Cyrus, Yahweh’s Anointed
Thus says Yahweh to aCyrus His anointed,
Whom I have taken hold of by his right bhand,
To csubdue nations before him
And to dloose the loins of kings,
To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:
2 “I will go before you and amake the rough places smooth;
I will bshatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron cbars.
3 I will give you the atreasures of darkness
And hidden wealth of secret places,
So that you may know that it is I,
Yahweh, the God of Israel, who bcalls you by your name.
4 For the sake of aJacob My servant,
And Israel My chosen one,
I have also bcalled you by your name;
I have given you a title of honor
Though you have cnot known Me.
5 I am Yahweh, and athere is no other;
bBesides Me there is no God.
I will cgird you, though you have not known Me,
6 That athey may know from the rising to the setting of the sun
That there is bno one besides Me.
I am Yahweh, and there is no other,
7 The One aforming light and bcreating darkness,
Producing peace and ccreating calamity;
I am Yahweh who does all these.
Yahweh the Maker
8 “aDrip down, O heavens, from above,
And let the skies pour down righteousness;
Let the bearth open up and salvation bear fruit,
cAnd righteousness spring up with it.
I, Yahweh, have created it.
9 “Woe to the one who acontends with his Maker—
An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth!
Will the bclay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’
Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands’?
10 Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’
Or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor pains?’”
11 Thus says aYahweh, the Holy One of Israel, and his bMaker:
“cAsk Me about the things that are to come concerning My dsons,
And you shall commit to Me ethe work of My hands.
12 It is I who amade the earth and created man upon it.
I bstretched out the heavens with My hands,
And I commanded call their host.
13 I have awakened him in arighteousness,
And I will bmake all his ways smooth;
He will cbuild My city and will dlet My exiles go,
Without any payment or reward,” says Yahweh of hosts.
14 Thus says Yahweh,
“The fruit of the labor of aEgypt and the profit of bEthiopia
And the Sabeans, men of stature,
Will ccome over to you and will be yours;
They will walk behind you; they will come over in dchains
And will ebow down to you;
They will make supplication to you:
‘Surely, fGod is with you, and gthere is none else,
No other God.’”
15 Truly, You are a God who ahides Himself,
O God of Israel, bSavior!
16 They will be aput to shame and even dishonored, all of them;
The bcraftsmen of idols will go away together in dishonor.
17 Israel has been saved by Yahweh
With an aeverlasting salvation;
You bwill not be put to shame or dishonored
To all eternity.
18 For thus says Yahweh, who acreated the heavens (He is the God who bformed the earth and made it; He established it and did not create it a cformless place, but formed it to be dinhabited),
“I am Yahweh, and ethere is none else.
19 aI have not spoken in secret,
In some dark land;
I did not say to the bseed of Jacob,
‘cSeek Me in a formless place’;
I, Yahweh, dspeak righteousness,
eDeclaring things that are upright.
20 “aGather yourselves and come;
Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations;
bThey do not know,
Who ccarry about their graven image of wood
And dpray to a god who cannot save.
21 aDeclare and draw near with your case;
Indeed, let them consult together.
bWho has made this heard from of old?
Who has long since declared it?
Is it not I, Yahweh?
And there is cno other God besides Me,
A righteous God and a dSavior;
There is none except Me.
22 aTurn to Me and bbe saved, all the ends of the earth;
For I am God, and there is no other.
23 aI have sworn by Myself,
The bword has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness
And will not turn back,
That to Me cevery knee will bow, every tongue will dswear allegiance.
24 They will say of Me, ‘Only ain Yahweh are righteousness and strength.’
Men will come to Him,
And ball who were angry at Him will be put to shame.
25 In Yahweh all the seed of Israel
Will be ajustified and will bboast.”
Babylon’s Idols and the True God
aBel has bowed down, Nebo stoops over;
Their images are on the beasts and the cattle.
The things that you carry are burdensome,
A load for the weary beast.
2 They stooped over, they have bowed down together;
They could not rescue the load,
But have themselves agone into captivity.
3 “aHear Me, O house of Jacob,
And all bthe remnant of the house of Israel,
You who have been cburdening Me from birth
And have been carried from the womb;
4 Even to your old age aI will be the same,
And even to your bgraying years I will bear you!
I have done it, and I will carry you;
And I will bear you, and I will rescue you.
5 “aTo whom would you liken Me
And make Me equal and compare Me,
That we would be alike?
6 Those who alavish gold from the purse
And weigh silver on the scale,
They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;
They bfall down, indeed they worship it.
7 They acarry it upon the shoulder and bear it;
They set it in its place, and it stands there.
bIt does not move from its place.
Though one may cry to it, it ccannot answer;
It dcannot save him from his distress.
8 “aRemember this, and be assured;
bCause it to return to your heart, you ctransgressors.
9 Remember the aformer things long past,
For I am God, and there is bno other;
I am God, and there is cno one like Me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘aMy counsel will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’,
11 Calling a abird of prey from the beast,
The man of My counsel from a far country.
Truly I have cspoken; truly I will bring it to pass.
I have formed it, surely I will do it.
12 “aHear Me, you bstubborn of heart,
Who are cfar from righteousness.
13 I abring near My righteousness, it is not far off;
And My salvation will not delay.
And I will grant bsalvation in Zion,
And My cglory for Israel.
Lament for Babylon
“aCome down and sit in the dust,
O bvirgin cdaughter of Babylon;
Sit on the ground without a throne,
O daughter of the Chaldeans!
For you shall no longer be called dtender and delicate.
2 Take the amillstones and bgrind flour.
Uncover your cveil, dstrip off the skirt,
Uncover the leg, cross the rivers.
3 Your anakedness will be uncovered;
Your reproach also will be seen;
I will btake vengeance and will not spare a man.”
4 Our aRedeemer, Yahweh of hosts is His name,
The Holy One of Israel.
5 “aSit silently, and go into bdarkness,
O daughter of the Chaldeans,
For you will no longer be called
The cqueen of dkingdoms.
6 I was furious with My people;
I profaned My inheritance
And gave them into your hand.
You did not show compassion to them,
On the aaged you made your yoke very heavy.
7 Yet you said, ‘I will be a aqueen forever.’
These things you did not bput on your heart
Nor remember the coutcome of them.
8 “So now, hear this, you asensual one,
Who bsits securely,
Who says in your heart,
‘cI am, and there is no one besides me.
I will dnot sit as a widow,
Nor know loss of children.’
9 But these atwo things will come on you bsuddenly in one day:
Loss of children and widowhood.
They will come on you in full measure
In spite of your many csorceries,
In spite of the great might of your spells.
10 You felt asecure in your evil and said,
‘bNo one sees me,’
Your cwisdom and your knowledge have turned you astray;
So you have said in your heart,
‘dI am, and there is no one besides me.’
11 But aevil will come on you
Which you will not know how to charm away;
And disaster will fall on you
For which you cannot atone;
And bdestruction about which you do not know
Will come on you csuddenly.
12 “Stand fast now in your aspells
And in your many sorceries
With which you have labored from your youth;
Perhaps you will be able to profit;
Perhaps you may cause trembling.
13 You are awearied with your many counsels;
Let now the bastrologers,
Those who behold visions by the stars,
Those who predict by the new moons,
Stand up and csave you from what will come upon you.
14 Behold, they have become alike stubble,
bFire burns them;
They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame;
There will be cno coal to warm by
Nor a fire to sit before!
15 Thus they have become for you, those among whom you have labored,
Who have atraded with you from your youth;
Each has wandered in his own way;
There is bnone to save you.