Isaiah 45 - 50 - Legacy Standard Bible

Isaiah 45 - 50

Cyrus, Yahweh’s Anointed

Thus says Yahweh to Cyrus His anointed,

Whom I have taken hold of by his right hand,

To subdue nations before him

And to loose the loins of kings,

To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:

“I will go before you and make the rough places smooth;

I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars.

I will give you the treasures of darkness

And hidden wealth of secret places,

So that you may know that it is I,

Yahweh, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name.

For the sake of Jacob My servant,

And Israel My chosen one,

I have also called you by your name;

I have given you a title of honor

Though you have not known Me.

I am Yahweh, and there is no other;

Besides Me there is no God.

I will gird you, though you have not known Me,

That they may know from the rising to the setting of the sun

That there is no one besides Me.

I am Yahweh, and there is no other,

The One forming light and creating darkness,

Producing peace and creating calamity;

I am Yahweh who does all these.

Yahweh the Maker

“Drip down, O heavens, from above,

And let the skies pour down righteousness;

Let the earth open up and salvation bear fruit,

And righteousness spring up with it.

I, Yahweh, have created it.

“Woe to the one who contends with his Maker—

An earthenware vessel among the vessels of earth!

Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’

Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands’?

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 Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker:

“Ask Me about the things that are to come concerning My sons,

And you shall commit to Me the work of My hands.

It is I who made the earth and created man upon it.

I stretched out the heavens with My hands,

And I commanded all their host.

I have awakened him in righteousness,

And I will make all his ways smooth;

He will build My city and will let My exiles go,

Without any payment or reward,” says Yahweh of hosts.

14 Thus says Yahweh,

“The fruit of the labor of Egypt and the profit of Ethiopia

And the Sabeans, men of stature,

Will come over to you and will be yours;

They will walk behind you; they will come over in chains

And will bow down to you;

They will make supplication to you:

‘Surely, God is with you, and there is none else,

No other God.’”

Truly, You are a God who hides Himself,

O God of Israel, Savior!

They will be put to shame and even dishonored, all of them;

The craftsmen of idols will go away together in dishonor.

Israel has been saved by Yahweh

With an everlasting salvation;

You will not be put to shame or dishonored

To all eternity.

18 For thus says Yahweh, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it; He established it and did not create it a formless place, but formed it to be inhabited),

“I am Yahweh, and there is none else.

I have not spoken in secret,

In some dark land;

I did not say to the seed of Jacob,

‘Seek Me in a formless place’;

I, Yahweh, speak righteousness,

Declaring things that are upright.

“Gather yourselves and come;

Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations;

They do not know,

Who carry about their graven image of wood

And pray to a god who cannot save.

Declare and draw near with your case;

Indeed, let them consult together.

Who has made this heard from of old?

Who has long since declared it?

Is it not I, Yahweh?

And there is no other God besides Me,

A righteous God and a Savior;

There is none except Me.

Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth;

For I am God, and there is no other.

I have sworn by Myself,

The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness

And will not turn back,

That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance.

They will say of Me, ‘Only in Yahweh are righteousness and strength.’

Men will come to Him,

And all who were angry at Him will be put to shame.

In Yahweh all the seed of Israel

Will be justified and will boast.”

Babylon’s Idols and the True God

Bel 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.

They stooped over, they have bowed down together;

They could not rescue the load,

But have themselves gone into captivity.

“Hear Me, O house of Jacob,

And all the remnant of the house of Israel,

You who have been burdening Me from birth

And have been carried from the womb;

Even to your old age I will be the same,

And even to your graying years I will bear you!

I have done it, and I will carry you;

And I will bear you, and I will rescue you.

“To whom would you liken Me

And make Me equal and compare Me,

That we would be alike?

Those who lavish gold from the purse

And weigh silver on the scale,

They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;

They fall down, indeed they worship it.

They carry it upon the shoulder and bear it;

They set it in its place, and it stands there.

It does not move from its place.

Though one may cry to it, it cannot answer;

It cannot save him from his distress.

“Remember this, and be assured;

Cause it to return to your heart, you transgressors.

Remember the former things long past,

For I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is no one like Me,

Declaring the end from the beginning,

And from ancient times things which have not been done,

Saying, ‘My counsel will be established,

And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’,

Calling a bird of prey from the east,

The man of My counsel from a far country.

Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass.

I have formed it, surely I will do it.

“Hear Me, you stubborn of heart,

Who are far from righteousness.

I bring near My righteousness, it is not far off;

And My salvation will not delay.

And I will grant salvation in Zion,

And My glory for Israel.

