Isaiah 45
45
XLV
1Thus saith Jehovah to his Anointed, to Cyrus,
Whom I hold fast by his right hand;
To subdue nations before him,
And ungird the loins of kings;
To open before him the two-leaved gates:
And the gates shall not be shut.
2I will go before thee,
And make the crooked places straight:
I will break in pieces the gates of brass.
And cut in sunder the bars of iron.
3And I will give thee the treasures of darkness,
And the stores deeply hidden in secret places;
That thou mayest know that I am Jehovah,
He who calleth thee by thy name, the God of Israel.
4For Jacob my servant’s sake,
And Israel my chosen,
I have even called thee by thy name;
I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
5I am Jehovah, and there is none else;
There is no God beside me:
I girded thee, though thou knewest me not;
6That men may know from the rising of the sun,
And from the west, that there is none beside me;
I am Jehovah, and there is none else:
7I form light, and create darkness;
I make peace, and create evil:
I Jehovah do all these things.
8Drop down, ye heavens, from above;
And let the clouds shower down righteousness;
Let the earth open her bosom, and let them bring forth salvation,
And let righteousness spring up together:
I Jehovah have created it.
9Wo unto him that striveth with his Maker!
Let a potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth.
Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou?
Or thy work; He hath no hands?
10Wo unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou?
Or to the woman, What dost thou bring forth?
11Thus saith Jehovah,
The Holy One of Israel, and his Maker:
Of things to come ask me;
But over my sons, and over the work of my hands, let me have the command.
12I have made the earth,
And created man upon it:
I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens,
And to all the host of them I have given command.
13I have raised him up in righteousness,
And I will make straight all his ways:
He shall build my city, and release my captives,
Not for price, nor for reward:
Saith Jehovah of hosts.
14Thus saith Jehovah:
The labour of Egypt, the merchandise of Cush,
And of the Sabeans, men of stature;
Shall come over unto thee, and shall be thine:
They shall follow thee; in chains shall they pass along,
And they shall bow down unto thee;
They shall make supplication unto thee, saying:
Surely God is in thee, and there is none else;
There is no God besides.
15Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself;
O God of Israel, the Saviour!
16They are ashamed, and also confounded, all of them;
They retire in confusion together that are makers of images.
17 But Israel shall be saved through Jehovah with an everlasting salvation:
Ye shall not be ashamed, nor confounded, world without end.
18For thus saith Jehovah who created the heavens;
He himself is the God who formed the earth, and made it; it was He that hath established it;
He created it not in vain; He formed it to be inhabited:
I am Jehovah, and there is none else.
19I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth;
I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain:
I, Jehovah, speak the truth: I declare the things that are right
20Assemble yourselves and come;
Gather yourselves together, ye that are escaped of the nations:
They have no knowledge that carry about the wood of their graven image,
And pray to a god that cannot save.
21Publish it abroad, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together:
Who hath made this known from ancient time, hath declared it of old?
Was it not I, Jehovah? besides me there is no God;
A just God, and a Saviour; there is none beside me.
22Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth:
For I am God, and there is none else.
23I have sworn by myself, the truth is gone out of my mouth;
The word, and it shall not be revoked:
That unto me every knee shall bow,
Every tongue shall swear.
24Only in Jehovah, shall one say of me, is righteousness and strength;
To Him shall men come,
And all that are incensed against Him shall be ashamed.
25In Jehovah shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.
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Isaiah 45: TEG
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.
Isaiah 45
45
The God Who Forms Light and Darkness
1-7 God’s Message to his anointed,
to Cyrus, whom he took by the hand
To give the task of taming the nations,
of terrifying their kings—
He gave him free rein,
no restrictions:
“I’ll go ahead of you,
clearing and paving the road.
I’ll break down bronze city gates,
smash padlocks, kick down barred entrances.
I’ll lead you to buried treasures,
secret caches of valuables—
Confirmations that it is, in fact, I, God,
the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.
It’s because of my dear servant Jacob,
Israel my chosen,
That I’ve singled you out, called you by name,
and given you this privileged work.
And you don’t even know me!
I am God, the only God there is.
Besides me there are no real gods.
I’m the one who armed you for this work,
though you don’t even know me,
So that everyone, from east to west, will know
that I have no god-rivals.
I am God, the only God there is.
I form light and create darkness,
I make harmonies and create discords.
I, God, do all these things.
8-10“Open up, heavens, and rain.
Clouds, pour out buckets of my goodness!
Loosen up, earth, and bloom salvation;
sprout right living.
I, God, generate all this.
But doom to you who fight your Maker—
you’re a pot at odds with the potter!
Does clay talk back to the potter:
‘What are you doing? What clumsy fingers!’
Would a sperm say to a father,
‘Who gave you permission to use me to make a baby?’
Or a fetus to a mother,
‘Why have you cooped me up in this belly?’”
11-13Thus God, The Holy of Israel, Israel’s Maker, says:
“Do you question who or what I’m making?
Are you telling me what I can or cannot do?
I made earth,
and I created man and woman to live on it.
I handcrafted the skies
and direct all the constellations in their turnings.
And now I’ve got Cyrus on the move.
I’ve rolled out the red carpet before him.
He will build my city.
He will bring home my exiles.
I didn’t hire him to do this. I told him.
I, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.”
* * *
14 God says:
“The workers of Egypt, the merchants of Ethiopia,
and those statuesque Sabeans
Will all come over to you—all yours.
Docile in chains, they’ll follow you,
Hands folded in reverence, praying before you:
‘Amazing! God is with you!
There is no other God—none.’”
Look at the Evidence
15-17Clearly, you are a God who works behind the scenes,
God of Israel, Savior God.
Humiliated, all those others
will be ashamed to show their faces in public.
Out of work and at loose ends, the makers of no-god idols
won’t know what to do with themselves.
The people of Israel, though, are saved by you, God,
saved with an eternal salvation.
They won’t be ashamed,
they won’t be at loose ends, ever.
18-24a God, Creator of the heavens—
he is, remember, God.
Maker of earth—
he put it on its foundations, built it from scratch.
He didn’t go to all that trouble
to just leave it empty, nothing in it.
He made it to be lived in.
This God says:
“I am God,
the one and only.
I don’t just talk to myself
or mumble under my breath.
I never told Jacob,
‘Seek me in emptiness, in dark nothingness.’
I am God. I work out in the open,
saying what’s right, setting things right.
So gather around, come on in,
all you refugees and castoffs.
They don’t seem to know much, do they—
those who carry around their no-god blocks of wood,
praying for help to a dead stick?
So tell me what you think. Look at the evidence.
Put your heads together. Make your case.
Who told you, and a long time ago, what’s going on here?
Who made sense of things for you?
Wasn’t I the one? God?
It had to be me. I’m the only God there is—
The only God who does things right
and knows how to help.
So turn to me and be helped—saved!—
everyone, whoever and wherever you are.
I am God,
the only God there is, the one and only.
I promise in my own name:
Every word out of my mouth does what it says.
I never take back what I say.
Everyone is going to end up kneeling before me.
Everyone is going to end up saying of me,
‘Yes! Salvation and strength are in God!’”
24b-25 All who have raged against him
will be brought before him,
disgraced by their unbelief.
And all who are connected with Israel
will have a robust, praising, good life in God!
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.