The Commission to Cyrus

451 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: 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. 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. 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.

5 I am Yahweh, and there is none else.
Besides me, there is no God.
I will strengthen [1] you,
though you have not known me; 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. 7 I form the light,
and create darkness.
I make peace,
and create calamity.
I am Yahweh,
who does all these things.

The LORD the Creator

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. 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?’ 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?’”

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! 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. 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. 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. 15 Most certainly you are a God who hid yourself,
God of Israel, the Savior.’” 16 They will be disappointed,
yes, confounded, all of them.
Those who are makers of idols will go into confusion together. 17 Israel will be saved by Yahweh with an everlasting salvation.
You will not be disappointed nor confounded to ages everlasting. 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. 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.

Babylon's Idols and the LORD

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. 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. 22 “Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth;
for I am God, and there is no other. 23 By myself have I sworn, the word has gone forth from my mouth in righteousness, and will not return, that to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. 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. 25 In Yahweh shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.

461 Bel bows down, Nebo stoops; their idols are on the animals, and on the livestock: the things that you carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary animal. 2 They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity. 3 “Listen to me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that have been borne by me from their birth, that have been carried from the womb; 4 and even to old age I am he, and even to gray hairs will I carry you. I have made, and I will bear; yes, I will carry, and will deliver.

5 “To whom will you liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like? 6 Some pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver in the balance. They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They fall down—yes, they worship. 7 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: yes, one may cry to it, yet it can not answer, nor save him out of his trouble. 8 “Remember this, and show yourselves men; bring it again to mind, you transgressors. 9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me; 10 declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done; saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure; 11 calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country; yes, I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed, I will also do it. 12 Listen to me, you stout-hearted, who are far from righteousness: 13 I bring near my righteousness, it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not wait; and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.

Judgment on Babylon

471 “Come down, and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shall no more be called tender and delicate. 2 Take the millstones, and grind meal; remove your veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers. 3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered, yes, your shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and will spare no man.” 4 Our Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies is his name, the Holy One of Israel. 5 “Sit in silence, and go into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans;
for you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms. 6 I was angry with my people, I profaned my inheritance, and gave them into your hand: you showed them no mercy; on the aged you have very heavily laid your yoke.

7 You said, I shall be mistress forever; so that you did not lay these things to your heart, neither did remember the latter end of it. 8 “Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, I am, and there is none else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: 9 but these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood; in their full measure shall they come on you, in the multitude of your sorceries, and the great abundance of your enchantments. 10 For you have trusted in your wickedness; you have said, No one sees me; your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you, and you have said in your heart, I am, and there is none else besides me. 11 Therefore evil will come on you; you won’t know when it dawns: and mischief wil fall on you; you will not be able to put it away: and desolation shall come on you suddenly, which you don’t know. 12 “Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth; if so be you shall be able to profit, if so be you may prevail. 13 You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels: let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save you from the things that shall come on you. 14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: it shall not be a coal to warm at, nor a fire to sit before. 15 Thus shall the things be to you in which you have labored: those who have trafficked with you from your youth shall wander everyone to his quarter; there shall be none to save you.

Israel's Unfaithfulness Rebuked

481 “Hear this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, and have come forth out of the waters of Judah; who swear by the name of Yahweh, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness 2 (for they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel; Yahweh of Armies is his name): 3 I have declared the former things from of old; yes, they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them: suddenly I did them, and they happened. 4 Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow brass; 5 therefore I have declared it to you from of old; before it came to pass I showed it to you; lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them, and my engraved image, and my molten image, has commanded them.’ 6 You have heard it; see all this; and you, will you not declare it?

“I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, which you have not known. 7 They are created now, and not from of old; and before this day you didn’t hear them; lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’ 8 Yes, you didn’t hear; yes, you didn’t know; yes, from of old your ear was not opened: for I knew that you did deal very treacherously, and was called a transgressor from the womb.

9 For my name’s sake will I defer my anger, and for my praise will I refrain for you, that I not cut you off. 10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction. 11 For my own sake, for my own sake, will I do it; for how should my name be profaned? and my glory I will not give to another. 12 “Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel my called: I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. 13 Yes, my hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spread out the heavens: when I call to them, they stand up together. 14 “Assemble yourselves, all you, and hear; who among them has declared these things? He whom Yahweh loves shall perform his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans. 15 I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him; I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

16 “Come near to me and hear this:


“From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I.” Now the Lord Yahweh has sent me, with his Spirit. 17 Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go. 18 Oh that you had listened to my commandments! then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea: 19 your seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of your body like its grains: his name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me. 20 Go forth from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans; with a voice of singing declare, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth: say, Yahweh has redeemed his servant Jacob. 21 They didn’t thirst when he led them through the deserts; he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; he split the rock also, and the waters gushed out. 22 “There is no peace,” says Yahweh, “for the wicked.”