Lament for Babylon

“Come down and sit in the dust,

O virgin daughter of Babylon;

Sit on the ground without a throne,

O daughter of the Chaldeans!

For you shall no longer be called tender and delicate.

Take the millstones and grind flour.

Uncover your veil, strip off the skirt,

Uncover the leg, cross the rivers.

Your nakedness will be uncovered;

Your reproach also will be seen;

I will take vengeance and will not spare a man.”

Our Redeemer, Yahweh of hosts is His name,

The Holy One of Israel.

“Sit silently, and go into darkness,

O daughter of the Chaldeans,

For you will no longer be called

The queen of kingdoms.

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 aged you made your yoke very heavy.

Yet you said, ‘I will be a queen forever.’

These things you did not put on your heart

Nor remember the outcome of them.

“So now, hear this, you sensual one,

Who sits securely,

Who says in your heart,

‘I am, and there is no one besides me.

I will not sit as a widow,

Nor know loss of children.’

But these two things will come on you suddenly in one day:

Loss of children and widowhood.

They will come on you in full measure

In spite of your many sorceries,

In spite of the great might of your spells.

You felt secure in your evil and said,

‘No one sees me,’

Your wisdom and your knowledge have turned you astray;

So you have said in your heart,

‘I am, and there is no one besides me.’

But evil 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 destruction about which you do not know

Will come on you suddenly.

“Stand fast now in your spells

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.

You are wearied with your many counsels;

Let now the astrologers,

Those who behold visions by the stars,

Those who predict by the new moons,

Stand up and save you from what will come upon you.

Behold, they have become like stubble,

Fire burns them;

They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame;

There will be no coal to warm by

Nor a fire to sit before!

Thus they have become for you, those among whom you have labored,

Who have traded with you from your youth;

Each has wandered in his own way;

There is none to save you.

My Glory I Will Not Give to Another

“Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name Israel

And who came forth from the loins of Judah,

Who swear by the name of Yahweh

And bring to remembrance the God of Israel,

But not in truth or in righteousness.

For they call themselves after the holy city

And are supported by the God of Israel;

Yahweh of hosts is His name.

I declared the former things long ago,

And they went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to be heard.

Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.

Because I know that you are stiff,

And your neck is an iron sinew

And your forehead bronze,

Therefore I declared them to you long ago,

Before they happened I caused them to be heard by you,

Lest you say, ‘My idol has done them,

And my graven image and my molten image have commanded them.’

You have heard; look at all this.

And you, will you not declare it?

I caused you to hear new things from this time,

Even hidden things which you have not known.

They are created now and not long ago;

And before today you have not heard them,

Lest you say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’

Indeed, you have not heard; indeed, you have not known.

Indeed, even from long ago your ear has not been open

Because I knew that you would deal very treacherously;

And you have been called a transgressor from the womb.

For the sake of My name I delay My anger,

And for My praise I restrain it for you,

In order not to cut you off.

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;

I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.

For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act;

For how can My name be profaned?

And My glory I will not give to another.

Yahweh Redeems Jacob

“Hear Me, O Jacob, even Israel whom I called;

I am He, I am the first, I am also the last.

Also, My hand founded the earth,

And My right hand spread out the heavens;

When I call to them, they stand together.

Assemble, all of you, and hear!

Who among them has declared these things?

Yahweh loves him; he will carry out His good pleasure on Babylon,

And His arm will be against the Chaldeans.

I, even I, have spoken; indeed I have called him,

I have brought him, and He will make his ways successful.

Draw near to Me, hear this:

From the first I have not spoken in secret,

From the time it took place, I was there.

So now Lord Yahweh has sent Me, and His Spirit.”

17 Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel,

“I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you to profit,

Who leads you in the way you should go.

If only you had paid attention to My commandments!

Then your peace would have been like a river,

And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

Your seed would have been like the sand,

And the offspring from your loins like its grains;

Their name would never be cut off or destroyed from My presence.”

Go forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans!

Declare with the sound of joyful shouting, cause this to be heard,

Bring it forth to the end of the earth;

Say, “Yahweh has redeemed His servant Jacob.”

And they did not thirst when He led them through the waste places.

He made the water flow out of the rock for them;

He split the rock, and the water gushed forth.

“There is no peace for the wicked,” says Yahweh.

I Will Give You as a Light of the Nations

Listen to Me, O coastlands,

And pay attention, you peoples from afar.

Yahweh called Me from the womb;

From the body of My mother He made My name to be remembered.

He has set My mouth like a sharp sword;

In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me;

And He has also set Me as a select arrow;

He has hidden Me in His quiver.

He said to Me, “You are My Servant, Israel,

In Whom I will show forth My beautiful glory.”

