Isaiah 45:5-17

Common English Bible

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.