Isaiah 45:11-48

New King James Version

¹¹ Thus says the Lord,
The Holy One of Israel, and his Maker:
^(A)“Ask Me of things to come concerning ^(B)My sons;
And concerning ^(C)the work of My hands, you command Me.
^12 (D)I have made the earth,
And ^(E)created man on it.
I—My hands—stretched out the heavens,
And ^(F)all their host I have commanded.
^13 (G)I have raised him up in righteousness,
And I will ^[a]direct all his ways;
He shall ^(H)build My city
And let My exiles go free,
^(I)Not for price nor reward,”
Says the Lord of hosts.

^(J)“The labor of Egypt and merchandise of Cush
And of the Sabeans, men of stature,
Shall come over to you, and they shall be yours;
They shall walk behind you,
They shall come over ^(K)in chains;
And they shall bow down to you.
They will make supplication to you, saying, ^(L)‘Surely God is in you,
And there is no other;
^(M)There is no other God.’ ”

¹⁵ Truly You are God, ^(N)who hide Yourself,
O God of Israel, the Savior!
¹⁶ They shall be ^(O)ashamed
And also disgraced, all of them;
They shall go in confusion together,
Who are makers of idols.
^17 (P)But Israel shall be saved by the Lord
With an ^(Q)everlasting salvation;
You shall not be ashamed or ^(R)disgraced
Forever and ever.

¹⁸ For thus says the Lord,
^(S)Who created the heavens,
Who is God,
Who formed the earth and made it,
Who has established it,
Who did not create it ^[b]in vain,
Who formed it to be ^(T)inhabited:
^(U)“I am the Lord, and there is no other.
¹⁹ I have not spoken in ^(V)secret,
In a dark place of the earth;
I did not say to the seed of Jacob,
‘Seek Me ^[c]in vain’;
^(W)I, the Lord, speak righteousness,
I declare things that are right.

²⁰ “Assemble yourselves and come;
Draw near together,
You who have escaped from the nations.
^(X)They have no knowledge,
Who carry the wood of their carved image,
And pray to a god that cannot save.
²¹ Tell and bring forth your case;
Yes, let them take counsel together.
^(Y)Who has declared this from ancient time?
Who has told it from that time?
Have not I, the Lord?
^(Z)And there is no other God besides Me,
A just God and a Savior;
There is none besides Me.

²² “Look to Me, and be saved,
^(AA)All you ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
^23 (AB)I have sworn by Myself;
The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness,
And shall not return,
That to Me every ^(AC)knee shall bow,
^(AD)Every tongue shall take an oath.
²⁴ He shall say,
^[d]‘Surely in the Lord I have ^(AE)righteousness and strength.
To Him men shall come,
And ^(AF)all shall be ashamed
Who are incensed against Him.
^25 (AG)In the Lord all the descendants of Israel
Shall be justified, and ^(AH)shall glory.’ ”

³ “Listen to Me, O house of Jacob,
And all the remnant of the house of Israel,
^(AL)Who have been upheld by Me from ^[e]birth,
Who have been carried from the womb:
⁴ Even to your old age, ^(AM)I am He,
And even to gray hairs ^(AN)I will carry you!
I have made, and I will bear;
Even I will carry, and will deliver you.

⁵ “To^(AO) whom will you liken Me, and make Me equal
And compare Me, that we should be alike?
^6 (AP)They lavish gold out of the bag,
And weigh silver on the scales;
They hire a ^(AQ)goldsmith, and he makes it a god;
They prostrate themselves, yes, they worship.
^7 (AR)They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it
And set it in its place, and it stands;
From its place it shall not move.
Though ^(AS)one cries out to it, yet it cannot answer
Nor save him out of his trouble.

⁸ “Remember this, and ^[f]show yourselves men;
^(AT)Recall to mind, O you transgressors.
^9 (AU)Remember the former things of old,
For I am God, and ^(AV)there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me,
^10 (AW)Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, ^(AX)‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure,’
¹¹ Calling a bird of prey ^(AY)from the east,
The man ^(AZ)who executes My counsel, from a far country.
Indeed ^(BA)I have spoken it;
I will also bring it to pass.
I have purposed it;
I will also do it.

