Isaiah 45
45
God Chooses Cyrus to Free Israel
1This is what the Lord says to Cyrus, his appointed king:
“I hold your right hand.
I will help you defeat nations.
I will help you take other kings’ power away.
I will open doors for you
so city gates will not stop you.
2I will go before you.
And I will make the mountains flat.
I will break down the bronze gates of the cities.
I will cut through the iron bars on the gates.
3I will give you the wealth that is stored away.
And I will give you hidden riches.
I will do this so you will know I am the Lord.
I, the God of Israel, call you by name.
4I do these things for my servants, the people of Jacob.
I do these things for my chosen people, the Israelites.
Cyrus, I call you by name.
I give you a title of honor even though you don’t know me.
5I am the Lord. There is no other God.
I am the only God.
I will make you strong
even though you don’t know me.
6I do these things so everyone will know
there is no other God.
From the east to the west they will know
I alone am the Lord.
7I made the light and the darkness.
I bring peace, and I cause troubles.
I, the Lord, do all these things.
8“Sky above, make victory fall like rain.
Clouds, pour down victory.
May the earth receive it.
May salvation grow.
May victory grow with it.
I, the Lord, have created it.
9“How terrible it will be for those who argue with the God who made them.
They are like one piece of broken pottery among many pieces.
The clay does not ask the potter,
‘What are you doing?’
The thing that is made doesn’t say to its maker,
‘You have no hands.’
10How terrible it will be for the child who says to his father,
‘Why are you giving me life?’
How terrible it will be for the child who says to his mother,
‘Why are you giving birth to me?’”
11The Lord is the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker.
He says this:
“You ask me about what will happen.
You question me about my children.
You give me orders about what I have made.
12I made the earth.
And I made all the people living on it.
With my own hands I stretched out the skies.
I command all the armies in the sky.
13I will bring Cyrus to do good things.
And I will make his work easy.
Cyrus will rebuild my city,
and he will set my people free.
Cyrus has not been paid to do these things.
The Lord of heaven’s armies says this.”
14The Lord says,
“The things made in Egypt and Cush
and the tall people of Seba
will come to you.
They will become yours.
The Sabeans will walk behind you.
They will come along in chains.
They will bow down before you.
They will pray to you, saying,
‘God is with you.
And there is no other God.’”
15You are a God that people cannot see.
You are the God and Savior of Israel.
16All the people who make idols will be put to great shame.
They will go off together in disgrace.
17But Israel will be saved by the Lord.
That salvation will continue forever.
Never again will Israel be put to shame.
18The Lord created the heavens.
He is the God
who formed the earth.
He made the earth.
But he did not want it to be empty.
He wanted life to be on the earth.
This is what the Lord says:
“I am the Lord. There is no other God.
19I did not speak in secret.
I did not hide my words somewhere in a dark place.
I did not tell the family of Jacob
to look for me in empty places.
I am the Lord, and I speak the truth.
I say what is right.
20“You people have escaped from other nations.
So gather together and come before me.
Come near together.
People who carry idols of wood don’t know what they are doing.
They pray to a god who cannot save them.
21Tell these people to come to me.
Let them talk about these things 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,
follow me and be saved.
I am God. There is no other God.
23I will make a promise by my own power.
And my promise is true.
What I say will not be changed.
I promise that everyone will bow before me.
Everyone will promise to follow me.
24People will say, ‘Goodness and power
come only from the Lord.’”
Everyone who has been angry with the Lord
will come to him and be ashamed.
25But with the Lord’s help, the people of Israel
will be found to be good.
And they will praise him.
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Isaiah 45: ICB
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Isaiah 45
45
1Yahweh says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held to subdue nations before him and strip kings of their armor, to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut:
2“I will go before you
and make the rough places smooth.
I will break the doors of bronze in pieces
and cut apart the bars of iron.
3I will give you the treasures of darkness
and hidden riches of secret places,
that you may know that it is I, Yahweh, who calls you by your name,
even the God of Israel.
4For Jacob my servant’s sake,
and Israel my chosen,
I have called you by your name.
I have given you a title,
though you have not known me.
5I am Yahweh, and there is no one else.
Besides me, there is no God.
I will strengthen#45:5 or, equip you,
though you have not known me,
6that they may know from the rising of the sun,
and from the west,
that there is no one besides me.
I am Yahweh, and there is no one else.
7I form the light
and create darkness.
I make peace
and create calamity.
I am Yahweh,
who does all these things.
8Rain, you heavens, from above,
and let the skies pour down righteousness.
Let the earth open, that it may produce salvation,
and let it cause righteousness to spring up with it.
I, Yahweh, have created it.
9Woe to him who strives with his Maker—
a clay pot among the clay pots of the earth!
Shall the clay ask him who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’
or your work, ‘He has no hands’?
10Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What have you become the father of?’
or to a mother, ‘What have you given birth to?’”
11Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel
and his Maker says:
“You ask me about the things that are to come, concerning my sons,
and you command me concerning the work of my hands!
12I have made the earth, and created man on it.
I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens.
I have commanded all their army.
13I have raised him up in righteousness,
and I will make all his ways straight.
He shall build my city,
and he shall let my exiles go free,
not for price nor reward,” says Yahweh of Armies.
14Yahweh says: “The labor of Egypt,
and the merchandise of Ethiopia,
and the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you,
and they will be yours.
They will go after you.
They shall come over in chains.
They will bow down to you.
They will make supplication to you:
‘Surely God is in you; and there is no one else.
There is no other god.
15Most certainly you are a God who has hidden yourself,
God of Israel, the Savior.’”
16They will be disappointed,
yes, confounded, all of them.
Those who are makers of idols will go into confusion together.
17Israel will be saved by Yahweh with an everlasting salvation.
You will not be disappointed nor confounded to ages everlasting.
18For Yahweh who created the heavens,
the God who formed the earth and made it,
who established it and didn’t create it a waste,
who formed it to be inhabited says:
“I am Yahweh.
There is no other.
19I have not spoken in secret,
in a place of the land of darkness.
I didn’t say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’
I, Yahweh, speak righteousness.
I declare things that are right.
20“Assemble yourselves and come.
Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations.
Those have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image,
and pray to a god that can’t save.
21Declare and present it.
Yes, let them take counsel together.
Who has shown this from ancient time?
Who has declared it of old?
Haven’t I, Yahweh?
There is no other God besides me, a just God and a Savior.
There is no one besides me.
22“Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth;
for I am God, and there is no other.
23I have sworn by myself.
The word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and will not be revoked,
that to me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall take an oath.
24They will say of me,
‘There is righteousness and strength only in Yahweh.’”
Even to him will men come.
All those who raged against him will be disappointed.
25All the offspring of Israel will be justified in Yahweh,
and will rejoice!
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