45 The Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus,
    whom I have grasped by the strong hand,
    to conquer nations before him,
    disarming kings,
    and opening doors before him,
    so no gates will be shut:
² I myself will go before you,
    and I will level mountains.
I will shatter bronze doors;
    I will cut through iron bars.
³ I will give you hidden treasures of secret riches,
    so you will know that I am the Lord,
    the God of Israel, who calls you by name.
⁴ For the sake of my servant Jacob and Israel my chosen,
    I called you by name.
I gave you an honored title,
    though you didn’t know me.
⁵ I am the Lord, and there is no other;
    besides me there is no God.
I strengthen you—
    though you don’t know me—
⁶ so all will know, from the rising of the sun to its setting,
    that there is nothing apart from me.
I am the Lord; there’s no other.
⁷     I form light and create darkness,
    make prosperity and create doom;
    I am the Lord, who does all these things.

⁹ Doom to the one who argues with the potter,^[a]
    as if he were just another clay pot!
Does the clay say to the potter, “What are you making?”
    or “Your work has no handles”?
¹⁰ Doom to one who says to a father,
    “What have you fathered?”
    and to a woman,
    “With what are you in labor?”
¹¹ The Lord, the holy one of Israel and its maker,^[b] says:
Are you questioning me^[c] about my own children?
    Are you telling me what to do with the work of my hands?
¹² I myself made the earth,
    and created humans upon it.
    My own hands stretched out the heavens.
    I commanded all their forces.
¹³ I have a right to awaken Cyrus;
    I will smooth all his paths.
He will build my city
    and set my exiles free,
    not for a price and not for a bribe,
    says the Lord of heavenly forces.

¹⁶ They will all be shamed and disgraced;
    the makers of idols will end up disgraced together.
¹⁷ Israel has been saved by the Lord of everlasting salvation.
You won’t be shamed,
    and you won’t be disgraced forever and always.
¹⁸ For this is what the Lord said, who created the heavens,
    who is God,
    who formed the earth and made it,
    who established it,
    who didn’t create it a wasteland but formed it as a habitation:
    I, the Lord, and none other!
¹⁹ I didn’t speak in secret
    or in some land of darkness;
I didn’t say to the offspring of Jacob,
    “Seek me in chaos.”
I am the Lord, the one who speaks truth,
    who announces what is correct.
²⁰ Gather and come,
    draw near together,
    fugitives of the nations!
Those who carry their wooden idols don’t know;
    those who pray to a god who won’t save.
²¹ Announce! Approach! Confer together!
    Who proclaimed this from the beginning, announced it from long ago?
Wasn’t it I, the Lord?
    There’s no other God except me,
    a righteous God and a savior;
    there’s none besides me!
²² Turn to me and be saved,
    all you ends of the earth,
    for I am God, and there’s no other.
²³ I have sworn a solemn pledge;
    a word has left my mouth;
    it is reliable and won’t fail.
Surely every knee will bow
and every tongue will confess;
²⁴     they will say, “Righteousness and strength come only from the Lord.
    All who are angry with him will come to shame.
²⁵ All the Israelites
    will be victorious and rejoice.”