Isaiah 45:14-22

The Lord is the Nations’ Only Hope

45:14 This is what the Lord says:

“The profit ¹  of Egypt and the revenue ²  of Ethiopia,

along with the Sabeans, those tall men,

will be brought to you ³  and become yours.

They will walk behind you, coming along in chains. ⁴ 

They will bow down to you

and pray to you: ⁵ 

‘Truly God is with ⁶  you; he has no peer; ⁷ 

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. ⁸ 

45:17 Israel will be delivered once and for all by the Lord; ⁹ 

you will never again be ashamed or humiliated. ¹⁰ 

45:18 For this is what the Lord says,

the one who created the sky –

he is the true God, ¹¹ 

the one who formed the earth and made it;

he established it,

he did not create it without order, ¹² 

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. ¹³ 

I did not tell Jacob’s descendants,

‘Seek me in vain!’ ¹⁴ 

I am the Lord,

the one who speaks honestly,

who makes reliable announcements. ¹⁵ 

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! ¹⁶ 

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; ¹⁷ 

there is none but me.

45:22 Turn to me so you can be delivered, ¹⁸ 

all you who live in the earth’s remote regions!

For I am God, and I have no peer.

[45:14]  ¹ tn Heb “labor,” which stands metonymically for the fruits of labor, either “monetary profit,” or “products.”

[45:14]  ² tn Or perhaps, “merchandise” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “the gain of Ethiopia”; CEV “the treasures of Ethiopia.”

[45:14]  ³ tn Heb “they will pass over to you”; NASB, NIV “will come over to you”; CEV “will belong to you.”

[45:14]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Or perhaps, “among.” Cf. KJV, ASV “Surely God is in thee.”

[45:14]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn “together they will walk in humiliation, the makers of images.”

[45:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “Israel will be delivered by the Lord [with] a permanent deliverance.”

[45:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you will not be ashamed and you will not be humiliated for ages of future time.”

[45:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he [is] the God.” The article here indicates uniqueness.

[45:18]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Heb “in a place of a land of darkness” (ASV similar); NASB “in some dark land.”

[45:19]  ¹⁴ tn “In vain” translates תֹהוּ (tohu), used here as an adverbial accusative: “for nothing.”

[45:19]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Declare! Bring near!”; NASB “Declare and set forth your case.” See 41:21.

[45:21]  ¹⁷ tn Or “a righteous God and deliverer”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “a righteous God and a Savior.”

[45:22]  ¹⁸ 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.”