Dual Panel1Thus says the LORD to Cyrus his anointed, whom he has taken by the right hand, subduing nations before him and stripping kings of their strength; before whom doors will be opened and no gates barred:
2I myself shall go before you and level the swelling hills; I shall break down bronze gates and cut through iron bars.
3I shall give you treasures from dark vaults, and hoards from secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, Israel's God, who calls you by name.
4For the sake of Jacob my servant and Israel my chosen one I have called you by name and given you a title, though you have not known me.
5I am the LORD, and there is none other; apart from me there is no god. Though you have not known me I shall strengthen you,
6so that from east to west all may know there is none besides me: I am the LORD, and there is none other;
7I make the light, I create the darkness; author alike of wellbeing and woe, I, the LORD, do all these things.
8Rain righteousness, you heavens, let the skies above pour it down, let the earth open for it that salvation may flourish with righteousness growing beside it. I, the LORD, have created this.
9Will the pot contend with the potter, or the earthenware with the hand that shapes it? Will the clay ask the potter what he is making or his handiwork say to him, “You have no skill”?
10Will the child say to his father, “What are you begetting?” or to his mother, “What are you bringing to birth?”
11Thus says the LORD, Israel's Holy One, his Maker: Would you dare question me concerning my children, or instruct me in my handiwork?
12I alone made the earth and created mankind upon it. With my own hands I stretched out the heavens and directed all their host.
13With righteous purpose I have roused this man, and I shall smooth all his paths; he it is who will rebuild my city and set my exiles free -- not for a price nor for a bribe, says the LORD of Hosts.
14These are the words of the LORD: Toilers of Egypt and Nubian merchants and Sabaeans bearing tribute will come into your power and be your slaves, will come and follow you in chains; they will bow in submission before you, and say, “Surely God is with you, and there is no other god.
15How then can you be a God who hides himself, God of Israel, the Deliverer?”
16All the makers of idols are confounded and brought to shame, they perish in confusion together.
17But Israel has been delivered by the LORD, a deliverance for all time to come; they will never be confounded, never put to shame.
18Thus says the LORD, the Creator of the heavens, he who is God, who made the earth and fashioned it and by himself fixed it firmly, who created it not as a formless waste but as a place to be lived in: I am the LORD, and there is none other.
19I did not speak in secret, in realms of darkness; I did not say to Jacob's people, “Look for me in the formless waste.” I the LORD speak what is right, I declare what is just.
20Gather together, come, draw near, you survivors of the nations, who in ignorance carry wooden idols in procession, praying to a god that cannot save.
21Come forward and urge your case, consult together: who foretold this in days of old, who stated it long ago? Was it not I, the LORD? There is no god but me, none other than I, victorious and able to save.
22From every corner of the earth turn to me and be saved; for I am God, there is none other.
23By my life I have sworn, I have given a promise of victory, a promise that will not be broken; to me every knee will bow, by me every tongue will swear,
24saying, “In the LORD alone are victory and might. All who defy him will stand ashamed in his presence,
25but all Israel's descendants will be victorious and will glory in the LORD.”