¹² “Listen to Me, you ^(BB)stubborn-hearted,
^(BC)Who are far from righteousness:
^13 (BD)I bring My righteousness near, it shall not be far off;
My salvation ^(BE)shall not ^[g]linger.
And I will place ^(BF)salvation in Zion,
For Israel My glory.

⁴ As for ^(BM)our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is His name,
The Holy One of Israel.

⁵ “Sit in ^(BN)silence, and go into darkness,
O daughter of the Chaldeans;
^(BO)For you shall no longer be called
The Lady of Kingdoms.
^6 (BP)I was angry with My people;
^(BQ)I have profaned My inheritance,
And given them into your hand.
You showed them no mercy;
^(BR)On the elderly you laid your yoke very heavily.
⁷ And you said, ‘I shall be ^(BS)a lady forever,’
So that you did not ^(BT)take these things to heart,
^(BU)Nor remember the latter end of them.

⁸ “Therefore hear this now, you who are given to pleasures,
Who dwell securely,
Who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me;
I shall not sit as a widow,
Nor shall I know the loss of children’;
⁹ But these two things shall come to you
^(BV)In a moment, in one day:
The loss of children, and widowhood.
They shall come upon you in their fullness
Because of the multitude of your sorceries,
For the great abundance of your enchantments.

¹⁰ “For you have trusted in your wickedness;
You have said, ‘No one ^(BW)sees me’;
Your wisdom and your knowledge have ^[i]warped you;
And you have said in your heart,
‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’
¹¹ Therefore evil shall come upon you;
You shall not know from where it arises.
And trouble shall fall upon you;
You will not be able ^[j]to put it off.
And ^(BX)desolation shall come upon you ^(BY)suddenly,
Which you shall not know.

¹² “Stand now with your enchantments
And the multitude of your sorceries,
In which you have labored from your youth—
Perhaps you will be able to profit,
Perhaps you will prevail.
^13 (BZ)You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels;
Let now ^(CA)the^[k] astrologers, the stargazers,
And ^[l]the monthly prognosticators
Stand up and save you
From what shall come upon you.
¹⁴ Behold, they shall be ^(CB)as stubble,
The fire shall ^(CC)burn them;
They shall not deliver themselves
From the power of the flame;
It shall not be a coal to be warmed by,
Nor a fire to sit before!
¹⁵ Thus shall they be to you
With whom you have labored,
^(CD)Your merchants from your youth;
They shall wander each one to his ^[m]quarter.
No one shall save you.

³ “I have ^(CH)declared the former things from the beginning;
They went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to hear it.
Suddenly I did them, ^(CI)and they came to pass.
⁴ Because I knew that you were ^[n]obstinate,
And ^(CJ)your neck was an iron sinew,
And your brow bronze,
⁵ Even from the beginning I have declared it to you;
Before it came to pass I proclaimed it to you,
Lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them,
And my carved image and my molded image
Have commanded them.’

⁶ “You have heard;
See all this.
And will you not declare it?
I have made you hear new things from this time,
Even hidden things, and you did not know them.
⁷ They are created now and not from the beginning;
And before this day you have not heard them,
Lest you should say, ‘Of course I knew them.’
⁸ Surely you did not hear,
Surely you did not know;
Surely from long ago your ear was not opened.
For I knew that you would deal very treacherously,
And were called ^(CK)a transgressor from the womb.

⁹ “For^(CL) My name’s sake ^(CM)I will ^[o]defer My anger,
And for My praise I will restrain it from you,
So that I do not cut you off.
¹⁰ Behold, ^(CN)I have refined you, but not as silver;
I have tested you in the ^(CO)furnace of affliction.
¹¹ For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it;
For ^(CP)how should My name be profaned?
And ^(CQ)I will not give My glory to another.