Isaiah 45:3

Isaiah 45:3

Cyrus, God’s Instrument

1 “Thus says the Lord to His anointed,
To ^aCyrus, whose ^bright hand I have held—
^cTo subdue nations before him
And ^dloose the armor of kings,
To open before him the double doors,
So that the gates will not be shut:

2 ‘I will go before you
^aAnd¹ make the crooked places straight;
^bI will break in pieces the gates of bronze
And cut the bars of iron.

3 I will give you the treasures of darkness
And hidden riches of secret places,
^aThat you may know that I, the Lord,
Who ^bcall you by your name,
Am the God of Israel.

4 For ^aJacob My servant’s sake,
And Israel My elect,
I have even called you by your name;
I have named you, though you have not known Me.

5 I ^aam the Lord, and ^bthere is no other;
There is no God besides Me.
^cI will gird you, though you have not known Me,

6 ^aThat they may ^bknow from the rising of the sun to its setting
That there is none besides Me.
I am the Lord, and there is no other;

7 I form the light and create darkness,
I make peace and ^acreate calamity;
I, the Lord, do all these things.’

8 “Rain^a down, you heavens, from above,
And let the skies pour down righteousness;
Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation,
And let righteousness spring up together.
I, the Lord, have created it.

9 “Woe to him who strives with ^ahis Maker!
Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth!
^bShall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’?

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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treasures of darkness—that is, hidden in subterranean places; a common Oriental practice. Sorcerers pretended to be able to show where such treasures were to be found; in opposition to their pretensions, God says, He will really give hidden treasures to Cyrus (Jeremiah 50:37; Jeremiah 51:13). PLINY (Natural History,, 33:3) says that Cyrus obtained from the conquest of Asia thirty-four thousand pounds weight of gold, besides golden vases, and five hundred thousand talents of silver, and the goblet of Semiramis, weighing fifteen talents.

that thou mayest know—namely, not merely that He was "the God of Israel," but that He was Jehovah, the true God. Ezra 1:1-2 shows that the correspondence of the event with the prediction had the desired effect on Cyrus.

which call . . . thy name—so long before designate thee by name (Isaiah 43:1).

**Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Isaiah 45:3:**

Isaiah 41:2
Isaiah 43:1
Isaiah 45:1
Isaiah 54:16
Jeremiah 49:10

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Isaiah 45:4 >>

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