God calls Cyrus for his church's sake, 1-4. By his omnipotence he challenges obedience, 5-19. He convinces the idols of vanity by his saving power, 20-25.
1 Thus says the LORD to his anointed,/
to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held/
to subdue nations before him,/
and I will ungird the loins of kings,/
to open before him the two-leaved gates,/
and the gates shall not be shut:
2 "I will go before you/
and make the crooked places straight./
I will break in pieces the gates of brass/
and cut apart the bars of iron.
3 And I will give you the treasures of darkness/
and hidden riches of secret places/
so that you may know that I, the LORD,/
who call you by your name, am the God of Israel.
4 For Jacob my servant's sake/
and Israel my elect,/
I have even called you by your name./
I have surnamed you, though you have not known me.
5 I am the LORD, and there is no one else./
There is no God besides me./
I girded you, though you have not known me,
6 So that they may know/
from the rising of the sun and from the west,/
that there is no one besides me./
I am the LORD, and there is no one else.
7 I form the light and create darkness./
I make peace and create evil./
I, the LORD, do all these things.
8 Drop down, you 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.
9 Woe to him who contends with his Maker!/
Let the potsherd contend with the potsherds of the earth./
Shall the clay say to him who fashions it,/
'What are you making?'/
Or shall your work say,/
'He has no hands'?
10 Woe to him who says to his father,/
'What are you begetting?'/
or to the woman,/
'What have you brought forth?'"
11 Thus says the LORD,/
the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker:/
"You ask me of things to come concerning my sons,/
and you command me concerning the work of my hands.
12 I have made the earth,/
and created man upon it./
I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens,/
and all their host I have commanded.
13 I have raised him up in righteousness/
and I will direct all his ways/
He shall build my city/
and let my captives go,/
not for price nor reward,"/
says the LORD of hosts.
14 Thus says the LORD:/
"The labor of Egypt, and merchandise of Cush/
and of the Sabeans, men of stature,/
shall come over to you,/
and they shall be yours./
They shall come after you./
In chains they shall come over,/
and they shall fall down to you./
They shall make supplication to you, saying,/
'Surely God is in you, and there is no one else,/
there is no other God.'"
15 Truly you are a God who hides yourself,/
O God of Israel, the Savior.
16 They shall be ashamed and also confounded, all of them./
They shall go in disgrace together who are makers of idols.
17 But Israel shall be saved in the LORD/
with an everlasting salvation./
You shall not be ashamed nor confounded/
to a world without end.
18 For thus says the LORD who created the heavens/
(God himself/
who formed the earth and made it,/
who has established it,/
who did not create it in vain,/
who formed it to be inhabited):/
"I am the LORD, and there is no one else.
19 I have not spoken in secret,/
in a dark place of the earth./
I have not said to the offspring of Jacob,/
'Seek me in vain.'/
I, the LORD, speak righteousness./
I declare things that are right.
20 Assemble yourselves and come./
Draw near together,/
you who have escaped of the nations./
They have no knowledge/
who set up the wood of their engraved image/
and pray to a god that cannot save.
21 Announce, and bring them near,/
even let them take counsel together./
Who has declared this from ancient time?/
Who has told it from that time?/
Have I, the LORD, not?/
And there is no other God besides me,/
a just God and a Savior./
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 no one else.
23 I have sworn by myself,/
the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness/
and shall not return,/
that to me every knee shall bow,/
every tongue shall swear.
24 Surely, one shall say,/
'In the LORD I have righteousness and strength.'/
Even to him men shall come./
And all who are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
25 In the LORD all the offspring of Israel/
shall be justified and shall glory."
Matthew Henry Commentary - Isaiah, Chapter 45[➚]
[v.1] - "ungird" - Literally, open. From the Jamieson-Faucet-Brown Commentary: "The girdle off the loins; and so enfeeble them. The loose outer robe of the Orientals, when girt fast round the loins, was the emblem of strength and preparedness for action; ungirt, was indicative of feebleness (Job 38:3, 12:21)."
[v.2] - "and make the crooked places straight" - LXX: "and will level maountains"
[v.9] - Reference, Romans 9:20.
[v.23] - Quoted in Romans 14:11; Philippians 2:10-11.