Isaiah 45:1-13

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.”