Chapter 45
1 [a]Thus says the Lord to his anointed,
to Cyrus whose right hand I have grasped,
to subdue nations before him
and to remove the armor of kings,
opening doors before him
and leaving no gates barred:
2 I myself will advance before you
and level the mountains;
I will tear down bronze gates[b]
and cut through bars of iron.
3 I will give you treasures concealed in darkness
and riches hidden away in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the Lord,
the God of Israel who calls you by your name.
4 For the sake of my servant Jacob
and of Israel my chosen one,
I have called you by your name,
and I have given you a title,
even though you do not know me.
5 I am the Lord and there is no other;
there is no god besides me.
I am the Lord who armed you
even though you did not know me,
6 so that it may be acknowledged from east to west
that there is no god besides me.
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
7 I form the light and create the darkness;
prosperity and disaster depend upon my will;
I, the Lord, do all these things.
8 Rain down righteousness, you heavens;
let the skies pour it down from above.
Let the earth open up
so that salvation may blossom forth,
and let justice also spring up;
I, the Lord, have created it.
9 Woe to anyone who rises up against his Maker,
or to the pot that is displeased with the potter.
Does the clay say to the one who molds it,
“What are you doing?
Your work makes no sense.”
10 Woe to anyone who asks a father,
“What are you begetting?”
or who says to a mother,
“To what have you given birth?”
11 Thus says the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel and its Maker:
How dare you question me about my children
or command me regarding the work of my hands?
12 I was the one who made the earth
and created mankind upon it.
It was my hands that stretched out the heavens
and commanded all their host.
13 I have raised this man for the triumph of justice,
and I will smooth all his paths.
He will rebuild my city
and set my exiles free
without price or ransom,
says the Lord of hosts.
14 Thus says the Lord:
The wealth of Egypt, the commerce of Ethiopia,
and the Sabeans, tall of stature,
will come over to you and belong to you;
they will follow you, wearing chains.
They will bow down before you
and pray to you, saying,
“God is with you alone, and there is no other;
there is no god aside from him.”[c]
15 Truly you are a God who is hidden,
O God of Israel, the Savior.
16 All the makers of idols are disgraced and humbled;
they perish in their shame.
17 But Israel is saved by the Lord,
a salvation that is everlasting.
You will never be put to shame or humiliated
forever and ever.
18 For thus says the Lord,
the Creator of the heavens,
he who is God,
the one who formed the earth and created it
and established it;
he did not create it to be a wasteland,
but a place to be lived in.
I am the Lord,
and there is no other.
19 I did not speak in secret,
in realms of darkness.
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
“Search for me in an empty waste.”
I the Lord proclaim the truth;
I declare what is right.
20 Gather together and come forth;
assemble, all you survivors of the nations.
Bereft of knowledge are those
who parade with their wooden idols
and pray to gods who are unable to save them.
21 Come forward and present your case
once you have examined the evidence.
Who foretold this in ages past?
Who revealed it long ago?
Was it not I, the Lord?
There is no god aside from me,
I alone am the righteous God and Savior.
22 If you turn to me, you will be saved,
all you ends of the earth,
for I am God, and there is no other.
23 By myself I have sworn
that the word that issues forth from my mouth
is righteous and irrevocable.
To me every knee will bow,
every tongue will swear,
24 saying, “In the Lord alone
are righteousness and strength;
all those who formerly defied him
and vented their rage against him
will come before him in shame.
25 Then all the descendants of Israel
will be triumphant and glory in the Lord.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 45:1 Around 540 B.C., Cyrus’s victories perturbed many Israelites. In the eyes of the religious minority, among whom was the prophet, Cyrus was a messiah, that is, a man charged from on high with accomplishing the major deeds of God in his century. Our expectations of heaven are that justice would come and that “the just one,” that is, the final Messiah, Jesus Christ, would also come. This is how the Vulgate (Latin translation of the Bible) reads verse 8.
- Isaiah 45:2 Bronze gates: Babylon had a hundred of these.
- Isaiah 45:14 The prophet sees Egypt, and especially Ethiopia and Nubia, being conquered by the Persians; the prisoners taken captive pass through Palestine and acknowledge the true God.