1 Thus saith the LORD to his Messiah, to Cyrus, whom I have taken by his right hand to subdue Gentiles before him and to loose the loins of kings. To open before him the two-leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut: 2 I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut in sunder the bars of iron: 3 And I will give thee the hidden treasures and the well-guarded secrets that thou may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who gives thee thy name. 4 For Jacob my slave’s sake and Israel my 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 no one else; there is no God beside me; I shall gird thee, though thou hast not known me 6 that it may be known from the rising of the sun and from where it goes down that there is no one beside 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 am the LORD that does all this.
8 Release, ye heavens, from above, and the clouds shall pour down righteous ness; let the earth open up, and let salvation and righteousness bear their fruit; let them produce fruit together; I the LORD have created it.
9 Woe unto him that strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashions it, What doth thou make; thy work has no form? 10 Woe unto him that says unto his father, Why dost thou beget? or to the woman, Why hast thou brought forth?
11 Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come; inquire of me concerning my sons and 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 I have commanded all their host. 13 I have awakened him in righteous ness, and I will make straight all his ways; he shall build my city, and he shall loose my captives, not for price nor for bribes, saith the LORD of the hosts.