Isaiah 45
45
1This is what the Lord says to Cyrus, the one he has anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to direct him to defeat nations and to make kings weak, to open doors before him and gates that will not be shut. 2I will go ahead of you and level the mountains.#45:2. Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint reading. I will break down bronze gates and cut through iron bars. 3I will give you hidden treasure, treasure concealed in secret places, so that you can know for sure that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name.
4I call you by name and I have given you a title of honor, for the sake of Jacob my servant, and Israel the one I chose, even though you don't know me. 5I am the Lord, there is no God apart from me. Apart from me there is no God. I will make you strong, even though you don't know me, 6so that everyone, from the east to the west, will know that there is no God apart from me, that I am the Lord, and there is none apart from me. 7I create light, and I make darkness, I bring peace and I bring about disaster. I am the Lord and I do all this. 8Let the rain fall from the sky above, let goodness fall from the clouds, let the earth open up to receive goodness and salvation so they can grow together. I, the Lord, created them.
9What trouble people face when they fight with their Creator—they're just pots among all the other pots on earth! Does the clay tell the potter who is shaping it, “What are you doing?” or “What you're making is so bad it's like you have no hands!” 10How bad it would be if you said to your father, “Why did you have me?” or to your mother, “Why was I ever born?”!
11This is what the Lord says, the Holy One of Israel, your Creator: You can ask me about things to come. But are you going to lecture me about my children and what I do? 12I'm the one who made the earth, and I created human beings to live there. It was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I ordered all the stars to come into being.#45:12. “To come into being”: supplied for clarity.
13Because I do what's right, I will encourage him#45:13. Referring back to Cyrus mentioned in verse 1. and smooth out all the roads he takes. He will rebuild my city and will set my exiles free without being paid or bribed to do so, says the Lord Almighty.
14This is what the Lord says: The productive Egyptians and the Ethiopian traders, as well as the tall Sabean people, will come over to you and will belong to you. They will walk behind you in chains and bow down to you, pleading with you, saying, “God is certainly with you, and there is no other God besides him.”
15Yet you are a God who hides himself, God of Israel, Savior. 16Everyone who makes idols are ashamed and humiliated, all of them are disgraced. 17But Israel will be saved by the Lord with a salvation that lasts forever. You will never be ashamed or disgraced for all eternity.
18For this is what the Lord says, the God who created the heavens, who formed and made the earth, he founded it. He didn't make it to be left empty, but formed it to be inhabited. He is the one who says, I am the Lord, and there is no God apart from me. 19I haven't been talking in secret in an obscure place. I didn't tell the descendants of Jacob: Look for me in a place where no one can be found.#45:19. “In a place where no one can be found”: literally, “emptiness.” I, the Lord, tell the truth—I say what's right.
20Gather yourselves together, and come, come close, you refugees of the nations. Aren't they stupid, these people who carry around their wooden idols, and who pray to a god that can't save them? 21Discuss this together, and then speak up, present your case. Who predicted this long ago? Who said what would happen in the future back in the past? Wasn't that me, the Lord? There is no other God except me, no other God who does what is right, and who saves. There is no God apart from me. 22Everyone on earth, come to me and be saved, for I am God and there is no God apart from me. 23I have sworn by my own self, I have spoken what is right, and I won't ever go back on it. Everyone shall bow before me; everyone shall acknowledge me. 24They will say about me, “Salvation and strength can only be found in the Lord.” Everyone who has fought against him will come to him and will be ashamed. 25But in the Lord all the descendants of Israel will be made right, and they will glory in him.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
Isaiah 45
45
Cyrus, God’s Instrument
1Thus says the Lord to #[ch. 44:28] his anointed, to Cyrus,
# [ch. 41:13] whose right hand I have grasped,
to subdue nations before him
and #Job 12:21; [ver. 5; ch. 22:21]to loose the belts of kings,
to open doors before him
that gates may not be closed:
2“I will go before you
and #ch. 40:4 level the exalted places,#45:2 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint level the mountains
#
Ps. 107:16
I will break in pieces the doors of bronze
and cut through the bars of iron,
3 # [Jer. 50:37; 51:13] I will give you the treasures of darkness
and the hoards in secret places,
that you may know that it is I, the Lord,
the God of Israel, #ch. 43:1who call you by your name.
