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Future Conversion of Gentiles

14 This is what the Lord says:

“You will rule the Egyptians,
    the Ethiopians,[a] and the Sabeans.
They will come to you with all their merchandise,
    and it will all be yours.
They will follow you as prisoners in chains.
    They will fall to their knees in front of you and say,
‘God is with you, and he is the only God.
    There is no other.’”

15 Truly, O God of Israel, our Savior,
    you work in mysterious ways.
16 All craftsmen who make idols will be humiliated.
    They will all be disgraced together.
17 But the Lord will save the people of Israel
    with eternal salvation.
Throughout everlasting ages,
    they will never again be humiliated and disgraced.

18 For the Lord is God,
    and he created the heavens and earth
    and put everything in place.
He made the world to be lived in,
    not to be a place of empty chaos.
“I am the Lord,” he says,
    “and there is no other.
19 I publicly proclaim bold promises.
    I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner.
I would not have told the people of Israel[b] to seek me
    if I could not be found.
I, the Lord, speak only what is true
    and declare only what is right.

20 “Gather together and come,
    you fugitives from surrounding nations.
What fools they are who carry around their wooden idols
    and pray to gods that cannot save!
21 Consult together, argue your case.
    Get together and decide what to say.
Who made these things known so long ago?
    What idol ever told you they would happen?
Was it not I, the Lord?
    For there is no other God but me,
a righteous God and Savior.
    There is none but me.
22 Let all the world look to me for salvation!
    For I am God; there is no other.
23 I have sworn by my own name;
    I have spoken the truth,
    and I will never go back on my word:
Every knee will bend to me,
    and every tongue will declare allegiance to me.[c]
24 The people will declare,
    “The Lord is the source of all my righteousness and strength.”
And all who were angry with him
    will come to him and be ashamed.
25 In the Lord all the generations of Israel will be justified,
    and in him they will boast.

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Footnotes

  1. 45:14 Hebrew Cushites.
  2. 45:19 Hebrew of Jacob. See note on 14:1.
  3. 45:23 Hebrew will confess; Greek version reads will declare allegiance to God. Compare Rom 14:11.

14 This is what the Lord says:
“The wealth of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia,
    those[a] Sabeans, men of great heights.[b]
They’ll come over to you and will be yours;
    They’ll trudge behind you—
        coming over in chains, they’ll bow down to you.
They’ll plead with you,
    ‘Surely God is in you;
        and there is no other God at all.’”

God as Savior of Israel

15 “Truly you are a God who hides himself,
    O God of Israel, the Savior.
16 All of them will be put to shame—indeed, disgraced!
    The makers of idols will go off in disgrace together.
17 But Israel will be saved by the Lord
    with everlasting salvation;
you won’t be put to shame or disgraced ever again.”

18 For this is what the Lord says,
    who created the heavens—
he is God,
    and[c] the one who formed the earth and made it,
and[d] he is the one who established it;
    he didn’t create it for[e] chaos,
        but formed it to be inhabited—

“I am the Lord and there is no other.
19 I didn’t speak in secret,
        from somewhere in a land of darkness;
I didn’t say to Jacob’s descendants,
    ‘Seek me in chaos.’
I, the Lord, speak truth,
    declaring what is right.

20 “Gather together and come;
    draw near and enter,[f]
        your fugitives from the nations.
Those who carry around their wooden idols
    know nothing,
nor do those who keep praying to a god
    that cannot save.
21 Explain and present a case!
    Yes, let them take counsel together.
Who announced this long ago,
    who declared it from the distant past?
        Was it not I, the Lord?
And there is no other God besides me,
    a righteous God and Savior;
        and[g] there is none besides me.
22 Turn to me and be saved,
    all you ends of the earth.
        For I am God, and there is no other.

Every Knee will Bow

23 By myself I have sworn—
    from my mouth has gone out integrity,
        a promise[h] that won’t be revoked:
‘To me every knee will bow,
    and[i] every tongue will swear.’
24 One will say of me,[j]
    ‘Only in the Lord are victories and might.’
All who raged against him will come[k] to him
    and will be put to shame.
25 In the Lord all the descendants of Israel
    will triumph and make their boast.”

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 45:14 Lit. and those; so 1QIsaa; MT LXX read and the
  2. Isaiah 45:14 So 1QIsaa; MT reads height
  3. Isaiah 45:18 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack and
  4. Isaiah 45:18 So 1QIsaa; MT lacks and
  5. Isaiah 45:18 Or it to remain in a state of; so 1QIsaa LXX; MT lacks for
  6. Isaiah 45:20 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read together
  7. Isaiah 45:21 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack and
  8. Isaiah 45:23 Lit. word
  9. Isaiah 45:23 So 1QIsaa; MT lacks and
  10. Isaiah 45:24 So 1QIsaa; MT reads one said of me; LXX reads saying
  11. Isaiah 45:24 So 1QIsaa MTmss LXX (pl.); MT (sing.)