Isaiah 45:12-25

45:12 I made the earth,

I created the people who live ¹  on it.

It was me – my hands ²  stretched out the sky, ³ 

I give orders to all the heavenly lights. ⁴ 

45:13 It is me – I stir him up and commission him; ⁵ 

I will make all his ways level.

He will rebuild my city;

he will send my exiled people home,

but not for a price or a bribe,”

says the Lord who commands armies.

The Lord is the Nations’ Only Hope

45:14 This is what the Lord says:

“The profit ⁶  of Egypt and the revenue ⁷  of Ethiopia,

along with the Sabeans, those tall men,

will be brought to you ⁸  and become yours.

They will walk behind you, coming along in chains. ⁹ 

They will bow down to you

and pray to you: ¹⁰ 

‘Truly God is with ¹¹  you; he has no peer; ¹² 

there is no other God!’”

45:15 Yes, you are a God who keeps hidden,

O God of Israel, deliverer!

45:16 They will all be ashamed and embarrassed;

those who fashion idols will all be humiliated. ¹³ 

45:17 Israel will be delivered once and for all by the Lord; ¹⁴ 

you will never again be ashamed or humiliated. ¹⁵ 

45:18 For this is what the Lord says,

the one who created the sky –

he is the true God, ¹⁶ 

the one who formed the earth and made it;

he established it,

he did not create it without order, ¹⁷ 

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. ¹⁸ 

I did not tell Jacob’s descendants,

‘Seek me in vain!’ ¹⁹ 

I am the Lord,

the one who speaks honestly,

who makes reliable announcements. ²⁰ 

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! ²¹ 

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; ²² 

there is none but me.

45:22 Turn to me so you can be delivered, ²³ 

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 ²⁴  –

what I say is true and reliable: ²⁵ 

‘Surely every knee will bow to me,

every tongue will solemnly affirm; ²⁶ 

45:24 they will say about me,

“Yes, the Lord is a powerful deliverer.”’” ²⁷ 

All who are angry at him will cower before him. ²⁸ 

45:25 All the descendants of Israel will be vindicated by the Lord

and will boast in him. ²⁹ 

[45:12]  ¹ tn The words “who live” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[45:12]  ² tn Heb “I, even my hands”; NASB “I stretched out…with My hands”; NRSV “it was my hands that stretched out.” The same construction occurs at the beginning of v. 13.

[45:12]  ³ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[45:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “and to all their host I commanded.” See the notes at 40:26.

[45:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “I stir him up in righteousness”; NASB “I have aroused him.” See the note at 41:2. Cyrus (cf. 44:28) is in view here.

[45:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “labor,” which stands metonymically for the fruits of labor, either “monetary profit,” or “products.”

[45:14]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps, “merchandise” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “the gain of Ethiopia”; CEV “the treasures of Ethiopia.”

[45:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “they will pass over to you”; NASB, NIV “will come over to you”; CEV “will belong to you.”

[45:14]  ⁹ sn Restored Israel is depicted here in typical ancient Near Eastern fashion as an imperial power that receives riches and slaves as tribute.

[45:14]  ¹⁰ sn Israel’s vassals are portrayed as so intimidated and awed that they treat Israel as an intermediary to God or sub-deity.

[45:14]  ¹¹ tn Or perhaps, “among.” Cf. KJV, ASV “Surely God is in thee.”

[45:14]  ¹² tn Heb “there is no other” (so NIV, NRSV). The same phrase occurs at the end of v. 18, in v. 21, and at the end of v. 22.

[45:16]  ¹³ tn “together they will walk in humiliation, the makers of images.”

[45:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Israel will be delivered by the Lord [with] a permanent deliverance.”

[45:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “you will not be ashamed and you will not be humiliated for ages of future time.”

[45:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he [is] the God.” The article here indicates uniqueness.

[45:18]  ¹⁷ 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.

[45:19]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “in a place of a land of darkness” (ASV similar); NASB “in some dark land.”

[45:19]  ¹⁹ tn “In vain” translates תֹהוּ (tohu), used here as an adverbial accusative: “for nothing.”

[45:19]  ²⁰ 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.”

[45:21]  ²¹ tn Heb “Declare! Bring near!”; NASB “Declare and set forth your case.” See 41:21.

[45:21]  ²² tn Or “a righteous God and deliverer”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “a righteous God and a Savior.”

[45:22]  ²³ 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.”

[45:23]  ²⁴ tn Heb “I swear by myself”; KJV, NASB “have sworn.”

[45:23]  ²⁵ tn Heb “a word goes out from my mouth [in] truth and will not return.”

[45:23]  ²⁶ tn Heb “swear” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “confess allegiance.”

[45:24]  ²⁷ tn Heb “‘Yes, in the Lord,’ one says about me, ‘is deliverance and strength.’”

[45:24]  ²⁸ tn Heb “will come to him and be ashamed.”

[45:25]  ²⁹ tn Heb “In the Lord all the offspring of Israel will be vindicated and boast.”