Isaiah 45:1-13

1The Lord says this to Cyrus, the king that he has chosen to serve him: ‘I hold your right hand. I give you power over other nations, to take away the weapons of their kings. I will open the gates of cities in front of you, and they will stay open.

2I will go in front of you, and I will make the mountains flat. I will break bronze gates into pieces, and I will cut through iron bars.

3I will take valuable things that people have stored in secret places, and I will give them to you. Then you will know that I am the Lord, Israel's God. I am the one who calls you by your name.

4I have called you on behalf of my people, to help my servant, Jacob's descendants. They are Israel's people, that I have chosen for myself. You do not know me as your God, but I have given to you an important name.

5I am the Lord and there is nobody else like me. There is no other God, except me. You do not know me as your God, but I will make you strong to fight battles.

6Then all over the world, from east to west, people will know that there is no other God. Yes, I am the Lord and there is nobody else like me.

7I make light and I also make darkness. I make peace as well as trouble. I am the Lord. I do all these things.

8Let justice pour down from the sky like rain! Let the earth be ready to receive it! Then salvation and righteousness will grow together, like strong plants. I am the Lord, and I will cause it to happen.’

9It will be very bad for people who quarrel with their Maker. They are like pieces of a pot that are lying on the ground among all the other pieces. The clay does not say to the potter, ‘What do you think you are you making?’ The pot does not say to the potter, ‘Your work is useless!’

10It will be very bad for people who say to their fathers, ‘What kind of child have you become a father to?’ And it will be bad for people who say to their mothers, ‘What kind of baby are you giving birth to?’

11The Lord is Israel's Holy God. He is the one who created Israel. He says this about the things that will happen: ‘You should not ask me questions about my children. You should not tell me what to do with the people that I have made

12It is I who made the earth. I created the people who live on it. I hung up the sky like a curtain. I did that with my own hands! I put all the stars in their places.

13Now I have woken up Cyrus to do for me things that are right. I will make all his paths easy to travel on. He will build again my city, and he will make my people free to return home. Nobody will have to pay him any money or give him a bribe to do that.’ That is what the Lord Almighty says.