Cyrus, God’s Instrument
1 Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,
whose right hand I have grasped,
to subdue nations before him
and to loose the belts of kings,
to open doors before him
that gates may not be closed:
2 “I will go before you
and qlevel the exalted places,1
I will rbreak in pieces the doors of bronze
and cut through the bars of iron,
3 I will give you the treasures of darkness
and the hoards in secret places,
that you may know that it is I, the Lord,
the God of Israel, who call you by your name.
4 For the sake of my servant Jacob,
and Israel my schosen,
I call you by your name,
I name you, though you do not know me.
5 I am the Lord, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
6 that people may know, tfrom the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
7 I form light and create darkness;
I make well-being and create calamity;
I am the Lord, who does all these things.
18 For thus says the Lord,
gwho created the heavens
(he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
(he established it;
he did not create it empty,
he formed it to be inhabited!):
“I am the Lord, and there is no other.
19 hI did not speak in secret,
in a land of darkness;
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
‘Seek me in vain.’1
I the Lord speak the truth;
I declare what is right.
20 “Assemble yourselves and come;
draw near together,
you survivors of the nations!
They have no knowledge
who icarry about their wooden idols,
and keep on jpraying to a god
that cannot save.
21 Declare and present your case;
let them take counsel together!
Who ktold this long ago?
Who declared it of old?
Was it not I, the Lord?
And there is no other god besides me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
there is none besides me.
22 “Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
23 lBy myself I have sworn;
mfrom my mouth has gone out in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
‘To me nevery knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance.’2
24 “Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me,
are righteousness and strength;
to him shall come and be ashamed
oall who were incensed against him.
25 In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
shall be justified and shall glory.”
5 aHave this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,1 6 bwho, cthough dhe was in the form of God, edid not count fequality with God a thing to be grasped,2 7 but gemptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,3 hbeing born iin the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he jhumbled himself by becoming kobedient to the point of death, leven death on a cross. 9 mTherefore God has highly nexalted him and bestowed on him the name that is oabove every name, 10 so that at the pname of Jesus qevery knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue rconfess that sJesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
