Isaiah
45
2 I will go before you to level the slopes,
2 I will break the gates of brass
2 and destroy the iron bars;
3 I will give you treasures hidden in darkness
3 and riches stored in secret places,
3 so that you may know that I am Yahweh,
3 the God of Israel who calls you by your name.
4 For the sake of Jacob my servant,
4 of Israel my chosen one,
4 I have called you by your name
4 and given you your mission
4 although you do not know me.
5 I am Yahweh, and there is no other;
5 there is no God besides me.
5 I armed you when you did not know me,
6 so that, from the rising
6 to the setting of the sun,
6 all may know
6 that there is no one besides me;
6 I am Yahweh, and there is no other.
7 I form the light and create the dark;
7 I usher in prosperity and bring calamity.
7 I, Yahweh, do all this.
9 Woe to him who argues with his Maker being but a pot among pots. Will the clay say to him who fashions it, “What are you making? You have no skill.” 10 Woe to him who asks a father, “What have you begotten!” or a mother, “To what have you given birth?” 11 Thus says Yahweh, the Holy One, he who fashions Israel: Is it for you to question me about my children, or decide the work of my hands for me? 12 I am He who made the earth and created humankind upon it.
12 I am He who stretched out the heavens with my own hands and gave order to their whole array.
13 I have raised Cyrus for the sake of justice. I will direct his ways and make him rebuild my city. He will send my exiles home without ransom or indemnity. It is Yahweh Sabaoth who speaks.
14 Thus says Yahweh: 14 The peasants of Egypt, the traders of Ethiopia and the tall men of Seba will pass near you in chains, and bow down facing you. In worship they will say,
14 “Surely God is with you. There is no one else, there is no other god.”
15 Truly you are the God who remains hidden, the God of Israel, the Savior.
16 All idol makers will be put to shame, they will go away humiliated. 17 But Israel will be saved by Yahweh – delivered with an ever -lasting salvation. You will never be put to disgrace for everlasting ages.
18 Yes, this is what Yahweh says,
18 he who created the heavens,
18 – for he is God,
18 who formed and shaped the earth,
18 – for he himself set it:
18 “I did not let confusion in it,
18 I wanted people to live there instead”
18 – for I am Yahweh and there is no other.
Every knee will bend
20 Come, gather together, and try to understand,
20 survivors from among the nations:
20 They are but fools they who follow idols of wood
20 and pray to gods that cannot move –
21 Let them present their arguments
21 take counsel together and tell me:
21 Who announced this from the beginning,
21 who foretold it in the distant past?
21 Is it not me Yahweh?
21 There is no other God besides me,
21 a Savior, a God of justice, there is no other one but me.
22 Turn to me and be saved,
22 all you from the ends of the earth,
22 for I am God and there is no other.
24 “In Yahweh alone are righteousness and strength.”
24 All who have raged against him will come to him in shame.
25 But through Yahweh there will be victory and glory
25 to the people of Israel.