Thus says YAHWEH1 to his anointed,2 to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings; 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 in pieces the doors of bronze, and cut in sunder the bars of iron; 3and I 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 Yaqub my servant’s sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called you by your name: I have surnamed you, though you have not known me. 5I am YAHWEH, and there is none else; besides me there is no God.3 I will gird you, though you have not known me; 6that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides me: I am YAHWEH, and there is no one else. 7I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil. 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 bring forth salvation, and let it cause righteousness to spring up together; I, YAHWEH, have created it.
9Woe to him who strives with his Maker–a potsherd among the potsherds 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 begotten?” or to a woman, “What have you brought forth?”
11Thus says YAHWEH, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: “Ask me of the things that are to come; concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands, command me. 12I have made the earth, and created man on 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 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 All-Powerful.
14Thus says YAHWEH: “The labour of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you, and they shall be yours. They shall go after you. In chains they shall come over; and they shall fall down to you. They shall make supplication to you: ‘Surely God is with you; and there is none else, there is no other god. 15Most assuredly you are a God who hid yourself, God of Israel, the Saviour.'”
16They shall be disappointed, yes, confounded, all of them; they shall go into confusion together who are makers of idols. 17But Israel shall be saved by YAHWEH with an everlasting salvation: you shall not be disappointed nor confounded world without end.
18For thus says YAHWEH who created the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, who established it and did not create it a waste, who formed it to be inhabited: “I am YAHWEH; and there is no one else. 19I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness; I did not say to the seed of Yaqub, ‘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: they have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image, and pray to a god that cannot save. 21Declare, and bring it forth; yes, let them take counsel together: who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it from of old? Have not I, YAHWEH? There is no other God besides me, a just God and a Saviour; 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 none else. 23By myself have I sworn, the Word is gone forth from my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear.4 24‘Only in YAHWEH,’ it is said of me, ‘is righteousness and strength.'” Even to him shall men come; and all those who were incensed against him shall be disappointed. 25In YAHWEH shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.
- 45:1 YAHWEH, the name God revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15 – God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.” ↩︎
- 45:1 anointed – In ancient times, divinely-appointed kings, priests and prophets were anointed with oil at their installation ceremony. King Cyrus of Persia was chosen by God to re-establish Bani-Israel in Al-Quds and the Holy Land. This prophecy was fulfilled when Cyrus declared an edict allowing Bani-Israel to return home to Jerusalem and rebuild the Holy Temple of King Sulayman (see Taurat, Uzair 1). This prophecy also points ahead to God’s ultimate Anointed One, the Messiah, AL-MASIH. There have been many anointed ones or Masihs, but only one AL-MASIH. Al-Kitab unanimously points to ‘ISA Ibn Maryam as the only person worthy to bear the title AL-MASIH. He is the one whom God sent into this world to save people from sin, and to usher in God’s Kingdom at his Second Coming. ↩︎
- 45:5 God, English translation of elohim. Elohim (Hebrew) is related to allah (Arabic) and alaha (Syriac), all of which translate as “God,” and refer to the one true God. ↩︎
- 45:23 Cited in the Injil, Romans 14:10-12, which says, “But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of AL-MASIH. For it is written, ‘As I live,’ says the LORD, ‘to me every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess to GOD.‘ So then each one of us will give account of himself to God. ↩︎