Isaiah 45

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¹Yahweh says 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. ✦ ³I 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. ✦ ⁴For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called you by your name. I have given you a title, though you have not known me. ✦ ⁵I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. Besides me, there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not known me; ✦ ⁶that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is no one besides me. I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. ✦ ⁷I form the light, and create darkness. I make peace, and create calamity. I am Yahweh, who does all these things. ✦ ⁸Rain, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open, that it may produce salvation, and let it cause righteousness to spring up with it. I, Yahweh, have created it. ✦ ⁹Woe 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?’ ✦ ¹⁰Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What have you become the father of?’ or to a mother, ‘To what have you given birth?’” ✦ ¹¹Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker says: “You ask me about the things that are to come, concerning my sons, and you command me concerning the work of my hands! ✦ ¹²I 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. ✦ ¹³I 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. ✦ ¹⁴Yahweh says: “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 no one else. There is no other god. ✦ ¹⁵Most certainly you are a God who has hidden yourself, God of Israel, the Savior.’” ✦ ¹⁶They will be disappointed, yes, confounded, all of them. Those who are makers of idols will go into confusion together. ✦ ¹⁷Israel will be saved by Yahweh with an everlasting salvation. You will not be disappointed nor confounded to ages everlasting. ✦ ¹⁸For 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 says: “I am Yahweh; and there is no other. ✦ ¹⁹I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness. I didn’t say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, Yahweh, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right. ✦ 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. ✦ ²¹Declare 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. ✦ ²³I have sworn by myself. The word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and will not be revoked, that to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath. ✦ ²⁴They will say of me, ‘There is righteousness and strength only in Yahweh.’” Even to him shall men come; and all those who raged against him shall be disappointed. ✦ ²⁵All the offspring of Israel will be justified in Yahweh, and will rejoice! ✦

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Where this chapter connects

Isa 45 ·23 Isa 44 ·15 Isa 41 ·15 Isa 43 ·15 Jer 51 ·8 Isa 42 ·7 Isa 48 ·7 Jer 50 ·7

Christ at the center

Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).

How Isaiah 45 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Seminary

★ Start hereCommentaryThe Book of Isaiah (NICOT)John N. Oswalt · Paid · evangelical
The standard evangelical commentary on Isaiah — thorough and devotionally warm.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 45YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Isaiah 45David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Isaiah 45Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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