1“Keep silence before Me, you islands, and let the people renew their strength; let them come forward and let them speak; let us come together for judgment. 2Who has raised up the righteous man (Cyrus) from the east, called him to His service? He hands the nations over to him, and causes him to rule over kings. He reduces armies to dust with his sword, and to wind-driven stubble to his bow. 3He pursues them, and moves unscathed, by a path that he has traveled before. 4Who has brought this about, calling forth generations from the beginning? It is I, the LORD, from the beginning to the end; I am He.” 5The islands have seen it, and feared; the ends of the earth trembled with fear, drew near, and came. 6They encouraged one another (with their idols), saying, “Be of good courage.” 7So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smooths with the hammer him that hits the anvil, saying, “It is ready for the soldering”; and he fastened it with nails, so that the idol will not topple over. Cyrus is mentioned in four chapters of the book of Isaiah: 41, 44, 45 and 48. Chapter 41 verses 2,3 & 25 of refer to Cyrus, not by name, but as “ruler over kings” (v2). But later, these verses - 44:28, 45:1, 45:13, and 48:14 – explicitly identify Cyrus by name, and he is referred to by several personal the pronouns in these chapters. Cyrus was born about 600 BC; and then, around 550 BC, as head of one semi-nomadic tribe, he consolidated several of them into what became the Persian Empire, which Cyrus ruled for 30 years until his death in 530 BC. Then, after the brief reigns of 2 intervening kings, Darius, who was also used for God’s benign purposes (Ezra 6:12-15, Dan.6:1-28), reigned about for thirty years from 559 BC until his death about 530 BC. It is worth noting that the book of Isaiah was written between 700 BC and 681 BC; 80 or more years before the birth of Cyrus; and 130 years before the birth of the Persian Empire in 550 BC, which remained a “world super power” until being overrun by Alexander the Great in 330 BC. 8“But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, descendants of Abraham, My friend. 9You, whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and have chosen from its best men, and said to you, ‘You are My servant; I have chosen you, and will not abandon you.’ 10So do not fear; for I am with you. Be not dismayed; for I am Your God; I will strengthen you; yes, I will help you; I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness. 11All they who rage against you shall be ashamed and confounded; they shall be as nothing, and they that oppose you shall perish. 12You shall search for them, and not find them, even those that waged war with you shall come to nothing. 13For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Fear not; I will help you. 14Fear not, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel; I will help you.’” Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. 15“I will make you into a new sharp threshing instrument with many teeth; you shall thresh the mountains, and crush them small, and reduce the hills to chaff. 16You shall thresh them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them; and you shall rejoice in the LORD, and shall glory in the Holy One of Israel. 17When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongues are parched for thirst, I, the LORD, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. 18I will open rivers in barren heights, and springs in the valleys; I will turn the desert into a pool of water, and the dry land into springs of water. 19I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia {shittah}, the myrtle, and the olive tree; I will set in the desert the junipers, pines, and the box tree together, 20So that people may see, know, consider, and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.” 21“Present your case”, says the LORD; “Bring forth your best reasons”, says the King of Jacob. 22“Let them bring them forward, and tell us what shall happen; tell us what you have predicted in the past that then came to pass, that we may consider your evidence, and know the final outcome; or else declare now the things that are to come. 23Tell us what is to come hereafter, that we may know that you are indeed gods; do something, good or bad, that will impress or awe us. 24But you (idols) are less than nothing, and can do nothing; anyone who chooses you is an abomination. 25I have raised up one (Cyrus, a conqueror) from the north, and he shall come; from the rising sun he shall call upon My name; and he shall tread upon princes as upon mortar, like a potter treads clay. 26Who predicted this from the beginning, that we may know? Stated beforehand, that we may say, ‘He was right!’? No one declared it; indeed, no one predicted it, certainly, no one heard it from you! 27I was the first to tell Zion, ‘Behold, help is on the way’; and I will give to Jerusalem a messenger of good news. 28For I looked, and there was no one – no one among the gods to give good advice, none that could answer a word, when I asked of them. 29Look, they are all false vanity; their works are nothing; their melted and cast images are wind and confusion.”
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