Isaiah 45

‘I, the Lord, have held your hand

and helped you to defeat nations.

Kings stopped making war_against you.

I made them naked before you,

and I took away their power.

I opened the gates of cities before you.’

₂The Lord says to Cyrus:

‘I will lead you and I will make

your road easy to walk on.

I will break the gates of brass

and iron so that you can go in.

₃I will give you the treasures

that other kings hid in dark places.

Then you will know that I am the Lord

who calls you by your name.

I am the God of Israel.

₄I do this to help my servants,

the descendants of Jacob,

the people of Israel.

I have chosen them and I call you by your name.

You do not know Me,

but now I give you a special name.

₅I am the Lord, and there is no other God.

I am the only God.

You do not know Me, but

I will make you strong to go to war.

₆Then all the nations will know

that I am the only God. I am the Lord,

and there is no other Lord.

₇I make light and darkness,

and I make people happy or sad.

It is I, the Lord, who do it all.

I bring peace or trouble.

₈I make people righteous

and give them peace.

I give this like rain that falls

from the clouds in the sky,

and like water that flows

from water-wells in the ground.

I have done this and all will be good.

People will do what is right.’

₉Someone who wants

to argue with God will suffer,

because it is God who has made him,

and he can not tell God that He is doing wrong.

Someone who does that

is like a piece of a broken pot.

The clay can not ask the potter:

‘What are you doing?

Why did you make me like this?’

₁₀Someone will suffer a lot

if he asks his father and mother:

‘Why did you let me be born?

Why do I look like this?’

₁₁It is the Lord who speaks.

He is the holy God of Israel,

who made Israel. He says:

‘Why do you ask what will happen

in the future and who my children are?

Why do you want to tell Me what I must do?

₁₂I have made the world

and all the people on it.

My hands have made the expanse

above the earth and I have put it up like a tent,

and I told all the stars to be there.

₁₃I have sent Cyrus to do what I want

and I will make all his roads easy to walk on.

He will build my city again

and he will bring back my people,

who are now in other lands.

No one will pay him to do that.’

This is what the Lord who rules over all says.

₁₄The Lord says to the people of Israel:

‘I give you all the wheat of the land of Egypt

and all the money of the merchants

from the land of Cush.

The big men from the land of Sabea will come.

You will tie their hands

and they will bow before you and say:

“God is with you, that is sure.

There is no other God, not one.” ’

₁₅No one can see You, O God,

but You are the God of Israel,

and You save the people of Israel.

₁₆The people who made images of gods

will be ashamed and humiliated.

₁₇But the Lord has saved

the Israelites forever.

They will never be ashamed or humiliated.

₁₈Yes, it is the Lord who speaks.

He made heaven and earth.

He made the world and

He does not want the world to be empty.

He made the world so that people can live on it.

He says: ‘I am the Lord, and there is no other God.

₁₉I talked so that everyone could hear Me.

I did not talk in secret or in a dark place.

I did not tell the descendants of Jacob

to serve Me in an empty place

far away from Me.

I, the Lord, say things that are true.

I say what is right and what really will happen.

₂₀People of Israel, you who are

running away from the other nations,

you must come together.

All of you must come here and listen.

The other nations do not know this.

They are the people who carry wooden images

with them and pray to gods

that can not save them.

₂₁Tell them and let them decide:

“Who is it who said long ago

what would happen? It was I, the Lord.

There is no other God.”

There is no other god who is really God

and who can save people.

₂₂Everyone on earth, come to Me,

and I will save you. I am God, and there is no other god.

₂₃I made a promise to Myself

and no one can break that promise.

I have decided and it will happen:

Every knee will bow down before Me

and everyone will worship Me.

₂₄They will say:

“Only the Lord can save people

and make them strong.”

Everyone who says he is angry with the Lord

will not know what to say

when he comes and stands before Him.

₂₅But all the descendants of Israel

will belong to the Lord.

They will be as He wants them to be

and they will praise Him.’