God Chooses Cyrus to Make Israel Free

45 These are the things the Lord says about Cyrus,* his chosen king:* “I will hold Cyrus’s right hand. I will help him take power away from kings. City gates will not stop Cyrus. I will open the city gates, and Cyrus will go in.” ²“{Cyrus, your armies will march,} and I will go in front of you. I will make the mountains flat. I will break the city gates of bronze. I will cut the iron bars on the gates. ³I will give you the wealth that is saved in darkness. I will give you those hidden riches. I will do this so that you will know that I am the Lord. I am the God of Israel, and I am calling you by name! ⁴I do these things for my servant, Jacob. I do these things for my chosen people, Israel. {Cyrus,} I am calling you by name. You don’t know me, but I am calling you by name. ⁵I am the Lord! I am the only God. There is no other God. I put your clothes on you,* but still you don’t know me. ⁶I do these things so all people will know that I am the only God. From the east to the west people will know that I am the Lord, and there is no other God. ⁷I made the light, and I made darkness. I make peace, and I make troubles. I am the Lord—and I do all these things. ⁸“May the clouds in the skies above drop goodness on the earth like rain! May the earth open and let salvation grow! And may goodness grow with it! I, the Lord, made him.*

God Controls His Creation

⁹“Look at these people! They are arguing with the One who made them. Look at them argue with me! They are like pieces of clay from a broken pot. A man uses soft, wet clay to make a pot. And the clay does not ask, ‘Man, what are you doing?’ Things that are made don’t have the power to question the one who makes them. {People are like this clay.} ¹⁰A father gives life to his children. And the children can’t ask, ‘Why are you giving me life?’ The children can’t question their mother and ask, ‘Why are you giving birth to me?’” ¹¹The Lord God is the Holy One of Israel. He made Israel. And the Lord says, “My sons, you asked me to show you a sign. You told me to show you the things I have done.* ¹²{So, look}! I made the earth. And I made all the people living on it. I used my own hands and made the skies. And I command all the armies in the sky.* ¹³I gave Cyrus his power so he would do good things.* And I will make his work easy. Cyrus will build my city again. And he will make my people free. Cyrus will not sell my people to me. I will not have to pay him to do these things. The people will be freed, and the cost to me will be nothing.” The Lord, All-Powerful, said these things. ¹⁴The Lord says, “Egypt and Ethiopia are rich, but Israel, you will get those riches. The tall people from Seba will be yours. They will walk behind you with chains around their necks. They will bow down before you. And they will pray to you.” {Israel}, God is with you. And there is no other God. ¹⁵God, you are the God people can’t see. You are the Savior of Israel. ¹⁶Many people make false gods. But those people will be disappointed. All of those people will go away ashamed. ¹⁷But Israel will be saved by the Lord. That salvation will continue forever. Never, never again will Israel be shamed. ¹⁸The Lord is God. He made the skies and the earth. The Lord put the earth in its place. The Lord did not want the earth to be empty when he made it. He created it to be lived on! “I am the Lord. There is no other God. ¹⁹I did not speak in secret. I have spoken freely. I did not hide my words in a dark place of the world. I did not tell the people of Jacob to look for me in empty places. I am the Lord, and I speak the truth. I say things that are true.”

The Lord Proves He Is the Only God

²⁰“You people have escaped from other nations. So gather together and come before me. (These people carry statues of false gods. These people pray to those useless gods. But the people don’t know what they are doing. ²¹Tell these people to come to me. Let them present their case and discuss these things.) “Who told you about the things that happened a long time ago? Who has continued to tell you these things since long, long ago? I, the Lord, am the One who said these things. I am the only God. Is there another God like me? Is there another good God? Is there another God who saves his people? No! There is no other God! ²²All you people in faraway places should {stop following those false gods}. You should follow me and be saved. I am God. There is no other God. I am the only God. ²³“I make this promise by my own power. And when I make a promise, that promise is true. The thing I promise will happen! And I promise that every person will bow before me (God). And every person will promise {to follow me}. ²⁴People will say, ‘Goodness and power come only from the Lord.’” Some people are angry at the Lord. But the Lord’s witnesses will come {and tell about the things the Lord has done}. So those angry people will be ashamed. ²⁵The Lord will help the people of Israel do good, and the people will be very proud of their God.

chosen king Literally, “messiah, the anointed one.” I put … you This also means “I made you strong.” him This probably means Cyrus. Cyrus was a king of Persia. Cyrus lived about 150 years after Isaiah died. My sons … I have done Or possibly, “Those who are coming asked me for my children. They commanded me {to give them} those people that I made with my own hands.” armies in the sky Sometimes this means the angels, and sometimes it means the stars. I gave … things This might also mean “I did what was right when I woke him.”

