Isaiah 45:2

45:2 “I will go before you

and level mountains. ¹ 

Bronze doors I will shatter

and iron bars ²  I will hack through.

Isaiah 45:13

45:13 It is me – I stir him up and commission him; ³ 

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.

[45:2]  ¹ tc The form הֲדוּרִים (hadurim) makes little, if any, sense here. It is probably a corruption of an original הָרָרִים (hararim, “mountains”), the reduplicated form of הָר (har, “mountain”).

[45:2]  ² tn That is, on the gates. Cf. CEV “break the iron bars on bronze gates.”

[45:13]  ³ 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.