Isaiah 43-45

New International Version

⁸ Lead out those who have eyes but are blind,^(AF)
    who have ears but are deaf.^(AG)
9 All the nations gather together^(AH)
    and the peoples assemble.
Which of their gods foretold^(AI) this
    and proclaimed to us the former things?
Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right,
    so that others may hear and say, “It is true.”
¹⁰ “You are my witnesses,^(AJ)” declares the Lord,
    “and my servant^(AK) whom I have chosen,
so that you may know^(AL) and believe me
    and understand that I am he.
Before me no god^(AM) was formed,
    nor will there be one after me.^(AN)
11 I, even I, am the Lord,^(AO)
    and apart from me there is no savior.^(AP)
12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed—
    I, and not some foreign god^(AQ) among you.
You are my witnesses,^(AR)” declares the Lord, “that I am God.
¹³     Yes, and from ancient days^(AS) I am he.^(AT)
No one can deliver out of my hand.
    When I act, who can reverse it?”^(AU)

¹⁶ This is what the Lord says—
    he who made a way through the sea,
    a path through the mighty waters,^(BC)
17 who drew out^(BD) the chariots and horses,^(BE)
    the army and reinforcements together,^(BF)
and they lay^(BG) there, never to rise again,
    extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:^(BH)
18 “Forget the former things;^(BI)
    do not dwell on the past.
¹⁹ See, I am doing a new thing!^(BJ)
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness^(BK)
    and streams in the wasteland.^(BL)
20 The wild animals^(BM) honor me,
    the jackals^(BN) and the owls,
because I provide water^(BO) in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,
²¹     the people I formed^(BP) for myself^(BQ)
    that they may proclaim my praise.^(BR)

²² “Yet you have not called on me, Jacob,
    you have not wearied^(BS) yourselves for^[c] me, Israel.^(BT)
23 You have not brought me sheep for burnt offerings,^(BU)
    nor honored^(BV) me with your sacrifices.^(BW)
I have not burdened^(BX) you with grain offerings
    nor wearied you with demands^(BY) for incense.^(BZ)
24 You have not bought any fragrant calamus^(CA) for me,
    or lavished on me the fat^(CB) of your sacrifices.
But you have burdened me with your sins
    and wearied^(CC) me with your offenses.^(CD)

²⁵ “I, even I, am he who blots out
    your transgressions,^(CE) for my own sake,^(CF)
    and remembers your sins^(CG) no more.^(CH)
26 Review the past for me,
    let us argue the matter together;^(CI)
    state the case^(CJ) for your innocence.
²⁷ Your first father^(CK) sinned;
    those I sent to teach^(CL) you rebelled^(CM) against me.
²⁸ So I disgraced the dignitaries of your temple;
    I consigned Jacob to destruction^[d](CN)
    and Israel to scorn.^(CO)

⁹ All who make idols^(DR) are nothing,
    and the things they treasure are worthless.^(DS)
Those who would speak up for them are blind;^(DT)
    they are ignorant, to their own shame.^(DU)
10 Who shapes a god and casts an idol,^(DV)
    which can profit nothing?^(DW)
11 People who do that will be put to shame;^(DX)
    such craftsmen are only human beings.
Let them all come together and take their stand;
    they will be brought down to terror and shame.^(DY)

