Isaiah 45

1Thus says Yahweh to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have strengthened to subdue nations before him and open kings' loins, to open before him doors and gates that will not be shut.

2I will go before you and straighten the crooked places and make them straight. I will break the bronze doors and cut the iron bars.

3I will give you treasuries of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, Yahweh, who calls you by your name, am the God of Israel.

4For my servant Jacob and Israel my chosen, I called you by your name and surnamed you, though you did not know me.

5I am Yahweh, and there is no other besides me; there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not known me.

6So that they may know from the sun's rising in the east and from the west that there is none besides me. I am Yahweh, and there is none else.

7I fashion light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, Yahweh, do all these things.

8Heavens, drip from above, and let the skies flow with righteousness; let the earth break open, bear salvation, and cause righteousness to spring up together—I, Yahweh, have created it.

9Woe to anyone who contends against his shaper—a potsherd among the potsherds of the ground! Shall clay say to its fashioner, "What do you make?" or your handiwork, "No hands for him"?

10Woe to him who says to his father, "What have you fathered?" or to a woman, "What have you borne?"

11Thus says Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel and the one who formed him: Ask me about coming events concerning my sons, and command me concerning the work of my hands.

12I made the earth and created humans on it. My hands stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.

13I have roused him in righteousness, and I will straighten all his ways; he will build my city and release my exiles, not for a price nor a bribe, says Yahweh of hosts.

14Thus says Yahweh: "The labor of Egypt, the merchandise of Cush and the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and become yours; they will follow after you, in chains they will come over, and to you they will bow down, praying to you: 'Surely God is in you, and there is none else, no God.'"

15Surely you are a God who hides yourself, God of Israel, Savior.

16They will all be ashamed, even confounded—the craftsmen of idols going together into shame.

17Israel is saved by Yahweh with everlasting salvation. You will not be put to shame or disgraced for all eternity.

18For thus says Yahweh, creator of the heavens—he, God, who formed the earth and made it, who established it; he did not create it formless, he shaped it to be inhabited: I am Yahweh, and there is no other.

19I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth. I did not tell Jacob's offspring, "Seek me in formlessness." I, Yahweh, speak righteousness; I declare upright things.

20Gather and come; draw near together, you who escaped from the nations. Those who carry wood for their carved image and pray to a god have no knowledge—he cannot save.

21Proclaim and bring them near. Yes, let them confer together: Who revealed this from antiquity? Who declared it from the start? Have I not, Yahweh? There is no other God besides me—a righteous God and a Savior; there is none apart from me.

22Turn to me and be saved, all you at the ends of the earth—for I am God, and there is no other.

23I have sworn by myself—a righteous word has come out from my mouth and will not return—that to me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear.

24One will say to me, “Only in Yahweh are righteousness and strength”; they will come to him, and all who are incensed against him will be ashamed.

25In Yahweh all Israel's offspring will be justified and will boast.