XLV. 1 Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, of whose right hand I have taken hold, to bring down nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings, to loose before his face two-leaved doors, and gates shall not be shut:

2 I will go before thee, and make swelling ground a I will break in pieces doors of brass, and cut in sunder bars of iron:

3 And I will give thee treasures of darkness, and hidden things of secret places, that thou mayest know that I am the Lord, which call thee by thy name, the God of Israel.

4 For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel's mine elect, therefore I have called thee by thy name: I have named thee honourably, and thou hast not known me.

5 I am the Lord, and there is none else: there is no God. beside me: I have girded thee, and thou hast not known me.

6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the setting thereof, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else,

7 That form light, and create darkness, that make peace, and create evil: I am the Lord, that do all these things

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 let her cause righteousness to spring up together: I the Lord have created it.

9, Ah, he that. striveth with him that formed him ! a potsherd among potsherds of the ground. Shall the clay say to the potter, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands!

4. ‘therefore,’ Heb. ‘and,’ marking principal clause.7. ‘evil,’ here explained as calamity.9. ‘him that formed.’ Same word as ‘potter,’ cf. xxix.

10 Ah, he that saith unto a father, What begettest thou? or to a woman, Wherewith travailest thou?

11 Thus saith the Lord, the Holy one of Israel, and he that formed him; Ask me of coming things concerning my sons, and command me concerning the work of my hands.

12 I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.

13 I have roused him up in righteousness, and I will level all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall send forthl my captivity, not for hire, and not for a present, saith the Lord of hosts.

14 Thus saith the Lord, The labour of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall pass over unto thee, and becOme thine; they shall go after thee, in chains shall they pass over, and they shall bow down to thee, they shall pray unto thee: Only in thee is God, and there is none else, no God at all.

15 Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, Saviour.

16 They are ashamed and also confounded, all of them; the craftsmen of idols are gone into confusion together.

17 Israel is saved in the Lord with everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded to all eternity.

18 For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; (he is God:) that formed the earth, and made it: he set it in order; he created it not a waste, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord, and there is none else.

11. ﬁn. Perhaps, ‘leave in my charge the work,’ c. (very doubtful passage).13. ‘present’: or, ‘bribe.’14. ‘labour’: perhaps=wealth, as the reward of labour: ‘merchandise’: or, ‘gain,’ ‘earnings.’17, ‘in,’ or, ‘through the Lord’: (lit.) ‘with salvation of18. ‘set it in order’: or, ‘established it.

19 I have not, spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness 3 I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me, (as in) a waste: I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.

20 Assemble yourselves, and come; draw near together, ye escaped of the nations; they know not, that carry the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a God that cannot save.