Isaiah 43:14-45:10

New King James Version

¹⁴Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
The Holy One of Israel:
“For your sake I will send to Babylon,
And bring them all down as fugitives—
The Chaldeans, who rejoice in their ships.
¹⁵I am the Lord, your Holy One,
The Creator of Israel, your ^(A)King.”

¹⁶Thus says the Lord, who ^(B)makes a way in the sea
And a ^(C)path through the mighty waters,
¹⁷Who ^(D)brings forth the chariot and horse,
The army and the power
(They shall lie down together, they shall not rise;
They are extinguished, they are quenched like a wick):
¹⁸“Do^(E) not remember the former things,
Nor consider the things of old.
¹⁹Behold, I will do a ^(F)new thing,
Now it shall spring forth;
Shall you not know it?
^(G)I will even make a road in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert.
²⁰The beast of the field will honor Me,
The jackals and the ostriches,
Because ^(H)I give waters in the wilderness
And rivers in the desert,
To give drink to My people, My chosen.
²¹^(I)This people I have formed for Myself;
They shall declare My ^(J)praise.

Pleading with Unfaithful Israel

²²“But you have not called upon Me, O Jacob;
And you ^(K)have been weary of Me, O Israel.
²³^(L)You have not brought Me the sheep for your burnt offerings,
Nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices.
I have not caused you to serve with grain offerings,
Nor wearied you with incense.
²⁴You have bought Me no sweet cane with money,
Nor have you satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices;
But you have burdened Me with your sins,
You have ^(M)wearied Me with your iniquities.

²⁵“I, even I, am He who ^(N)blots out your transgressions ^(O)for My own sake;
^(P)And I will not remember your sins.
²⁶Put Me in remembrance;
Let us contend together;
State your case, that you may be ^[a]acquitted.
²⁷Your first father sinned,
And your ^[b]mediators have transgressed against Me.
²⁸Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary;
^(Q)I will give Jacob to the curse,
And Israel to reproaches.

God’s Blessing on Israel

44 “Yet hear now, O Jacob My servant,
And Israel whom I have chosen.
²Thus says the Lord who made you
And formed you from the womb, who will help you:
‘Fear not, O Jacob My servant;
And you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
³For I will pour water on him who is thirsty,
And floods on the dry ground;
I will pour My Spirit on your descendants,
And My blessing on your offspring;
⁴They will spring up among the grass
Like willows by the watercourses.’
⁵One will say, ‘I am the Lord’s’;
Another will call himself by the name of Jacob;
Another will write with his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’
And name himself by the name of Israel.

There Is No Other God

⁶“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel,
And his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
^(R)‘I am the First and I am the Last;
Besides Me there is no God.
⁷And ^(S)who can proclaim as I do?
Then let him declare it and set it in order for Me,
Since I appointed the ancient people.
And the things that are coming and shall come,
Let them show these to them.
⁸Do not fear, nor be afraid;
^(T)Have I not told you from that time, and declared it?
^(U)You are My witnesses.
Is there a God besides Me?
Indeed ^(V)there is no other Rock;
I know not one.’ ”

Idolatry Is Foolishness

⁹^(W)Those who make an image, all of them are useless,
And their precious things shall not profit;
They are their own witnesses;
^(X)They neither see nor know, that they may be ashamed.
¹⁰Who would form a god or mold an image
^(Y)That profits him nothing?
¹¹Surely all his companions would be ^(Z)ashamed;
And the workmen, they are mere men.
Let them all be gathered together,
Let them stand up;
Yet they shall fear,
They shall be ashamed together.

¹²^(AA)The blacksmith with the tongs works one in the coals,
Fashions it with hammers,
And works it with the strength of his arms.
Even so, he is hungry, and his strength fails;
He drinks no water and is faint.

¹³The craftsman stretches out his rule,
He marks one out with chalk;
He fashions it with a plane,
He marks it out with the compass,
And makes it like the figure of a man,
According to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in the house.
¹⁴He cuts down cedars for himself,
And takes the cypress and the oak;
He ^[c]secures it for himself among the trees of the forest.
He plants a pine, and the rain nourishes it.

