Isaiah 45:20-25

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! ¹ 

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; ² 

there is none but me.

45:22 Turn to me so you can be delivered, ³ 

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 ⁴  –

what I say is true and reliable: ⁵ 

‘Surely every knee will bow to me,

every tongue will solemnly affirm; ⁶ 

45:24 they will say about me,

“Yes, the Lord is a powerful deliverer.”’” ⁷ 

All who are angry at him will cower before him. ⁸ 

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

and will boast in him. ⁹ 

[45:21]  ¹ tn Heb “Declare! Bring near!”; NASB “Declare and set forth your case.” See 41:21.

[45:21]  ² tn Or “a righteous God and deliverer”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “a righteous God and a Savior.”

[45:22]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “I swear by myself”; KJV, NASB “have sworn.”

[45:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “a word goes out from my mouth [in] truth and will not return.”

[45:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “swear” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “confess allegiance.”

[45:24]  ⁷ tn Heb “‘Yes, in the Lord,’ one says about me, ‘is deliverance and strength.’”

[45:24]  ⁸ tn Heb “will come to him and be ashamed.”

[45:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “In the Lord all the offspring of Israel will be vindicated and boast.”