Isaiah 44:21-45:13

English Standard Version

The Lord Redeems Israel

²¹Remember these things, O Jacob,
    and Israel, for you are ^(A)my servant;
I formed you; you are my servant;
    ^(B)O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.
²²^(C)I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud
    and your sins like mist;
return to me, for I have redeemed you.

²³^(D)Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it;
    shout, O ^(E)depths of the earth;
break forth into singing, O mountains,
    O forest, and every tree in it!
For the Lord has redeemed Jacob,
    ^(F)and will be glorified^[a] in Israel.

²⁴Thus says the Lord, ^(G)your Redeemer,
    ^(H)who formed you from the womb:
^(I)“I am the Lord, who made all things,
    ^(J)who alone stretched out the heavens,
    who spread out the earth by myself,
²⁵who frustrates the signs of liars
    and makes fools of diviners,
^(K)who turns wise men back
    and makes their knowledge foolish,
²⁶^(L)who confirms the word of his servant
    and fulfills the counsel of his messengers,
who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited,’
    ^(M)and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built,
    and I will raise up their ruins’;
²⁷^(N)who says to the deep, ‘Be dry;
    I will dry up your rivers’;
²⁸who says of ^(O)Cyrus, ‘He is ^(P)my shepherd,
    and he shall fulfill all my purpose’;
saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’
    ^(Q)and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’”

Cyrus, God's Instrument

45 Thus says the Lord to ^(R)his anointed, to Cyrus,
    ^(S)whose right hand I have grasped,
to subdue nations before him
    and ^(T)to loose the belts of kings,
to open doors before him
    that gates may not be closed:
²“I will go before you
    and ^(U)level the exalted places,^[b]
^(V)I will break in pieces the doors of bronze
    and cut through the bars of iron,
³^(W)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, ^(X)who call you by your name.
⁴For the sake of my servant Jacob,
    and Israel my chosen,
^(Y)I call you by your name,
    ^(Z)I name you, though you do not know me.
⁵^(AA)I am the Lord, and there is no other,
    besides me there is no God;
    ^(AB)I equip you, though you do not know me,
⁶^(AC)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.
⁷I form light and create darkness;
    I make well-being and ^(AD)create calamity;
    I am the Lord, who does all these things.

⁸^(AE)“Shower, O heavens, from above,
    and ^(AF)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^(AG)“Woe to him who strives with him who formed him,
    a pot among earthen pots!
^(AH)Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
    or ‘Your work has no handles’?
¹⁰Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’
    or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’”

¹¹Thus says ^(AI)the Lord,
    the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him:
^(AJ)“Ask me of things to come;
    will you command me ^(AK)concerning my children and ^(AL)the work of my hands?^[c]
¹²^(AM)I made the earth
    and created man on it;
it was my hands ^(AN)that stretched out the heavens,
    and ^(AO)I commanded all their host.
¹³^(AP)I have stirred him up in righteousness,
    ^(AQ)and I will make all his ways level;
^(AR)he shall build my city
    ^(AS)and set my exiles free,
not for price or reward,”
    says the Lord of hosts.

Footnotes

Isaiah 44:23 Or will display his beauty
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 45:20-25

English Standard Version

²⁰^(A)“Assemble yourselves and come;
    draw near together,
    you survivors of the nations!
^(B)They have no knowledge
    who ^(C)carry about their wooden idols,
^(D)and keep on praying to a god
    that cannot save.
²¹^(E)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 ^(F)and a Savior;
    there is none besides me.

²²“Turn to me and be saved,
    ^(G)all the ends of the earth!
    For I am God, and there is no other.
²³^(H)By myself I have sworn;
    from my mouth has gone out in ^(I)righteousness
    a word that shall not return:
^(J)‘To me every knee shall bow,
    every tongue shall swear allegiance.’^[a]

²⁴^(K)“Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me,
    are righteousness and ^(L)strength;
to him shall come and be ashamed
    ^(M)all who were incensed against him.
²⁵In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
    shall be justified and shall glory.”