But I said, “I have toiled in vain;

I have spent My might for nothing and vanity;

Yet surely the justice due to Me is with Yahweh,

And My reward with My God.”

So now says Yahweh, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,

To return Jacob back to Him, so that Israel might be gathered to Him

(For I am glorified in the sight of Yahweh,

And My God is My strength),

He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant

To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to cause the preserved ones of Israel to return;

I will also give You as a light of the nations

So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Thus says Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One,

To the despised One,

To the One abhorred by the nation,

To the Servant of rulers,

“Kings will see and arise,

Princes will also bow down,

Because of Yahweh who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.”

8 Thus says Yahweh,

“In an acceptable time I have answered You,

And in a day of salvation I have helped You;

And I will guard You and give You for a covenant of the people,

To establish the land, to make them inherit the desolate inheritance;

Saying to those who are bound, ‘Go forth,’

To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’

Along the roads they will feed,

And their pasture will be on all bare heights.

They will not hunger or thirst,

Nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down;

For He who has compassion on them will guide them

And will lead them to springs of water.

I will set all My mountains as a road,

And My highways will be raised up.

Behold, these will come from afar;

And behold, these will come from the north and from the west,

And these from the land of Sinim.”

Shout for joy, O heavens! And rejoice, O earth!

Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains!

For Yahweh has comforted His people

And will have compassion on His afflicted.

Promise to Zion

But Zion said, “Yahweh has forsaken me,

And the Lord has forgotten me.”

“Can a woman forget her infant

And have no compassion on the son of her womb?

Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.

Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands;

Your walls are continually before Me.

Your builders hurry;

Your destroyers and devastators

Will depart from you.

Lift up your eyes and look around;

All of them gather together; they come to you.

As I live,” declares Yahweh,

“You will surely put on all of them as jewels and bind them on as a bride.

For your devastated and desolate places and your destroyed land—

Surely now you will be too cramped for the inhabitants,

And those who swallowed you will be far away.

The children of whom you were bereaved will yet say in your ears,

‘The place is too cramped for me;

Make room for me that I may live here.’

Then you will say in your heart,

‘Who has borne these for me?

Indeed, I have been bereaved of my children

And am barren, an exile and a wanderer.

And who has reared these?

Behold, I remained alone;

From where did these come?’”

22 Thus says Lord Yahweh,

“Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations

And make high My standard to the peoples;

And they will bring your sons in their bosom,

And your daughters will be lifted up on their shoulders.

Kings will be your guardians,

And their princesses your nurses.

They will bow down to you with their faces to the earth

And lick the dust of your feet;

And you will know that I am Yahweh;

Those who hope in Me will not be put to shame.

“Can the prey be taken from the mighty man,

Or the captives of the righteous be granted escape?”

25 Surely, thus says Yahweh,

“Even the captives of the mighty man will be taken away,

And the prey of the tyrant will be granted escape;

For I will contend with the one who contends with you,

And I will save your sons.

I will feed those who mistreat you with their own flesh,

And they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine;

And all flesh will know that I, Yahweh, am your Savior

And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Yahweh Helps His Servant

Thus says Yahweh,

“Where is the certificate of divorce

By which I have sent your mother away?

Or to which of My creditors did I sell you?

Behold, you were sold for your iniquities,

And for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

Why was there no man when I came?

When I called, why was there none to answer?

Is My hand so short that it cannot ransom?

Or have I no power to deliver?

Behold, I dry up the sea with My rebuke;

I make the rivers a wilderness;

Their fish stink for lack of water

And die of thirst.

I clothe the heavens with blackness

And make sackcloth their covering.”

Lord Yahweh has given Me the tongue of disciples,

That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word.

He awakens Me morning by morning;

He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.

Lord Yahweh has opened My ear;

And I did not rebel

Nor did I turn back.

I gave My back to those who strike Me,

And My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard;

I did not hide My face from dishonor and spitting.

Even now Lord Yahweh helps Me,

Therefore, I am not dishonored;

Therefore, I have set My face like flint,

And I know that I will not be ashamed.

He who vindicates Me is near;

Who will contend with Me?

Let us stand up to each other;

Who has a judgment against Me?

Let him approach Me.

Behold, Lord Yahweh helps Me;

Who is he who condemns Me?

Behold, they will all wear out like a garment;

The moth will eat them.

Who is among you that fears Yahweh,

That listens to the voice of His Servant,

That walks in darkness and has no light?

Let him trust in the name of Yahweh and rely on his God.

Behold, all you who kindle a fire,

Who gird yourselves with firebrands,

Walk in the light of your fire

And among the brands you have set ablaze.

This you will have from My hand:

You will lie down in torment.