¹² The blacksmith^(DZ) takes a tool
    and works with it in the coals;
he shapes an idol with hammers,
    he forges it with the might of his arm.^(EA)
He gets hungry and loses his strength;
    he drinks no water and grows faint.^(EB)
13 The carpenter^(EC) measures with a line
    and makes an outline with a marker;
he roughs it out with chisels
    and marks it with compasses.
He shapes it in human form,^(ED)
    human form in all its glory,
    that it may dwell in a shrine.^(EE)
14 He cut down cedars,
    or perhaps took a cypress or oak.
He let it grow among the trees of the forest,
    or planted a pine,^(EF) and the rain made it grow.
¹⁵ It is used as fuel^(EG) for burning;
    some of it he takes and warms himself,
    he kindles a fire and bakes bread.
But he also fashions a god and worships^(EH) it;
    he makes an idol and bows^(EI) down to it.
¹⁶ Half of the wood he burns in the fire;
    over it he prepares his meal,
    he roasts his meat and eats his fill.
He also warms himself and says,
    “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.^(EJ)”
¹⁷ From the rest he makes a god, his idol;
    he bows down to it and worships.^(EK)
He prays^(EL) to it and says,
    “Save^(EM) me! You are my god!”
¹⁸ They know nothing, they understand^(EN) nothing;
    their eyes^(EO) are plastered over so they cannot see,
    and their minds closed so they cannot understand.
¹⁹ No one stops to think,
    no one has the knowledge or understanding^(EP) to say,
“Half of it I used for fuel;^(EQ)
    I even baked bread over its coals,
    I roasted meat and I ate.
Shall I make a detestable^(ER) thing from what is left?
    Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”^(ES)
20 Such a person feeds on ashes;^(ET) a deluded^(EU) heart misleads him;
    he cannot save himself, or say,
    “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?^(EV)”

²¹ “Remember^(EW) these things, Jacob,
    for you, Israel, are my servant.^(EX)
I have made you, you are my servant;^(EY)
    Israel, I will not forget you.^(EZ)
22 I have swept away^(FA) your offenses like a cloud,
    your sins like the morning mist.
Return^(FB) to me,
    for I have redeemed^(FC) you.”

²³ Sing for joy,^(FD) you heavens, for the Lord has done this;
    shout aloud, you earth^(FE) beneath.
Burst into song, you mountains,^(FF)
    you forests and all your trees,^(FG)
for the Lord has redeemed^(FH) Jacob,
    he displays his glory^(FI) in Israel.

I am the Lord,
    the Maker of all things,
    who stretches out the heavens,^(FM)
    who spreads out the earth^(FN) by myself,
²⁵ who foils^(FO) the signs of false prophets
    and makes fools of diviners,^(FP)
who overthrows the learning of the wise^(FQ)
    and turns it into nonsense,^(FR)
26 who carries out the words^(FS) of his servants
    and fulfills^(FT) the predictions of his messengers,

who says of Jerusalem,^(FU) ‘It shall be inhabited,’
    of the towns of Judah, ‘They shall be rebuilt,’
    and of their ruins,^(FV) ‘I will restore them,’^(FW)
27 who says to the watery deep, ‘Be dry,
    and I will dry up^(FX) your streams,’
²⁸ who says of Cyrus,^(FY) ‘He is my shepherd
    and will accomplish all that I please;
he will say of Jerusalem,^(FZ) “Let it be rebuilt,”
    and of the temple,^(GA) “Let its foundations^(GB) be laid.”’

45 “This is what the Lord says to his anointed,^(GC)
    to Cyrus,^(GD) whose right hand I take hold^(GE) of
to subdue nations^(GF) before him
    and to strip kings of their armor,
to open doors before him
    so that gates will not be shut:
² I will go before you^(GG)
    and will level^(GH) the mountains^[f];
I will break down gates^(GI) of bronze
    and cut through bars of iron.^(GJ)
3 I will give you hidden treasures,^(GK)
    riches stored in secret places,^(GL)
so that you may know^(GM) that I am the Lord,
    the God of Israel, who summons you by name.^(GN)
4 For the sake of Jacob my servant,^(GO)
    of Israel my chosen,
I summon you by name
    and bestow on you a title of honor,
    though you do not acknowledge^(GP) me.
⁵ I am the Lord, and there is no other;^(GQ)
    apart from me there is no God.^(GR)
I will strengthen you,^(GS)
    though you have not acknowledged me,
⁶ so that from the rising of the sun
    to the place of its setting^(GT)
people may know^(GU) there is none besides me.^(GV)
    I am the Lord, and there is no other.
⁷ I form the light and create darkness,^(GW)
    I bring prosperity and create disaster;^(GX)
    I, the Lord, do all these things.

