Isaiah 45
Living Bible
45 This is Jehovah’s message to Cyrus, God’s anointed, whom he has chosen to conquer many lands. God shall empower his right hand, and he shall crush the strength of mighty kings. God shall open the gates of Babylon to him; the gates shall not be shut against him anymore. 2 I will go before you, Cyrus, and level the mountains and smash down the city gates of brass and iron bars. 3 And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness, secret riches; and you will know that I am doing this—I, the Lord, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by your name.
4 And why have I named you for this work? For the sake of Jacob, my servant—Israel, my chosen. I called you by name when you didn’t know me. 5 I am Jehovah; there is no other God. I will strengthen you and send you out to victory even though you don’t know me, 6 and all the world from east to west will know there is no other God. I am Jehovah and there is no one else. I alone am God. 7 I form the light and make the dark. I send good times and bad. I, Jehovah, am he who does these things. 8 Open up, O heavens. Let the skies pour out their righteousness. Let salvation and righteousness sprout up together from the earth. I, Jehovah, created them.
9 Woe to the man who fights with his Creator. Does the pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with him who forms it, saying, “Stop, you’re doing it wrong!” or the pot exclaim, “How clumsy can you be!”? 10 Woe to the baby just being born who squalls to his father and mother, “Why have you produced me? Can’t you do anything right at all?”
11 Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, Israel’s Creator, says: “What right have you to question what I do? Who are you to command me concerning the work of my hands? 12 I have made the earth and created man upon it. With my hands I have stretched out the heavens and commanded all the vast myriads of stars. 13 I have raised up Cyrus[a] to fulfill my righteous purpose, and I will direct all his paths. He shall restore my city and free my captive people—and not for a reward!”
14 Jehovah says: “The Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Sabeans shall be subject to you. They shall come to you with all their merchandise, and it shall all be yours. They shall follow you as prisoners in chains and fall down on their knees before you and say, “The only God there is, is your God!”
15 Truly, O God of Israel, Savior, you work in strange, mysterious ways. 16 All who worship idols shall be disappointed and ashamed. 17 But Israel shall be saved by Jehovah with eternal salvation; they shall never be disappointed in their God through all eternity. 18 For Jehovah created the heavens and earth and put everything in place, and he made the world to be lived in, not to be an empty chaos. I am Jehovah, he says, and there is no other! 19 I publicly proclaim bold promises; I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner so that no one can know what I mean. And I didn’t tell Israel to ask me for what I didn’t plan to give! No, for I, Jehovah, speak only truth and righteousness.
20 Gather together and come, you nations that escape from Cyrus’s hand. What fools they are who carry around the wooden idols and pray to gods that cannot save! 21 Consult together, argue your case and state your proofs that idol worship pays! Who but God has said that these things concerning Cyrus would come true? What idol ever told you they would happen? For there is no other God but me—a just God and a Savior—no, not one! 22 Let all the world look to me for salvation! For I am God; there is no other. 23 I have sworn by myself, and I will never go back on my word, for it is true—that every knee in all the world shall bow to me, and every tongue shall swear allegiance to my name.
24 “In Jehovah is all my righteousness and strength,” the people shall declare. And all who were angry with him shall come to him and be ashamed. 25 In Jehovah all the generations of Israel shall be justified, triumphant.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 45:13 I have raised up Cyrus, literally, “I have raised up him.” The reference probably is also to Christ in the more distant future, as well as to Cyrus.
Isaiah 45
Lexham English Bible
45 Thus says Yahweh to his anointed one,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped
to subjugate nations before him,
and I uncover[a] the loins of kings
to open doors before him,
and the gates shall not be shut:
2 “I myself will go before you,
and I will level the mountains.[b]
I will break the doors of bronze
and cut throughthe bars of iron.
3 And I will give you the treasures of darkness
and treasures of secret places
so that you may know that I am Yahweh,
the one who calls you by your name, the God of Israel,
4 for the sake of my servant Jacob,
and Israel my chosen one.
And I call you by your name;
I give you a name of honor, though[c] you do not know me.
5 I am Yahweh, and there is none besides me;
besides me there is no god.
