New English Translation
Isaiah 45:7
7I am the one who forms light and creates darkness; the one who brings about peace and creates calamity. I am the Lord, who accomplishes all these things.
Isaiah 45:7 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.
- New International Version (NIV)I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.
- English Standard Version (ESV)I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.
- New King James Version (NKJV)I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.’
Context of Isaiah 45:7
5I am the Lord, I have no peer, there is no God but me. I arm you for battle, even though you do not recognize me. 6I do this so people will recognize from east to west that there is no God but me; I am the Lord, I have no peer. I am the one who forms light and creates darkness; the one who brings about peace and creates calamity. I am the Lord, who accomplishes all these things. 8O sky, rain down from above! Let the clouds send down showers of deliverance! Let the earth absorb it so salvation may grow, and deliverance may sprout up along with it. I, the Lord, create it. 9One who argues with his creator is in grave danger, one who is like a mere shard among the other shards on the ground! The clay should not say to the potter, “What in the world are you doing? Your work lacks skill!”
Read all of Isaiah 45Isaiah 45:7 word by word
יוֹצֵ֥ר אוֹר֙ וּבוֹרֵ֣א חֹ֔שֶׁךְ עֹשֶׂ֥ה שָׁל֖וֹם וּב֣וֹרֵא רָ֑ע אֲנִ֥י יְהוָ֖ה עֹשֶׂ֥ה כָל־אֵֽלֶּה׃ סRead the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- I formיָצַרyâtsar · to form: formedH3335
- the lightאוֹר'ôr · lightH216
- and createבָּרָאbârâ' · to createH1254
- darknessחֹ֫שֶׁךְchôshek · darknessH2822
- I makeעָשָׂה‛âώâh · to makeH6213
- peaceשָׁלוֹםshâlôm shâlôm · peace: well-beingH7965
- evilרַעra‛ râ‛âh · bad: evilH7451
- I the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
- doעָשָׂה‛âώâh · to make: doH6213
Cross-references for Isaiah 45:7
- Genesis 1:3God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light!
- Psalms 8:3When I look up at the heavens, which your fingers made, and see the moon and the stars, which you set in place,
- Psalms 104:20You make it dark and night comes, during which all the beasts of the forest prowl around.
- Jeremiah 31:35The Lord has made a promise to Israel. He promises it as the one who fixed the sun to give light by day and the moon and stars to give light by night. He promises it as the one who stirs up the sea so that its waves roll. He promises it as the one who is known as the Lord who rules over all.
- 2 Corinthians 4:6For God, who said “Let light shine out of darkness,” is the one who shined in our hearts to give us the light of the glorious knowledge of God in the face of Christ.
- James 1:17All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change.
- Exodus 10:21The Lord said to Moses, “Extend your hand toward heaven so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness so thick it can be felt.”
- Exodus 14:20It came between the Egyptian camp and the Israelite camp; it was a dark cloud and it lit up the night so that one camp did not come near the other the whole night.
- Jeremiah 13:16Show the Lord your God the respect that is due him. Do it before he brings the darkness of disaster. Do it before you stumble into distress like a traveler on the mountains at twilight. Do it before he turns the light of deliverance you hope for into the darkness and gloom of exile.
- Ezekiel 32:8I will darken all the lights in the sky over you, and I will darken your land, declares the sovereign Lord.
- Joel 2:2It will be a day of dreadful darkness, a day of foreboding storm clouds, like blackness spread over the mountains. It is a huge and powerful army – there has never been anything like it ever before, and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come!
- Amos 4:13For here he is! He formed the mountains and created the wind. He reveals his plans to men. He turns the dawn into darkness and marches on the heights of the earth. The Lord, the God who commands armies, is his name!”
- Nahum 1:8But with an overwhelming flood he will make a complete end of Nineveh; he will drive his enemies into darkness.
- Jude 1:6You also know that the angels who did not keep within their proper domain but abandoned their own place of residence, he has kept in eternal chains in utter darkness, locked up for the judgment of the great Day.
- Isaiah 10:5Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, is as good as dead, a cudgel with which I angrily punish.
- Job 2:10But he replied, “You’re talking like one of the godless women would do! Should we receive what is good from God, and not also receive what is evil?” In all this Job did not sin by what he said.
Commentaries on Isaiah 45:7
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 7I form the light, and create darkness - It was the great principle of the Magian religion, which prevailed in Persia in the time of Cyrus, and in which probably he was educated, that there are two supreme, co-eternal, and independent causes always acting in opposition one to the other; one the author of all good, the other of all evil. The good being they called Light; the evil being, Darkness. That when Light had the ascendant, then good and happtness…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 7I form the light, and create darkness - Light, in the Bible, is the emblem of knowledge, innocence, pure religion, and of prosperity in general; and darkness is the emblem of the opposite. Light here seems to be the emblem of peace and prosperity, and darkness the emblem of adversity; and the sentiment of the verse is, that all things prosperous and adverse are under the providential control and direction of God. Of light, it is literally true that God…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 5-10Verses 5-10 There is no God beside Jehovah. There is nothing done without him. He makes peace, put here for all good; and creates evil, not the evil of sin, but the evil of punishment. He is the Author of all that is true, holy, good, or happy; and evil, error, and misery, came into the world by his permission, through the wilful apostacy of his creatures, but are restrained and overruled to his righteous purpose. This doctrine is applied, for the comfort…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 7light … darkness … prosperity … calamity: Everything is under God’s control.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 77. form ... create--yatzar, to give "form" to previously existing matter. Bara, to "create" from nothing the chaotic dark material. light ... darkness--literally (Ge 1:1-3), emblematical also, prosperity to Cyrus, calamity to Babylon and the nations to be vanquished [Grotius] ... Isaiah refers also to the Oriental belief in two coexistent, eternal principles, ever struggling with each other, light or good, and darkness or evil, Oromasden and Ahrimanen…Read the comment
Topics related to Isaiah 45:7
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Isaiah 45
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
New English Translation — © 1996-2016 Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C.
Commentaries