The Commission to Cyrus

451 Thus saith Jehovah to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him—and I will loose the loins of kings; to open before him the two-leaved doors, and the gates shall not be shut: 2 I will go before thee, and make the elevated places plain; I will break in pieces the brazen doors, and cut asunder the bars of iron; 3 and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places; that thou mayest know that I, Jehovah, who call thee by name, [am] the God of Israel. 4 For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have called thee by thy name; I surnamed thee, though thou didst not know me;

5 I [am] Jehovah, and there is none else; there is no God beside me: I girded thee, and thou hast not known me; 6 —that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the going down, that there is none beside me. I [am] Jehovah, and there is none else; 7 forming the light and creating darkness, making peace and creating evil: I, Jehovah, do all these things.

The LORD the Creator

8 Drop down, [ye] heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and with it let righteousness spring up. I, Jehovah, have created it. 9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let a potsherd [strive] with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that formeth it, What makest thou? Or thy work, He hath no hands? 10 Woe unto him that saith unto [his] father, What begettest thou? Or to [his] mother, What hast thou brought forth?

11 Thus saith Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: Ask me of the things to come; concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands, command ye me. 12 It is I that have made the earth, and created man upon it; it is I, my hands, that have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded. 13 It is I that have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways straight: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith Jehovah of hosts. 14 Thus saith Jehovah: The wealth of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall walk after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall bow down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, [saying,] Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, no other God. ... 15 Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour. ... 16 They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them; they shall go away in confusion together, the makers of idols. 17 Israel shall be saved by Jehovah with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded, unto the ages of ages. 18 For thus saith Jehovah who created the heavens, God himself who formed the earth and made it, he who established it,—not as waste did he create it: he formed it to be inhabited:—I [am] Jehovah, and there is none else. 19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth; I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek me in vain: I [am] Jehovah, speaking righteousness, declaring things which are right.

Babylon's Idols and the LORD

20 Gather yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge that carry the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a ·god that cannot save. 21 Declare and bring [them] near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath caused this to be heard from ancient time? [who] hath declared it long ago? Is it not I, Jehovah? And there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour, there is none besides me. 22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I [am] God, and there is none else. 23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth [in] righteousness and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. 24 Only in Jehovah, shall one say, have I righteousness and strength. To him shall [men] come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. 25 In Jehovah shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.

The LORD's Judgment on Judah and Jerusalem

31 For behold, the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, will take away from Jerusalem and from Judah stay and staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water, 2 the mighty man and the man of war, the judge and the prophet, and the diviner and the elder, 3 the captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the clever among artificers, and the one versed in enchantments. 4 And I will appoint youths as their princes, and children shall rule over them. 5 And the people shall be oppressed one by the other, and each by his neighbour; the child will be insolent against the elder, and the base against the honourable. 6 When a man shall take hold of his brother, in his father's house, [and shall say:] Thou hast clothing; be our chief, and let this ruin be under thy hand; 7 he will lift up [his hand] in that day, saying, I cannot be a healer, and in my house there is neither bread nor clothing; ye shall not make me a chief of the people. 8 For Jerusalem stumbleth and Judah falleth, because their tongue and their doings are against Jehovah, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

9 The look of their face doth witness against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom: they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have brought evil upon themselves. 10 Say ye of the righteous that it shall be well [with him], for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. 11 Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill [with him], because the desert of his hands shall be rendered unto him. 12 [As for] my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. My people! they that guide thee mislead [thee], and destroy the way of thy paths. 13 Jehovah setteth himself to plead, and standeth to judge the peoples. 14 Jehovah will enter into judgment with the elders of his people and their princes, [saying:] It is ye that have eaten up the vineyard: the spoil of the poor is in your houses. 15 What mean ye that ye crush my people, and grind the faces of the afflicted? saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.

Judgment on the Daughters of Zion

16 And Jehovah said, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched-out neck and wanton eyes, and go along mincing, and making a tinkling with their feet; 17 therefore the Lord will make bald the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will lay bare their secret parts. 18 In that day the Lord will take away the ornament of anklets, and the little suns and crescents, 19 the pearl-drops, and the bracelets, and the veils, 20 the head-dresses, and the stepping chains, and the girdles, and the scent-boxes, and the amulets; 21 the finger-rings, and the nose-rings; 22 the festival-robes, and the tunics, and the mantles, and the wallets; 23 the mirrors, and the fine linen bodices, and the turbans, and the flowing veils. 24 And it shall come to pass, instead of perfume there shall be rottenness; and instead of a girdle, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a robe of display, a girding of sackcloth; brand instead of beauty. 25 Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the fight; 26 and her gates shall lament and mourn; and, stripped, she shall sit upon the ground.