Isaiah 44:24-45:13

Revised Standard Version

²⁴ Thus 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?^[a]—
²⁵ who frustrates the omens of liars,
    and makes fools of diviners;
who turns wise men back,
    and makes their knowledge foolish;
²⁶ who 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’;
²⁷ who says to the deep, ‘Be dry,
    I will dry up your rivers’;
²⁸ who 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.’”

⁸ “Shower, O heavens, from above,
    and let the skies rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation may sprout forth,^[c]
    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!^[d]
Does the clay say to him who fashions 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 travail?’”
¹¹ Thus says the Lord,
    the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker:
“Will you question me^[e] about my children,
    or command me concerning the work of my hands?
¹² I made the earth,
    and created man upon it;
it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,
    and I commanded all their host.
¹³ I 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.