I gird you though[d] you do not know me,
6 so that they may know from the rising of the sun
and from the west that there is none besides me;
I am Yahweh and there is none besides me.
7 I form light and I create darkness;
I make peace and I create evil;
I am Yahweh; I do all these things.
8 Trickle, O heavens, from above,
and let clouds trickle with righteousness;
let the earth open so that[e] salvation may be fruitful,
and let it cause righteousness to sprout along with it.[f]
I myself, Yahweh, have created it.
9 Woe to the one who strives with his maker,[g]
a potsherd among[h] potsherds of earth!
Does the clay say to the one who fashions it,
‘What are you making?’
and ‘Your work has no hands’?
10 Woe to the one who says to a father, ‘What you are begetting?’
or[i] to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’”
11 Thus says Yahweh, the holy one of Israel,
and its maker:[j]
“Ask me of the things to come about[k] my children,
and you command me about the work of my hands.
12 I myself made the earth,
and I created humankind upon it.
I, my hands, stretched out the heavens,
and I commanded all their host.
13 I myself have stirred him up in righteousness,
and I will make all his paths smooth.
He himself shall build my city,
and he shall set my exiles free,
not for price or a gift,” says Yahweh of hosts.
Yahweh the Only Savior
14 Thus says Yahweh:
“The acquisition of Egypt
and the merchandise of Cush
and the Sabeans, tall men,
shall pass over to you;
they shall be yours,
and they shall walk behind you.
They shall pass over in chains,
and they shall bow down to you;
they will pray to you:
‘Surely God is with you, and there is no other.
Besides him there is no God.’”
15 Surely you are a God who keeps yourself hidden,
God of Israel, the savior.
16 All of them are ashamed and indeed humiliated;
the craftsmen of idols go together in insult.
17 Israel is saved by Yahweh with everlasting salvation;
you shall not be ashamed,
and you shall not be humiliated to all eternity.[l]
18 For thus says Yahweh, who created[m] the heavens,
he is God, who formed[n] the earth
and who made[o] it.
He himself established it;
he did not create it as emptiness—
he formed it for inhabiting.
“I am Yahweh and there is none besides me.
19 I have spoken not in secrecy, in a place, a land, of darkness,
I have not said to the descendants of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain!’[p]
I, Yahweh, am speaking righteousness,
declaring uprightness.
20 Assemble and come;
draw near together, survivors of the nations!
They do not know, those who carry their wooden idols[q]
and pray to a god who cannot save.
21 Declare and present your case,
also let them consult together!
Who made this known[r] from former times,[s]
declared it from of old?[t]
Was it not I, Yahweh?
And there is no other god besides me,
a righteous God besides me,
and no savior besides me.
22 Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth,
for I am God and there is none besides me.
23 I have sworn by myself;
a word that[u] shall not return has gone forth from my mouth in righteousness:
‘Every knee shall kneel down to me;
every tongue shall swear.’
24 ‘Only in Yahweh,’ one shall say to me, ‘are righteousness and strength.’
He shall come to him, and all those who were angry with him shall be ashamed.
25 In Yahweh all the offspring of Israel shall be in the right,
and they shall boast.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 45:1 Or “let loose”
- Isaiah 45:2 Literally “swells”
- Isaiah 45:4 Or “and”
- Isaiah 45:5 Or “and”
- Isaiah 45:8 Or “and”
- Isaiah 45:8 Or “together”
- Isaiah 45:9 Literally “one who forms”
- Isaiah 45:9 Or “with”
- Isaiah 45:10 Or “and”
- Isaiah 45:11 Literally “one who forms”
- Isaiah 45:11 Literally “over”
- Isaiah 45:17 Literally “for eternity, forever”
- Isaiah 45:18 Literally “creating”
- Isaiah 45:18 Literally “forming”
- Isaiah 45:18 Literally “making”
- Isaiah 45:19 Literally “in emptiness,” as in verse 18
- Isaiah 45:20 Literally “the wood of their idol”
- Isaiah 45:21 Literally “caused to hear this”
- Isaiah 45:21 Literally “before”
- Isaiah 45:21 Literally “then”
- Isaiah 45:23 Or “and”
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