Text -- Isaiah 45:18-25 (NET)

45:18 For this is what the Lord says, the one who created the sky– he is the true God, the one who formed the earth and made it; he established it, he did not create it without order, he formed it to be inhabited– “I am the Lord, I have no peer. 45:19 I have not spoken in secret, in some hidden place. I did not tell Jacob’s descendants, ‘Seek me in vain!’ I am the Lord, the one who speaks honestly, who makes reliable announcements. 45:20 Gather together and come! Approach together, you refugees from the nations! Those who carry wooden idols know nothing, those who pray to a god that cannot deliver. 45:21 Tell me! Present the evidence! Let them consult with one another! Who predicted this in the past? Who announced it beforehand? Was it not I, the Lord? I have no peer, there is no God but me, a God who vindicates and delivers; there is none but me. 45:22 Turn to me so you can be delivered, all you who live in the earth’s remote regions! For I am God, and I have no peer. 45:23 I solemnly make this oath– what I say is true and reliable: ‘Surely every knee will bow to me, every tongue will solemnly affirm; 45:24 they will say about me, “Yes, the Lord is a powerful deliverer.”’” All who are angry at him will cower before him. 45:25 All the descendants of Israel will be vindicated by the Lord and will boast in him.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Isa 45:18

¹ tn Heb “he [is] the God.” The article here indicates uniqueness.

² tn Or “unformed.” Gen 1:2 describes the world as “unformed” (תֹהוּ, tohu) prior to God’s creative work, but God then formed the world and made it fit for habitation.

NET Notes: Isa 45:19

¹ tn Heb “in a place of a land of darkness” (ASV similar); NASB “in some dark land.”

² tn “In vain” translates תֹהוּ (tohu), used here as an adverbial accusative: “for nothing.”

³ tn The translation above assumes that צֶדֶק (tsedeq) and מֵישָׁרִים (mesharim) are adverbial accusatives (see 33:15). If they are taken as direct objects, indicating the content of what is spoken, one might translate, “who proclaims deliverance, who announces justice.”

NET Notes: Isa 45:21

¹ tn Heb “Declare! Bring near!”; NASB “Declare and set forth your case.” See 41:21.

² tn Or “a righteous God and deliverer”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “a righteous God and a Savior.”

NET Notes: Isa 45:22

¹ tn The Niphal imperative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose after the preceding imperative. The Niphal probably has a tolerative sense, “allow yourselves to be delivered, accept help.”

NET Notes: Isa 45:23

¹ tn Heb “I swear by myself”; KJV, NASB “have sworn.”

² tn Heb “a word goes out from my mouth [in] truth and will not return.”

³ tn Heb “swear” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “confess allegiance.”

NET Notes: Isa 45:24

¹ tn Heb “‘Yes, in the Lord,’ one says about me, ‘is deliverance and strength.’”

² tn Heb “will come to him and be ashamed.”

NET Notes: Isa 45:25

¹ tn Heb “In the Lord all the offspring of Israel will be vindicated and boast.”