4For the sake of my servant Jacob,
and Israel my chosen,
# [See ver. 3 above] I call you by your name,
# [ch. 62:2] I name you, though you do not know me.
5 # See ch. 44:8 I am the Lord, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
# [Job 12:21; ch. 22:21] I equip you, though you do not know me,
6 # [ch. 37:20; Mal. 1:11] that people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
7I form light and create darkness;
I make well-being and #[ch. 41:23; Amos 3:6]create calamity;
I am the Lord, who does all these things.
8 # [Deut. 32:2] “Shower, O heavens, from above,
and #Ps. 85:11; [Hos. 10:12]let the clouds rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit;
let the earth cause them both to sprout;
I the Lord have created it.
9 # [Eccles. 6:10]; See ch. 10:15 “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him,
a pot among earthen pots!
# ch. 64:8; Cited Rom. 9:20 Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
or ‘Your work has no handles’?
10Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’
or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’”
11Thus says #Ezek. 39:7 the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him:
# [ch. 41:23] “Ask me of things to come;
will you command me #[Jer. 31:9] concerning my children and #ch. 29:23; 64:8the work of my hands?#45:11 A slight emendation yields will you question me about my children, or command me concerning the work of my hands?
12 #
Jer. 27:5 I made the earth
and created man on it;
it was my hands #ch. 42:5; 44:24 that stretched out the heavens,
and #Gen. 2:1I commanded all their host.
13 # ch. 41:2 I have stirred him up in righteousness,
# [ver. 2] and I will make all his ways level;
# See ch. 44:28 he shall build my city
# ch. 49:25; 51:14; 52:3 and set my exiles free,
not for price or reward,”
says the Lord of hosts.
The Lord, the Only Savior
14Thus says the Lord:
# [ch. 43:3] “The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush,
and the Sabeans, men of stature,
shall come over to you #ch. 14:2and be yours;
they shall follow you;
they shall come over in chains and bow down to you.
They will plead with you, saying:
‘Surely God is in you, and there is no other,
no god besides him.’”
15 # ch. 57:17 Truly, you are a God who hides himself,
O God of Israel, the Savior.
16 # See ch. 42:17 All of them are put to shame and confounded;
the makers of idols go in confusion together.
17But Israel is saved by the Lord
with everlasting salvation;
# ch. 54:4 you shall not be put to shame or confounded
to all eternity.
18 # ch. 42:5 For thus says the Lord,
who created the heavens
(he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
(he established it;
he #[Gen. 1:2] did not create it empty,
# [Ps. 115:16] he formed it to be inhabited!):
“I am the Lord, and there is no other.
19 # ch. 48:16; [Deut. 30:11] I did not speak in secret,
in a land of darkness;
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
#
Jer. 29:13, 14 ‘Seek me in vain.’#45:19 Hebrew in emptiness
I the Lord speak #ver. 23the truth;
I declare what is right.
20 # [ch. 41:1] “Assemble yourselves and come;
draw near together,
you survivors of the nations!
# [ch. 44:18, 19; 48:5-7] They have no knowledge
who #ch. 46:1, 7; Jer. 10:5 carry about their wooden idols,
# [ch. 44:17] and keep on praying to a god
that cannot save.
21 # [ch. 41:22, 26; 43:9] Declare and present your case;
let them take counsel together!
Who told this long ago?
Who declared it of old?
Was it not I, the Lord?
And there is no other god besides me,
a righteous God #[ch. 43:11]and a Savior;
there is none besides me.
22“Turn to me and be saved,
# ch. 11:12; 43:5, 6 all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
23 # See Gen. 22:16 By myself I have sworn;
from my mouth has gone out in #ver. 19 righteousness
a word that shall not return:
# Cited Rom. 14:11; [Phil. 2:10] ‘To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance.’#45:23 Septuagint every tongue shall confess to God
24 # [ch. 26:4; 44:8] “Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me,
are righteousness and #[ch. 26:4; 44:8] strength;
to him shall come and be ashamed
# [ch. 41:11] all who were incensed against him.
25In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
shall be justified and shall glory.”
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