44:1 Yet listen now, Jacob my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen.
44:2 This is what Yahweh who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you says: “Don’t be afraid, Jacob my servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
44:3 For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit on your seed, and my blessing on your offspring:
44:4 and they will spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses.
44:5 One will say, ‘I am Yahweh’s;’ and another will be called by the name of Jacob; and another will write with his hand ‘to Yahweh,’ and honor the name of Israel.”
44:6 This is what Yahweh, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies, says: “I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.
44:7 Who is like me? Who will call, and will declare it, and set it in order for me, since I established the ancient people? Let them declare the things that are coming, and that will happen.
44:8 Don’t fear, neither be afraid. Haven’t I declared it to you long ago, and shown it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is not. I don’t know any other Rock.”
44:9 Everyone who makes an engraved image is vain. The things that they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses don’t see, nor know, that they may be disappointed.
44:10 Who has fashioned a god, or molds an image that is profitable for nothing?
44:11 Behold, all his fellows will be disappointed; and the workmen are mere men. Let them all be gathered together. Let them stand up. They will fear. They will be put to shame together.
44:12 The blacksmith takes an axe, works in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. He is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is faint.
44:13 The carpenter stretches out a line. He marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes. He marks it out with compasses, and shapes it like the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to reside in a house.
44:14 He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak, and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir tree, and the rain nourishes it.
44:15 Then it will be for a man to burn; and he takes some of it, and warms himself. Yes, he burns it, and bakes bread. Yes, he makes a god, and worships it; he makes it an engraved image, and falls down to it.
44:16 He burns part of it in the fire. With part of it, he eats meat. He roasts a roast, and is satisfied. Yes, he warms himself, and says, “Aha! I am warm. I have seen the fire.”
44:17 The rest of it he makes into a god, even his engraved image. He bows down to it and worships, and prays to it, and says, “Deliver me; for you are my god!”
44:18 They don’t know, neither do they consider: for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see; and their hearts, that they can’t understand.
44:19 No one thinks, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “I have burned part of it in the fire. Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals. I have roasted meat and eaten it. Shall I make the rest of it into an abomination? Shall I bow down to a tree trunk?”
44:20 He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can’t deliver his soul, nor say, “Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?”
44:21 Remember these things, Jacob and Israel; for you are my servant. I have formed you. You are my servant. Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.
44:22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.
44:23 Sing, you heavens, for Yahweh has done it! Shout, you lower parts of the earth! Break out into singing, you mountains, O forest, all of your trees, for Yahweh has redeemed Jacob, and will glorify himself in Israel.
44:24 Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb: “I am Yahweh, who makes all things; who alone stretches out the heavens; who spreads out the earth by myself;
44:25 who frustrates the signs of the liars, and makes diviners mad; who turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish;
44:26 who confirms the word of his servant, and performs the counsel of his messengers; who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited;’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will be built,’ and ‘I will raise up its waste places;’
44:27 who says to the deep, ‘Be dry,’ and ‘I will dry up your rivers;’
44:28 Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure,’ even saying of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built;’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’”
45:1 Thus says Yahweh to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and strip kings of their armor; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut:
45:2 “I will go before you, and make the rough places smooth. I will break the doors of brass in pieces, and cut apart the bars of iron.
45:3 I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, Yahweh, who call you by your name, even the God of Israel.
45:4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called you by your name. I have surnamed you, though you have not known me.
45:5 I am Yahweh, and there is none else. Besides me, there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not known me;
45:6 that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides me. I am Yahweh, and there is no one else.
45:7 I form the light, and create darkness. I make peace, and create calamity. I am Yahweh, who does all these things.
45:8 Distil, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open, that it may bring forth salvation, and let it cause righteousness to spring up with it. I, Yahweh, have created it.
45:9 Woe to him who strives with his Maker—a clay pot among the clay pots of the earth! Shall the clay ask him who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’ or your work, ‘He has no hands?’
45:10 Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What have you become the father of?’ or to a mother, ‘To what have you given birth?’”
45:11 Thus says Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: “You ask me about the things that are to come, concerning my sons, and you command me concerning the work of my hands!
45:12 I have made the earth, and created man on it. I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens; and I have commanded all their army.
45:13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make straight all his ways. He shall build my city, and he shall let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward,” says Yahweh of Armies.
45:14 Thus says Yahweh: “The labor of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you, and they shall be yours. They will go after you. They shall come over in chains; and they will bow down to you. They will make supplication to you: ‘Surely God is in you; and there is none else. There is no other god.
45:15 Most certainly you are a God who hidden yourself, God of Israel, the Savior.’”
45:16 They will be disappointed, yes, confounded, all of them. Those who are makers of idols will go into confusion together.
45:17 Israel will be saved by Yahweh with an everlasting salvation. You will not be disappointed nor confounded to ages everlasting.
45:18 For thus says Yahweh who created the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, who established it and didn’t create it a waste, who formed it to be inhabited: “I am Yahweh; and there is no other.
45:19 I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness. I didn’t say to the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, Yahweh, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.
45:20 “Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. Those have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image, and pray to a god that can’t save.
45:21 Declare and present it. Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Haven’t I, Yahweh? There is no other God besides me, a just God and a Savior; There is no one besides me.
45:22 “Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.
45:23 I have sworn by myself, the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and will not return, that to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath.
45:24 They will say of me, ‘There is righteousness and strength only in Yahweh.’” Even to him shall men come; and all those who were incensed against him shall be disappointed.
45:25 In Yahweh shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.