors is it
to whom I have sold you?
(GC)Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,
and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
2 (GD)Why, when I came, was there no man;
why, when I called, was there no one to answer?
(GE)Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
(GF)Behold, by my rebuke (GG)I dry up the sea,
(GH)I make the rivers a desert;
(GI)their fish stink for lack of water
and die of thirst.
3 (GJ)I clothe the heavens with blackness
and make sackcloth their covering.”
4 The Lord God has given (GK)me
the tongue of those who are taught,
that (GL)I may know how to sustain with a word
(GM)him who is weary.
Morning by morning he awakens;
he awakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.
5 (GN)The Lord God has opened my ear,
(GO)and I was not rebellious;
I turned not backward.
6 (GP)I gave my back to those who strike,
and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;
I hid not my face
from disgrace and spitting.
7 But the Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
(GQ)therefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
8 (GR)He who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me.
9 (GS)Behold, the Lord God helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;
the moth will eat them up.
10 Who among you fears the Lord
and obeys (GT)the voice of his servant?
(GU)Let him who walks in darkness
and has no light
trust in the name of the Lord
and rely on his God.
11 Behold, all you who kindle a fire,
who equip yourselves with burning torches!
Walk by the light of your fire,
and by the torches that you have kindled!
(GV)This you have from my hand:
you shall lie down in torment.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 45:2 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint level the mountains
- Isaiah 45:11 A slight emendation yields will you question me about my children, or command me concerning the work of my hands?
- Isaiah 45:19 Hebrew in emptiness
- Isaiah 45:23 Septuagint every tongue shall confess to God
- Isaiah 48:10 Or I have chosen
- Isaiah 48:11 Hebrew lacks my name
- Isaiah 49:3 Or I will display my beauty
- Isaiah 49:12 Hebrew from the sea
- Isaiah 49:12 Dead Sea Scroll; Masoretic Text Sinim
- Isaiah 49:17 Dead Sea Scroll; Masoretic Text Your children make haste
- Isaiah 49:22 Hebrew in their bosom
- Isaiah 49:24 Dead Sea Scroll, Syriac, Vulgate (see also verse 25); Masoretic Text of a righteous man
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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