Israel Will Be Restored
21Remember these things, O Jacob, because you are my servant, Israel. I am forming you to be my servant. You, Israel, you will never be forgotten by me.[] 22I am blowing away your rebellious deeds like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to me, because I am redeeming you. 23Shout for joy, you heavens, because of what the Lord is doing.
Make a joyful shout, you depths of the earth.
Burst forth with shouts of joy, you mountains,
you forest and every tree in it,
because the Lord has redeemed Jacob,
and in Israel he will display his beauty.
24This is what the Lord, your Redeemer,
the Lord who formed you from the womb, says.
I am the Lord, the one who does all things,
who stretched out the heavens by myself,
who hammered out the earth.
(Who was with me then?)
25I frustrate the signs of the deceivers
and make fools of the fortune tellers.[] I overturn the wisdom of the wise
and turn their knowledge into foolishness.
26He is the one who fulfills the word of his servants,
who completes the plan announced by his messengers,
who says about Jerusalem, “It will be inhabited,”
and about the cities of Judah, “They will be rebuilt,
and I will raise up their ruins.”
27He is the one who says to the deep ocean, “Dry up,”
the one who says, “I will dry up your rivers.”
28He is the one who says about Cyrus, “He is my shepherd,
and he will complete everything I desire.”
He is the one who says about Jerusalem, “It will be rebuilt,”
and who says to the temple, “Your foundations will be laid.”
Cyrus the Lord's Anointed Shepherd
451This is what the Lord says to his anointed one,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped,
to subdue nations before him
by stripping kings of their weapons,
to open doors before him
so that the gates cannot be shut.
2I myself will go before you,
and I will level high mountains.[] I will break bronze doors into pieces,
and I will cut through iron bars.
3I will give you treasures hidden in darkness
and riches concealed in secret places,
so that you will acknowledge that I am the Lord,
the one who calls you by name, the God of Israel.
4For the sake of my servant Jacob,
for the sake of Israel my chosen one,
I will call you by your name.
I will give you an honored name, though you do not know me.
5I am the Lord, and there is no other.
Except for me, there is no god.
I will equip you even though you do not know me,
6so that people will know from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets
that there is no one except me.
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
7I am the one who forms light and creates darkness,
the one who makes peace and creates disaster.
I am the Lord, the one who does all these things.
Coming Blessings
8Shower down, you heavens, from above,
and let the clouds rain down righteousness.
Let the earth open up,
so that salvation will produce fruit.
Let righteousness sprout up along with it.
I, the Lord, am creating this.
Arguing With the Lord
9Woe to anyone who argues against the potter who formed him.
He is just a potsherd among the broken pieces of pottery on the ground.
Does clay say to its potter, “What are you making?
Your work looks like something made by a potter with no hands”?
10Woe to anyone who says to his father, “What have you fathered?”
or to a woman, “What are you giving birth to?”
11This is what the Lord says,
the Holy One of Israel, who formed Israel.
Do you wish to question me concerning things to come?
Will you give me orders about my children
and about the work of my hands?
12I myself made the earth,
and I created Adam[] upon it. With my hands I stretched out the heavens,
and I commanded all their army.
Cyrus as the Lord's Servant
13I myself will arouse him in righteousness,
and I will make all his roads level for him.
He himself will rebuild my city.
He will set my exiles free—
but not for a price and not for a gift,
says the Lord of Armies.
20Gather! Come! Draw near together,
you survivors from the nations.
They have no knowledge—
those who are lifting up their idols of wood
and praying to a god that cannot save.
21Make an announcement and come close.
Let them consult together.
Who made this known ahead of time?
From time past who announced it?
Was it not I, the Lord?
There is no god except me,
a righteous God and Savior.
There is no one except me.
22Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth,
because I am God,
and there is no other.
23I have sworn by myself.
From my mouth a righteous word has gone out,
and it will not return unfulfilled.
Indeed, to me every knee will bow,
and every tongue will swear allegiance.
24“Only in the Lord,” they will say of me,
“Only in the Lord is there true righteousness and strength.”
To him they will come and be ashamed—
all those who are angry at him.
25In the Lord, all the descendants[] of Israel will be justified. They will be praised by him.[] 