Isaiah 44:24

The Lord Empowers Cyrus

44:24 This is what the Lord, your protector, ¹  says,

the one who formed you in the womb:

“I am the Lord, who made everything,

who alone stretched out the sky,

who fashioned the earth all by myself, ² 

Isaiah 45:7

45:7 I am ³  the one who forms light

and creates darkness; ⁴ 

the one who brings about peace

and creates calamity. ⁵ 

I am the Lord, who accomplishes all these things.

Isaiah 48:13

48:13 Yes, my hand founded the earth;

my right hand spread out the sky.

I summon them;

they stand together.

Genesis 2:1-2

2:1 The heavens and the earth ⁶  were completed with everything that was in them. ⁷  2:2 By ⁸  the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, ⁹  and he ceased ¹⁰  on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing.

Psalms 102:25

102:25 In earlier times you established the earth;

the skies are your handiwork.

Psalms 148:3-6

148:3 Praise him, O sun and moon!

Praise him, all you shiny stars! ¹¹ 

148:4 Praise him, O highest heaven,

and you waters above the sky! ¹² 

148:5 Let them praise the name of the Lord,

for he gave the command and they came into existence.

148:6 He established them so they would endure; ¹³ 

he issued a decree that will not be revoked. ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 10:11-12

10:11 You people of Israel should tell those nations this:

‘These gods did not make heaven and earth.

They will disappear ¹⁵  from the earth and from under the heavens.’ ¹⁶ 

10:12 The Lord is the one who ¹⁷  by his power made the earth.

He is the one who by his wisdom established the world.

And by his understanding he spread out the skies.

Colossians 1:16-17

1:16 for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, ¹⁸  whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him.

1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together ¹⁹  in him.

[44:24]  ¹ tn Heb “your redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[44:24]  ² tn The consonantal text (Kethib) has “Who [was] with me?” The marginal reading (Qere) is “from with me,” i.e., “by myself.” See BDB 87 s.v. II אֵת 4.c.

[45:7]  ³ tn The words “I am” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the participle at the beginning of v. 7 stands in apposition to “the Lord” in v. 6.

[45:7]  ⁴ tn On the surface v. 7a appears to describe God’s sovereign control over the cycle of day and night, but the following statement suggests that “light” and “darkness” symbolize “deliverance” and “judgment.”

[45:7]  ⁵ sn This verses affirms that God is ultimately sovereign over his world, including mankind and nations. In accordance with his sovereign will, he can cause wars to cease and peace to predominate (as he was about to do for his exiled people through Cyrus), or he can bring disaster and judgment on nations (as he was about to do to Babylon through Cyrus).

[2:1]  ⁶ tn See the note on the phrase “the heavens and the earth” in 1:1.

[2:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “and all the host of them.” Here the “host” refers to all the entities and creatures that God created to populate the world.

[2:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “on/in the seventh day.”

[2:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “his work which he did [or “made”].”

[2:2]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew term שָׁבַּת (shabbat) can be translated “to rest” (“and he rested”) but it basically means “to cease.” This is not a rest from exhaustion; it is the cessation of the work of creation.

[148:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “stars of light.”

[148:4]  ¹² sn The “water” mentioned here corresponds to the “waters above” mentioned in Gen 1:7. See also Ps 104:3. For a discussion of the picture envisioned by the psalmist, see L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 47.

[148:6]  ¹³ tn Or “forever and ever.”

[148:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and it will not pass away.”

[10:11]  ¹⁵ tn Aram “The gods who did not make…earth will disappear…” The sentence is broken up in the translation to avoid a long, complex English sentence in conformity with contemporary English style.

[10:11]  ¹⁶ tn This verse is in Aramaic. It is the only Aramaic sentence in Jeremiah. Scholars debate the appropriateness of this verse to this context. Many see it as a gloss added by a postexilic scribe which was later incorporated into the text. Both R. E. Clendenen (“Discourse Strategies in Jeremiah 10,” JBL 106 [1987]: 401-8) and W. L. Holladay (Jeremiah [Hermeneia], 1:324-25, 334-35) have given detailed arguments that the passage is not only original but the climax and center of the contrast between the Lord and idols in vv. 2-16. Holladay shows that the passage is a very carefully constructed chiasm (see accompanying study note) which argues that “these” at the end is the subject of the verb “will disappear” not the attributive adjective modifying heaven. He also makes a very good case that the verse is poetry and not prose as it is rendered in the majority of modern English versions.

[10:12]  ¹⁷ tn The words “The Lord is” are not in the text. They are implicit from the context. They are supplied in the translation here because of the possible confusion of who the subject is due to the parenthetical address to the people of Israel in v. 11. The first two verbs are participles and should not merely be translated as the narrative past. They are predicate nominatives of an implied copula intending to contrast the Lord as the one who made the earth with the idols which did not.

[1:16]  ¹⁸ tn BDAG 579 s.v. κυριότης 3 suggests “bearers of the ruling powers, dominions” here.

[1:17]  ¹⁹ tn BDAG 973 s.v. συνίστημι B.3 suggests “continue, endure, exist, hold together” here.