Isaiah 45:1-25

This is what the LORD says to Cyrus, his appointed king: “I hold your right hand and will help you defeat nations and take away other kings’ power. I will open doors for you so city gates will not stop you. I will go before you and make the mountains flat. I will break down the bronze gates of the cities and cut through their iron bars. I will give you the wealth that is stored away and the hidden riches so you will know I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by name. I do these things for my servants, the people of Jacob, and for my chosen people, the Israelites. Cyrus, I call you by name, and I give you a title of honor even though you don’t know me. I am the LORD. There is no other God; I am the only God. I will make you strong, even though you don’t know me, so that everyone will know there is no other God. From the east to the west they will know I alone am the LORD. I made the light and the darkness. I bring peace, and I cause troubles. I, the LORD, do all these things. “Sky above, make victory fall like rain; clouds, pour down victory. Let the earth receive it, and let salvation grow, and let victory grow with it. I, the LORD, have created it. “How terrible it will be for those who argue with the God who made them. They are like a piece of broken pottery among many pieces. The clay does not ask the potter, ‘What are you doing?’ The thing that is made doesn’t say to its maker, ‘You have no hands.’ How terrible it will be for the child who says to his father, ‘Why are you giving me life?’ How terrible it will be for the child who says to his mother, ‘Why are you giving birth to me?’ ” This is what the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker, says: “You ask me about what will happen. You question me about my children. You give me orders about what I have made. I made the earth and all the people living on it. With my own hands I stretched out the skies, and I commanded all the armies in the sky. I will bring Cyrus to do good things, and I will make his work easy. He will rebuild my city and set my people free without any payment or reward. The LORD All-Powerful says this.” The LORD says, “The goods made in Egypt and Cush and the tall people of Seba will come to you and will become yours. The Sabeans will walk behind you, coming along in chains. They will bow down before you and pray to you, saying, ‘God is with you, and there is no other God.’ ” God and Savior of Israel, you are a God that people cannot see. All the people who make idols will be put to great shame; they will go off together in disgrace. But Israel will be saved by the LORD, and that salvation will continue forever. Never again will Israel be put to shame. The LORD created the heavens. He is the God who formed the earth and made it. He did not want it to be empty, but he wanted life on the earth. This is what the LORD says: “I am the LORD. There is no other God. I did not speak in secret or hide my words in some dark place. I did not tell the family of Jacob to look for me in empty places. I am the LORD, and I speak the truth; I say what is right. “You people who have escaped from other nations, gather together and come before me; come near together. People who carry idols of wood don’t know what they are doing. They pray to a god who cannot save them. Tell these people to come to me. Let them talk about these things together. Who told you long ago that this would happen? Who told about it long ago? I, the LORD, said these things. There is no other God besides me. I am the only good God. I am the Savior. There is no other God. “All people everywhere, follow me and be saved. I am God. There is no other God. I will make a promise by my own power, and my promise is true; what I say will not be changed. I promise that everyone will bow before me and will promise to follow me. People will say about me, ‘Goodness and power come only from the LORD.’ ” Everyone who has been angry with him will come to him and be ashamed. But with the LORD’s help, the people of Israel will be found to be good, and they will praise him.