Isaiah 45:5

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.

Isaiah 45:14

The Lord is the Nations’ Only Hope

45:14 This is what the Lord says:

“The profit ⁴  of Egypt and the revenue ⁵  of Ethiopia,

along with the Sabeans, those tall men,

will be brought to you ⁶  and become yours.

They will walk behind you, coming along in chains. ⁷ 

They will bow down to you

and pray to you: ⁸ 

‘Truly God is with ⁹  you; he has no peer; ¹⁰ 

there is no other God!’”

Isaiah 45:18

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.

Isaiah 44:8

44:8 Don’t panic! Don’t be afraid! ¹³ 

Did I not tell you beforehand and decree it?

You are my witnesses! Is there any God but me?

There is no other sheltering rock; ¹⁴  I know of none.

[45:5]  ¹ tn Heb “and there is none besides.” On the use of עוֹד (’od) here, see BDB 729 s.v. 1.c.

[45:5]  ² tn Heb “gird you” (so NASB) or “strengthen you” (so NIV).

[45:5]  ³ tn Or “know” (NAB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT); NIV “have not acknowledged.”

[45:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “labor,” which stands metonymically for the fruits of labor, either “monetary profit,” or “products.”

[45:14]  ⁵ tn Or perhaps, “merchandise” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “the gain of Ethiopia”; CEV “the treasures of Ethiopia.”

[45:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “they will pass over to you”; NASB, NIV “will come over to you”; CEV “will belong to you.”

[45:14]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Or perhaps, “among.” Cf. KJV, ASV “Surely God is in thee.”

[45:14]  ¹⁰ 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.

[45:18]  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.

[44:8]  ¹³ tn BDB 923 s.v. רָהָה derives this verb from an otherwise unattested root, while HALOT 403 s.v. יָרָה defines it as “be stupefied” on the basis of an Arabic cognate. The form is likely a corruption of תיראו, the reading attested in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a.

[44:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “rock” or “rocky cliff,” a title that depicts God as a protective refuge in his role as sovereign king; thus the translation “sheltering rock.”