1 Thus says Yahweh to his anointed, to Cyrus:
“I have taken you by the right hand
to subdue nations before you
and strip kings of their armor,
to open the gateways before you
so that they will be closed no more.
2 I will go before you to level the slopes,
I will break the gates of brass
and destroy the iron bars;
3 I will give you treasures hidden in darkness
and riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am Yahweh,
the God of Israel who calls you by your name.
4 For the sake of Jacob my servant,
of Israel my chosen one,
I have called you by your name
and given you your mission
although you do not know me.
5 I am Yahweh, and there is no other;
there is no God besides me.
I armed you when you did not know me,
6 so that, from the rising
to the setting of the sun,
all may know
that there is no one besides me;
I am Yahweh, and there is no other.
7 I form the light and create the dark;
I usher in prosperity and bring calamity.
I, Yahweh, do all this.
8 Let the heavens send righteousness like dew
and the clouds rain it down.
Let the earth open and salvation blossom,
so that justice also may sprout;
I, Yahweh, have created it.
9 Woe to him who argues with his Maker being but a pot among pots. Will the clay say to him who fashions it, “What are you making? You have no skill.”
10 Woe to him who asks a father, “What have you begotten!” or a mother, “To what have you given birth?”
11 Thus says Yahweh, the Holy One, he who fashions Israel: Is it for you to question me about my children, or decide the work of my hands for me?
12 I am He who made the earth and created humankind upon it.
I am He who stretched out the heavens with my own hands and gave order to their whole array.
13 I have raised Cyrus for the sake of justice. I will direct his ways and make him rebuild my city. He will send my exiles home without ransom or indemnity. It is Yahweh Sabaoth who speaks.
14 Thus says Yahweh:
The peasants of Egypt, the traders of Ethiopia and the tall men of Seba will pass near you in chains, and bow down facing you. In worship they will say,
“Surely God is with you. There is no one else, there is no other god.”
15 Truly you are the God who remains hidden, the God of Israel, the Savior.
16 All idol makers will be put to shame, they will go away humiliated.
17 But Israel will be saved by Yahweh – delivered with an ever -lasting salvation. You will never be put to disgrace for everlasting ages.
18 Yes, this is what Yahweh says,
he who created the heavens,
– for he is God,
who formed and shaped the earth,
– for he himself set it:
“I did not let confusion in it,
I wanted people to live there instead”
– for I am Yahweh and there is no other.
19 I have not spoken in secret,
from a dark place of the earth;
I have not said to the race of Jacob:
“Seek me, but all will be confused,”
– for I Yahweh tell the truth and I speak openly –
Every knee will bend
20 Come, gather together, and try to understand,
survivors from among the nations:
They are but fools they who follow idols of wood
and pray to gods that cannot move –
21 Let them present their arguments
take counsel together and tell me:
Who announced this from the beginning,
who foretold it in the distant past?
Is it not me Yahweh?
There is no other God besides me,
a Savior, a God of justice, there is no other one but me.
22 Turn to me and be saved,
all you from the ends of the earth,
for I am God and there is no other.
23 By my own self I swear it,
and what comes from my mouth is truth,
a word I say will not be revoked.
Before me every knee will bend,
by me every tongue will swear,
24 saying,
“In Yahweh alone are righteousness and strength.”
All who have raged against him will come to him in shame.
25 But through Yahweh there will be victory and glory
to the people of Israel.
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Comments Isaiah, Chapter 45
• 45.1 A new message of the Lord to Cyrus, the conqueror, similar to the one in 41:25.
There is here something unique in the Bible: this pagan king is called the anointed one of Yahweh, like the sons of David, and including Christ the “Anointed of God.” Incredible thing for the Jews who were accustomed to thinking of Yahweh as only their God! History tells us that Cyrus was a “father” to his people, and the Bi ble will remember that his first deed, after the capture of Babylon, was to restore freedom to all those living there in exile (see Ezra 1:1).
Here, however, the prophet gives praise only to God who infallibly orients our history and will never let his promises fail.
• 8. Here, we have a magnificent expression of the work of God, the savior. As we said in reference to Isaiah11:1, we must not see the salvation coming from God as opposed to or distinct from that which people can achieve. Rather, God’s work and human cooperation are joined in this unique endeavor of bringing us to the end of our labors.
Justice is total uprightness. We might express it briefly: a life according to truth and love. Such justice must come from God, the only one who can create a new Man. In fact, it will come in the person of Christ, the Just One (Jn 16:10), the one who is born among us as the first shoot of a renewed humanity. Christ will not break into the world, coming down in glory from heaven, but rather, will be the blossom of our earth, being born a Jew to the Jews, true man, born of a virgin mother. Christ alone will not accomplish the work of our salvation for it must be realized in the course of history: Justice and Salvation will be the fruits of humanity made fertile by divine mercy.
Salvation here means total human liberation.
This text is complemented by Psalm 85 where another image is used: two hands are joined, one coming down from heaven and another lifted up from the earth, to achieve the permanent covenant of God and his people in Love and Faithfulness (see Jn 1:17).
• 9. The same themes are continued with different expressions.
45:9-13: the Lord, free Creator of all, is also in charge of history. Let us note in Jeremiah 18:1 that the comparison of the potter and his clay is developed with a very different meaning.
• 14. The prophet looks upon the powerful of yes terday, now conquered by Cyrus. The conquered Egyptians and Ethiopians go back to Palestine in chains along the same road on which they had proudly trod. As they go by Jerusalem, they see it glorious and filled with God’s favors, and falling on their knees facing Jerusalem, they beg God to save them too.
The liberation of Israel is God’s way of revealing himself to the world; they will recognize Yahweh by the way he restored a dead people. They will come to adore the Lord of the Universe “hidden” in a people without countenance.
The same thing may be seen in the Church when it is scorned. One day those who mocked it discover God there. Some day, people will see that the Church kept the fire of God in the world.