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The Prophets · Old Testament

Isaiah 45

Isaiah 45: Cyrus called by name and the God who says there is none else

General context

The chapter opens with the Lord addressing Cyrus as his anointed, saying he holds his right hand, will subdue nations before him, go before him and break gates of brass. The stated purpose is that Cyrus may know the God of Israel calls him by name, and that this is done for Jacob's sake, though Cyrus has not known him. The Lord declares that there is none else, that he forms light and creates darkness, makes peace and creates evil. The heavens are told to drop down righteousness. A woe falls on anyone who strives with his Maker, pictured as clay questioning the potter or a child questioning its parents. The Lord says he has raised him up in righteousness and that he will build his city and let go his captives without price. Egypt, Ethiopia and the Sabeans are pictured coming over in chains and confessing that God is in thee and there is none else. A voice says God hides himself. Makers of idols will be ashamed, but Israel will be saved with an everlasting salvation. The Lord who formed the earth to be inhabited says he has not spoken in secret, summons the escaped of the nations, asks who declared this from ancient time, and invites all the ends of the earth to look to him and be saved. He swears by himself that every knee shall bow, and the chapter ends with all the seed of Israel justified in the Lord.

Cited passages: Isaiah 45:1, Isaiah 45:2, Isaiah 45:3, Isaiah 45:4, Isaiah 45:5, Isaiah 45:7, Isaiah 45:8, Isaiah 45:9, Isaiah 45:10, Isaiah 45:13, Isaiah 45:14, Isaiah 45:15, Isaiah 45:16, Isaiah 45:17, Isaiah 45:18, Isaiah 45:19, Isaiah 45:20, Isaiah 45:21, Isaiah 45:22, Isaiah 45:23, Isaiah 45:25

Isaiah 45 (KJV)

1Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;

2I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:

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

4For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.

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

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

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

8Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have created it.

9Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?

10Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?

11Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.

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

13I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the Lord of hosts.

14Thus saith the Lord, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God.

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

16They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.

17But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.

18For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the Lord; and there is none else.

19I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.

20Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.

21Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the Lord? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.

22Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.

23I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

24Surely, shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.

25In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

Cyrus is the one person named in the chapter, and the address to him continues the previous chapter's closing line, where the Lord calls Cyrus his shepherd and says Jerusalem shall be built. Here the text calls him the Lord's anointed and twice says he has not known the Lord. The chapter gives no account of who Cyrus is, where he rules or when this happens; it states only what the Lord says he will do through him. Verse 13 speaks of an unnamed him who will build my city and let go my captives, and the text does not rename him, though the address to Cyrus stands just before it. Egypt, Ethiopia and the Sabeans are named as peoples who will come over in chains; the thee they bow to is not identified in the verse. The line about a God that hides himself has no marked speaker. Israel is called Jacob my servant and Israel mine elect, so in this chapter the servant is Israel. Later New Testament writers reuse the chapter's words: Romans asks who art thou that repliest against God, echoing the clay's question, and Romans 14 quotes the oath about every knee bowing as it is written.

Cited passages: Isaiah 44:28, Isaiah 45:1, Isaiah 45:4, Isaiah 45:5, Isaiah 45:13, Isaiah 45:14, Isaiah 45:15, Romans 9:20, Isaiah 45:9, Romans 14:11, Isaiah 45:23

Literary context

The chapter is held together by a refrain. The words there is none else return at verses 5, 6, 14, 18 and 22, and verse 21 varies it to there is no God else beside me, each time attached to a different scene: the girding of Cyrus, the knowledge of east and west, the confession of the nations, the creation of the earth, the challenge to the idol worshippers, and the invitation to the ends of the earth. The movement runs from one man called by name to all the ends of the earth called to look. Two contrasts shape the middle. Cyrus receives hidden riches of secret places, but the Lord insists he has not spoken in secret. The clay is forbidden to question the potter, yet the Lord invites his people to ask him of things to come and to command him concerning the work of his hands. The chapter also pairs opposites in the Lord's own mouth, light and darkness, peace and evil, and it ends by setting two futures side by side: those incensed against him ashamed, and all the seed of Israel justified. The next chapter picks up the same refrain when Bel and Nebo fall.

Cited passages: Isaiah 45:5, Isaiah 45:6, Isaiah 45:14, Isaiah 45:18, Isaiah 45:21, Isaiah 45:22, Isaiah 45:3, Isaiah 45:19, Isaiah 45:9, Isaiah 45:11, Isaiah 45:7, Isaiah 45:24, Isaiah 45:25, Isaiah 46:9

Key moments

  1. Cyrus addressed as anointed (Isaiah 45:1). The Lord speaks to Cyrus by name, saying he holds his right hand to subdue nations.
  2. Light and darkness both made (Isaiah 45:7). The Lord says he forms light, creates darkness, makes peace and creates evil.
  3. Clay questions the potter (Isaiah 45:9). A woe is pronounced on anyone who strives with his Maker, like clay asking what the potter is making.
  4. Captives let go without price (Isaiah 45:13). The Lord says the one he raised up will build his city and release his captives for no reward.
  5. A God that hides himself (Isaiah 45:15). A voice addresses the God of Israel as a God who hides himself and is the Saviour.
  6. All the ends of the earth invited (Isaiah 45:22). The Lord calls all the ends of the earth to look to him and be saved.
  7. Every knee shall bow (Isaiah 45:23). The Lord swears by himself that every knee shall bow and every tongue swear to him.

For reflection

The Lord says twice that he girded and named Cyrus though thou hast not known me. What would it mean for a person's work to serve a purpose that person never recognizes, and how would anyone watching tell?

People in this chapter

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