⁸ “You heavens above, rain^(GY) down my righteousness;^(GZ)
    let the clouds shower it down.
Let the earth open wide,
    let salvation^(HA) spring up,
let righteousness flourish with it;
    I, the Lord, have created it.

⁹ “Woe to those who quarrel^(HB) with their Maker,^(HC)
    those who are nothing but potsherds^(HD)
    among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,^(HE)
    ‘What are you making?’^(HF)
Does your work say,
    ‘The potter has no hands’?^(HG)
10 Woe to the one who says to a father,
    ‘What have you begotten?’
or to a mother,
    ‘What have you brought to birth?’

¹¹ “This is what the Lord says—
    the Holy One^(HH) of Israel, and its Maker:^(HI)
Concerning things to come,
    do you question me about my children,
    or give me orders about the work of my hands?^(HJ)
12 It is I who made the earth^(HK)
    and created mankind on it.
My own hands stretched out the heavens;^(HL)
    I marshaled their starry hosts.^(HM)
13 I will raise up Cyrus^[g](HN) in my righteousness:
    I will make all his ways straight.^(HO)
He will rebuild my city^(HP)
    and set my exiles free,
but not for a price or reward,^(HQ)
    says the Lord Almighty.”

“The products^(HR) of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush,^[h]
    and those tall Sabeans^(HS)—
they will come over to you^(HT)
    and will be yours;
they will trudge behind you,^(HU)
    coming over to you in chains.^(HV)
They will bow down before you
    and plead^(HW) with you, saying,
‘Surely God is with you,^(HX) and there is no other;
    there is no other god.^(HY)’”

¹⁵ Truly you are a God who has been hiding^(HZ) himself,
    the God and Savior^(IA) of Israel.
¹⁶ All the makers of idols will be put to shame and disgraced;^(IB)
    they will go off into disgrace together.
¹⁷ But Israel will be saved^(IC) by the Lord
    with an everlasting salvation;^(ID)
you will never be put to shame or disgraced,^(IE)
    to ages everlasting.

¹⁸ For this is what the Lord says—
he who created the heavens,
    he is God;
he who fashioned and made the earth,^(IF)
    he founded it;
he did not create it to be empty,^(IG)
    but formed it to be inhabited^(IH)—
he says:
“I am the Lord,
    and there is no other.^(II)
19 I have not spoken in secret,^(IJ)
    from somewhere in a land of darkness;^(IK)
I have not said to Jacob’s descendants,^(IL)
    ‘Seek^(IM) me in vain.’
I, the Lord, speak the truth;
    I declare what is right.^(IN)

²⁰ “Gather together^(IO) and come;
    assemble, you fugitives from the nations.
Ignorant^(IP) are those who carry^(IQ) about idols of wood,
    who pray to gods that cannot save.^(IR)
21 Declare what is to be, present it—
    let them take counsel together.
Who foretold^(IS) this long ago,
    who declared it from the distant past?^(IT)
Was it not I, the Lord?
    And there is no God apart from me,^(IU)
a righteous God^(IV) and a Savior;^(IW)
    there is none but me.

²² “Turn^(IX) to me and be saved,^(IY)
    all you ends of the earth;^(IZ)
    for I am God, and there is no other.^(JA)
23 By myself I have sworn,^(JB)
    my mouth has uttered in all integrity^(JC)
    a word that will not be revoked:^(JD)
Before me every knee will bow;^(JE)
    by me every tongue will swear.^(JF)
24 They will say of me, ‘In the Lord alone
    are deliverance^(JG) and strength.^(JH)’”
All who have raged against him
    will come to him and be put to shame.^(JI)
25 But all the descendants^(JJ) of Israel
    will find deliverance^(JK) in the Lord
    and will make their boast in him.^(JL)