Old/New Testament

45 This is Jehovah’s message to Cyrus, God’s anointed, whom he has chosen to conquer many lands. God shall empower his right hand, and he shall crush the strength of mighty kings. God shall open the gates of Babylon to him; the gates shall not be shut against him anymore. ² I will go before you, Cyrus, and level the mountains and smash down the city gates of brass and iron bars. ³ And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness, secret riches; and you will know that I am doing this—I, the Lord, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by your name.

⁴ And why have I named you for this work? For the sake of Jacob, my servant—Israel, my chosen. I called you by name when you didn’t know me. ⁵ I am Jehovah; there is no other God. I will strengthen you and send you out to victory even though you don’t know me, ⁶ and all the world from east to west will know there is no other God. I am Jehovah and there is no one else. I alone am God. ⁷ I form the light and make the dark. I send good times and bad. I, Jehovah, am he who does these things. ⁸ Open up, O heavens. Let the skies pour out their righteousness. Let salvation and righteousness sprout up together from the earth. I, Jehovah, created them.

⁹ Woe to the man who fights with his Creator. Does the pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with him who forms it, saying, “Stop, you’re doing it wrong!” or the pot exclaim, “How clumsy can you be!”? ¹⁰ Woe to the baby just being born who squalls to his father and mother, “Why have you produced me? Can’t you do anything right at all?”

¹¹ Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, Israel’s Creator, says: “What right have you to question what I do? Who are you to command me concerning the work of my hands? ¹² I have made the earth and created man upon it. With my hands I have stretched out the heavens and commanded all the vast myriads of stars. ¹³ I have raised up Cyrus^[a] to fulfill my righteous purpose, and I will direct all his paths. He shall restore my city and free my captive people—and not for a reward!”

¹⁴ Jehovah says: “The Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Sabeans shall be subject to you. They shall come to you with all their merchandise, and it shall all be yours. They shall follow you as prisoners in chains and fall down on their knees before you and say, “The only God there is, is your God!”

¹⁵ Truly, O God of Israel, Savior, you work in strange, mysterious ways. ¹⁶ All who worship idols shall be disappointed and ashamed. ¹⁷ But Israel shall be saved by Jehovah with eternal salvation; they shall never be disappointed in their God through all eternity. ¹⁸ For Jehovah created the heavens and earth and put everything in place, and he made the world to be lived in, not to be an empty chaos. I am Jehovah, he says, and there is no other! ¹⁹ I publicly proclaim bold promises; I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner so that no one can know what I mean. And I didn’t tell Israel to ask me for what I didn’t plan to give! No, for I, Jehovah, speak only truth and righteousness.

²⁰ Gather together and come, you nations that escape from Cyrus’s hand. What fools they are who carry around the wooden idols and pray to gods that cannot save! ²¹ Consult together, argue your case and state your proofs that idol worship pays! Who but God has said that these things concerning Cyrus would come true? What idol ever told you they would happen? For there is no other God but me—a just God and a Savior—no, not one! ²² Let all the world look to me for salvation! For I am God; there is no other. ²³ I have sworn by myself, and I will never go back on my word, for it is true—that every knee in all the world shall bow to me, and every tongue shall swear allegiance to my name.

²⁴ “In Jehovah is all my righteousness and strength,” the people shall declare. And all who were angry with him shall come to him and be ashamed. ²⁵ In Jehovah all the generations of Israel shall be justified, triumphant.

46 ^1-2 The idols of Babylon, Bel and Nebo,^[b] are being hauled away on ox carts! But look! The beasts are stumbling! The cart is turning over! The gods are falling out onto the ground! Is that the best that they can do? If they cannot even save themselves from such a fall, how can they save their worshipers from Cyrus?

³ “Listen to me, all Israel who are left; I have created you and cared for you since you were born. ⁴ I will be your God through all your lifetime, yes, even when your hair is white with age. I made you and I will care for you. I will carry you along and be your Savior.

⁵ “With what in all of heaven and earth do I compare? Whom can you find who equals me? ⁶ Will you compare me with an idol made lavishly with silver and with gold? They hire a goldsmith to take your wealth and make a god from it! Then they fall down and worship it! ⁷ They carry it around on their shoulders, and when they set it down, it stays there, for it cannot move! And when someone prays to it, there is no answer, for it cannot get him out of his trouble.

⁸ “Don’t forget this, O guilty ones. ⁹ And don’t forget the many times I clearly told you what was going to happen in the future. For I am God—I only—and there is no other like me ¹⁰ who can tell you what is going to happen. All I say will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish. ¹¹ I will call that swift bird of prey from the east—that man Cyrus from far away. And he will come and do my bidding. I have said I would do it and I will. ¹² Listen to me, you stubborn, evil men! ¹³ For I am offering you my deliverance; not in the distant future, but right now! I am ready to save you, and I will restore Jerusalem and Israel, who is my glory.

3 Finally, when I could stand it no longer, I decided to stay alone in Athens ^2-3 and send Timothy, our brother and fellow worker, God’s minister, to visit you to strengthen your faith and encourage you and to keep you from becoming fainthearted in all the troubles you were going through. (But of course you know that such troubles are a part of God’s plan for us Christians. ⁴ Even while we were still with you we warned you ahead of time that suffering would soon come—and it did.)

⁵ As I was saying, when I could bear the suspense no longer, I sent Timothy to find out whether your faith was still strong. I was afraid that perhaps Satan had gotten the best of you and that all our work had been useless. ⁶ And now Timothy has just returned and brings the welcome news that your faith and love are as strong as ever and that you remember our visit with joy and want to see us just as much as we want to see you. ⁷ So we are greatly comforted, dear brothers, in all of our own crushing troubles and suffering here, now that we know you are standing true to the Lord. ⁸ We can bear anything as long as we know that you remain strong in him.

⁹ How can we thank God enough for you and for the joy and delight you have given us in our praying for you? ¹⁰ For night and day we pray on and on for you, asking God to let us see you again, to fill up any little cracks there may yet be in your faith.

¹¹ May God our Father himself and our Lord Jesus send us back to you again. ¹² And may the Lord make your love to grow and overflow to each other and to everyone else, just as our love does toward you. ¹³ This will result in your hearts being made strong, sinless, and holy by God our Father so that you may stand before him guiltless on that day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns with all those who belong to him.^[a]