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14 The Lord says,
“The ·goods made in [L labor of] Egypt and the ·products [merchandise; or revenue] of ·Cush [Ethiopia]
    and the tall people of Seba [43:3]
will ·come to [or be brought to] you
    and will become yours.
·The Sabeans [L They] will walk behind you,
    coming along in chains [C Israel is depicted as a great empire, receiving tribute from other nations].
They will bow down before you
    and pray to you [C because they recognize Israel as God’s representative], saying,
‘God is with you,
    and there is no other God.’”

15 God and Savior of Israel,
    ·you are [or how, then, can you be…?] a God ·that people cannot see [L who hides himself].
16 All the people who make idols will be put to great shame;
    they will go off together in ·disgrace [humiliation; or confusion].
17 But Israel will be saved by the Lord,
    and that salvation will continue forever.
Never again will Israel be ·put to shame [shamed; disgraced].

18 The Lord created the heavens.
    He is the God who formed the earth and made it.
He did not ·want [create] it to be ·empty [or formless; chaotic; Gen. 1:2],
    but he ·wanted life on the earth [L formed it to be inhabited].
This is what the Lord says:
    “I am the Lord. There is no other God.
19 I did not speak in secret
    or hide my words in some dark place.
I did not tell the ·family [descendants; offspring; seed] of Jacob
    to ·look for me in empty places [or seek me in vain].
I am the Lord, and I speak the truth;
    I say what is right.

20 “You ·people who have escaped [fugitives; refugees] from other nations,
    gather together and come before me;
    come near together.
People who carry idols of wood ·don’t know what they are doing [know nothing; or are fools].
    They pray to a god who cannot save them.
21 ·Tell these people to come to me [or Declare and bring your case].
    Let them ·talk about these things [take counsel] together.
Who told you long ago that this would happen?
    Who told about it long ago?
I, the Lord, said these things.
    There is no other God besides me.
I am the only good God. I am the Savior.
    There is no other God.

22 “All ·people everywhere [the ends of the earth],
    ·follow [turn] and be saved.
    I am God. There is no other God.
23 I ·will make a promise by my own power [L have sworn by myself],
    and ·my promise is true [L a righteous/right/true word goes out of my mouth];
    what I say will not ·be changed [be revoked; L return].
·I promise that everyone will bow before me [L For to me every knee will bow]
    and ·will promise to follow me [L every tongue will swear; C allegiance; Rom. 14:11; Phil. 2:10].
24 People will say about me, ‘·Goodness [Righteousness; or Deliverance] and ·power [strength]
    come only from the Lord.’”
Everyone who has been angry with him
    will come to him and be ashamed.
25 But with the Lord’s help, the ·people [descendants; offspring; seed] of Israel
    will be ·found to be good [justified; vindicated; or victorious],
and they will ·praise [boast/glory in] him.

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14 For this is what the Lord says,

“The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush (ancient Ethiopia)
And the Sabeans, men of stature,
Will come over to you and they will be yours;
They will walk behind you, in chains [of subjection to you] they will come over,
And they will bow down before you;
They will make supplication to you, [humbly and earnestly] saying,
[a]‘Most certainly God is with you, and there is no other,
No other God [besides Him].’”(A)
15 
Truly, You are a God who hides Himself,
O God of Israel, Savior!
16 
They will be put to shame and also humiliated, all of them;
They who make idols will go away together in humiliation.
17 
Israel has been saved by the Lord
With an everlasting salvation;
You will not be put to shame or humiliated
for all eternity.(B)

18 For the Lord, who created the heavens [b](He is God, who formed the earth and made it; He established it and did not create it to be a wasteland, but formed it to be inhabited) says this,

“I am the Lord, and there is no one else.
19 
“I have not spoken in secret,
In a corner of a land of darkness;
I did not say to the descendants of Jacob,
‘Seek Me in vain [with no benefit for yourselves].’
I, the Lord, speak righteousness [the truth—trustworthy, a straightforward correlation between deeds and words],
Declaring things that are upright.(C)

20 
“Assemble yourselves and come;
Come together, you survivors of the nations!
They are ignorant,
Who carry around their wooden idols [in religious processions or into battle]
And keep on praying to a god that cannot save them.
21 
“Declare and present your defense of idols;
Indeed, let them consult together.
Who announced this [rise of Cyrus and his conquests] long before it happened?
Who declared it long ago?
Was it not I, the Lord?
And there is no other God besides Me,
A [consistently and uncompromisingly] just and righteous God and a Savior;
There is none except Me.
22 
“Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth;
For I am God, and there is no other.
23 
“I have sworn [an oath] by Myself,
The word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness
And shall not return,
That to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear [allegiance].(D)
24 
“It shall be said of Me, ‘Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength.’
To Him people will come,
And all who were angry at Him will be put to shame.(E)
25 
“In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
Will be justified (declared free of guilt) and will glory [in God].”

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 45:14 These words foretell the fact that salvation will be available to believing Gentiles, as well as Jews.
  2. Isaiah 45:18 Longer parenthetical passages such as this one are in the Hebrew text, and should not be confused with the general use of parentheses as a way to define or modify the previous word or group of words.