¹⁵Then it shall be for a man to burn,
For he will take some of it and warm himself;
Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread;
Indeed he makes a god and worships it;
He makes it a carved image, and falls down to it.
¹⁶He burns half of it in the fire;
With this half he eats meat;
He roasts a roast, and is satisfied.
He even warms himself and says,
“Ah! I am warm,
I have seen the fire.”
¹⁷And the rest of it he makes into a god,
His carved image.
He falls down before it and worships it,
Prays to it and says,
“Deliver me, for you are my god!”

¹⁸^(AB)They do not know nor understand;
For ^(AC)He has ^[d]shut their eyes, so that they cannot see,
And their hearts, so that they cannot ^(AD)understand.
¹⁹And no one ^(AE)considers in his heart,
Nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say,
“I have burned half of it in the fire,
Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals;
I have roasted meat and eaten it;
And shall I make the rest of it an abomination?
Shall I fall down before a block of wood?”
²⁰He feeds on ashes;
^(AF)A deceived heart has turned him aside;
And he cannot deliver his soul,
Nor say, “Is there not a ^(AG)lie in my right hand?”

Israel Is Not Forgotten

²¹“Remember these, O Jacob,
And Israel, for you are My servant;
I have formed you, you are My servant;
O Israel, you will not be ^(AH)forgotten by Me!
²²^(AI)I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions,
And like a cloud, your sins.
Return to Me, for ^(AJ)I have redeemed you.”

²³^(AK)Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it!
Shout, you lower parts of the earth;
Break forth into singing, you mountains,
O forest, and every tree in it!
For the Lord has redeemed Jacob,
And ^(AL)glorified Himself in Israel.

Judah Will Be Restored

²⁴Thus says the Lord, ^(AM)your Redeemer,
And ^(AN)He who formed you from the womb:
“I am the Lord, who makes all things,
^(AO)Who stretches out the heavens ^[e]all alone,
Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself;
²⁵Who ^(AP)frustrates the signs ^(AQ)of the babblers,
And drives diviners mad;
Who turns wise men backward,
^(AR)And makes their knowledge foolishness;
²⁶^(AS)Who confirms the word of His servant,
And performs the counsel of His messengers;
Who says to Jerusalem, ‘You shall be inhabited,’
To the cities of Judah, ‘You shall be built,’
And I will raise up her waste places;
²⁷^(AT)Who says to the deep, ‘Be dry!
And I will dry up your rivers’;
²⁸Who says of ^(AU)Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd,
And he shall perform all My pleasure,
Saying to Jerusalem, ^(AV)“You shall be built,”
And to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.” ’

Cyrus, God’s Instrument

45 “Thus says the Lord to His anointed,
To ^(AW)Cyrus, whose ^(AX)right hand I have ^[f]held—
^(AY)To subdue nations before him
And ^(AZ)loose the armor of kings,
To open before him the double doors,
So that the gates will not be shut:
²‘I will go before you
^(BA)And^[g] make the ^[h]crooked places straight;
^(BB)I will break in pieces the gates of bronze
And cut the bars of iron.
³I will give you the treasures of darkness
And hidden riches of secret places,
^(BC)That you may know that I, the Lord,
Who ^(BD)call you by your name,
Am the God of Israel.
⁴For ^(BE)Jacob My servant’s sake,
And Israel My elect,
I have even called you by your name;
I have named you, though you have not known Me.
⁵I ^(BF)am the Lord, and ^(BG)there is no other;
There is no God besides Me.
^(BH)I will gird you, though you have not known Me,
⁶^(BI)That they may ^(BJ)know from the rising of the sun to its setting
That there is none besides Me.
I am the Lord, and there is no other;
⁷I form the light and create darkness,
I make peace and ^(BK)create calamity;
I, the Lord, do all these things.’

⁸“Rain^(BL) down, you heavens, from above,
And let the skies pour down righteousness;
Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation,
And let righteousness spring up together.
I, the Lord, have created it.

⁹“Woe to him who strives with ^(BM)his Maker!
Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth!
^(BN)Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’?
¹⁰Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What are you begetting?’
Or to the woman, ‘What have you brought forth?’ ”

Footnotes

Isaiah 43:26 justified
Isaiah 43:27 interpreters
Isaiah 44:14 Lit. appropriates
Isaiah 44:18 Lit. smeared over
Isaiah 44:24 By Himself
Isaiah 45:1 strengthened or sustained
Isaiah 45:2 Tg. I will trample down the walls; Vg. I will humble the great ones of the earth
Isaiah 45:2 DSS, LXX mountains