False Gods Are Useless

46 Bel* and Nebo,* will bow down before me. {Those false gods are only statues.} Men put those statues on the backs of animals—those statues are only heavy burdens that must be carried. The false gods do nothing but make people tired. ²Those false gods will all bow down—they will all fall. Those false gods can’t escape—they will all be carried away like prisoners. ³“Family of Jacob, listen to me! All you people from Israel that are still alive, listen! I have been carrying you. I have carried you since the time you were in your mother’s body. ⁴I carried you when you were born, and I will carry you when you become old. Your hair will become gray, and I will still carry you, because I made you. I will continue to carry you and I will save you. ⁵“Can you compare me to anyone? No! No person is equal to me. You can’t understand everything about me. There is nothing like me. ⁶Some people are rich with gold and silver. Gold falls from their purses, and they weigh their silver on scales. Those people pay an artist to make a false god from wood. Then those people bow down and worship that false god. ⁷Those people put their false god on their shoulders and carry it. That false god is useless—people have to carry it! People set the statue on the ground; and that false god can’t move. That false god never walks away from its place. People can yell at it, but it will not answer. That false god is only a statue—it can’t save people from their troubles. ⁸“You people have sinned. You should think about these things again. Remember these things and be strong. ⁹Remember the things that happened long ago. Remember that I am God. There is no other God. Those false gods are not like me. ¹⁰“In the beginning, I told you about the things that will happen in the end. A long time ago, I told you things that had not yet happened. When I plan something—that thing happens. I do the things I want to do. ¹¹And I am calling a man from the east. That man will be like an eagle. He will come from a faraway country, and he will do the things I decide to do. I am telling you that I will do this, and I will do it. I made him, and I will bring him! ¹²“Some of you think that you have great power—but you don’t do good things. Listen to me! ¹³I will do good things! Soon, I will save {my people}. I will bring salvation to Zion and to my wonderful Israel.”

Bel A false god of Babylon. Nebo A false god of Babylon.

God’s Message to Babylon

47 “Fall down in the dirt and sit there! Virgin daughter of the Chaldeans,* sit on the ground! You are not the ruler now! People will not think that you are a tender, delicate young lady anymore. ²{Now you must work very hard.} You must get the mill stones and grind the grain to make flour. Remove your veil and take off your fancy dresses. {You must leave your country.} Lift your skirts until men can see your legs, and cross the rivers.* ³Men will see your private parts and use you for sex. I will make you pay for the bad things you did. And no man will come to help you. ⁴“{My people say,} ‘God saves us. His name is: The Lord All-Powerful, The Holy One of Israel.’” ⁵“So Babylon, sit there and be quiet. Daughter of the Chaldeans,* go into the darkness. Why? Because you will no longer be ‘The Queen of the Kingdoms.’ ⁶“I was angry at my people. Those people belong to me, but I was angry, so I made them not important. I gave them to you, and you punished them. But you showed no mercy to them. You made even the old people work hard. ⁷You said, ‘I will live forever. I will always be The Queen.’ You didn’t even notice the bad things you did to those people. You didn’t think about what would happen. ⁸So now, ‘nice lady’ listen to me! You feel safe and you tell yourself, ‘I am the only important person. No one else is important like me. I will never be a widow. I will always have children.’ ⁹These two things will happen to you: First, you will lose your children. And then you will lose your husband. Yes, these things will really happen to you. And all of your magic and all of your powerful tricks will not save you. ¹⁰You do bad things, but still you feel safe. You think to yourself, ‘No one sees the wrong things I do.’ You think that your wisdom and knowledge will save you. You think to yourself, ‘I am the only one. No one is important like me.’ ¹¹“But troubles will come to you. You don’t know when it will happen, but disaster is coming. You will not be able to do anything to stop those troubles. You will be destroyed so quickly that you won’t know what happened! ¹²You worked hard all your life learning tricks and magic. So, start using your tricks and magic! Maybe those tricks will help you. Maybe you will be able to scare someone. ¹³You have many, many advisers. Are you tired of the advice they give? Then send out your men that read the stars. They are able to tell when the month starts. So maybe they can tell you when your troubles will come. ¹⁴“But those men will not even be able to save themselves. They will burn like straw. They will burn so fast that there will be no coals left to cook bread with. There will be no fire left to sit by. ¹⁵That will happen to everything that you worked so hard for. The people you did business with all your life will leave you. Every person will go his own way. And there will be no one left to save you.”

daughter of the Chaldeans This is another name for the city Babylon. rivers The Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Babylon was between these two rivers.