2. Post-Exile: The Blessing & Judgment Cycles ( 40:1 - 66:24 ) - 701-681 B.C., Israel

(These 8 groups of prophecies alternate between blessings on Israel and judgment on God's enemies.)

A. Cycle 1 (40:1 - 48:22)

1. Blessing: On God's Chastised People (40:1 - 45:25)

f. Blessing for God's People Begun by Cyrus, Completed by the LORD (45:1-25)

¹ Thus 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 [swinging-gates];
and the gates shall not be shut;
² I will go before thee,
and make the crooked places straight [and crooked places I shall straighten]:
I will break in pieces the gates of brass,
and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
³ And 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.
⁴ For 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.
⁵ I am the LORD,
and there is none else,
there is no God beside me:
I girded thee,
though thou hast not known me:
⁶ That 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.
⁷ I form the light,
and create darkness:
I make peace,
and create evil:
I the LORD do all these things.

⁸ Drop 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.
⁹ Woe 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?
¹⁰ Woe unto him that saith unto his father,
What begettest thou?
or to the woman,
What hast thou bought forth?

¹¹ Thus 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.
¹² I 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.
¹³ I 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.

¹⁴ Thus 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.

¹⁵ Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself,
O God of Israel,
the Saviour.
¹⁶ They shall be ashamed,
and also confounded,
all of them:
they shall go to confusion together
that are makers of idols.
¹⁷ But Israel shall be saved in the LORD
with an everlasting salvation:
ye shall not be ashamed
nor confounded
world without end [unto perpetual duration].

¹⁸ For 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.
¹⁹ I 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.

²⁰ Assemble yourselves and come;
draw near together,
ye that are escaped of the nations:
they have no knowledge
that set up [this] the wood of their graven image,
and pray unto a god that cannot save.
²¹ Tell 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.

²² Look unto me,
and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth:
for I am God,
and there is none else.
²³ I 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.

²⁴ Surely, 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.
²⁵ In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified,
and shall glory.