45:5 I am the Lord, I have no peer, 1
there is no God but me.
I arm you for battle, 2 even though you do not recognize 3 me.
45:18 For this is what the Lord says,
the one who created the sky –
he is the true God, 4
the one who formed the earth and made it;
he established it,
he did not create it without order, 5
he formed it to be inhabited –
“I am the Lord, I have no peer.
45:21 Tell me! Present the evidence! 6
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; 7
there is none but me.
45:22 Turn to me so you can be delivered, 8
all you who live in the earth’s remote regions!
For I am God, and I have no peer.
1 tn Heb “and there is none besides.” On the use of עוֹד (’od) here, see BDB 729 s.v. 1.c.
2 tn Heb “gird you” (so NASB) or “strengthen you” (so NIV).
3 tn Or “know” (NAB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT); NIV “have not acknowledged.”
4 tn Heb “he [is] the God.” The article here indicates uniqueness.
5 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.
6 tn Heb “Declare! Bring near!”; NASB “Declare and set forth your case.” See 41:21.
7 tn Or “a righteous God and deliverer”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “a righteous God and a Savior.”
8 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.”