Yahweh chose Cyrus to free the Israelis
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1 Cyrus is the one whom Yahweh has appointed to be the emperor of Persia
and to whom he will give great power [IDI];
Yahweh will enable him to defeat other nations
and to take away the power of their kings.
He will cause gates of cities to be opened,
and no one will ever be able to shut them.
2 This is what Yahweh says to him:
“Cyrus, I will go ahead of you
and level the mountains.
I will smash down bronze gates
and cut through iron bars.
3 I will give you treasures that people have hidden in dark secret places [DOU].
I will do that in order that you will know that I am Yahweh,
the God to whom the Israelis belong,
the God who calls you by your name.
4 I have summoned you, calling out your name,
for the sake of the people of Israel [DOU] whom I have chosen, who serve me.
Even though you do not know me,
I will give you a title which has great honor.
5 I am Yahweh, and there is no other God [DOU].
Even though you do not know me,
I will give you power
6 in order that everyone in the world, from the east to the west, will know that there is no other God.
I am Yahweh, and there is no other God.
7 I created the light and the darkness.
I cause there to be peace and I cause there to be disasters.
I, Yahweh, do all those things.”
8 And Yahweh also says, “I want my rescue of my people [MET] to fall from the sky like rain.
Just like the earth opens wide to accept rain,
I will rescue/save my people and cause them to be treated justly.
I, Yahweh, am the one who will cause both of those things to happen.
9 Terrible things will happen to those who argue with me, the one who created them.
They are like [MET] a clay pot and I am like the one who made it;
so they certainly cannot [RHQ] criticize me.
A lump of clay certainly cannot [RHQ] argue with the one who shapes it to form a pot, saying,
‘Why are you making me like this?’
The pot cannot say ‘You have no skill, because what you made has no handles!’
10 And it would be terrible if an unborn baby would say to its father,
‘Why are you [RHQ] causing me to be born?’
or if it said to its mother,
‘The result of your labor pains will be useless?’ ”
11 Yahweh, the Holy One of the Israeli people, the one who created Israel, says this to them:
“◄Why do you ask questions about what I do for you, my children?/You should not ask questions about what I do for you, my children.► [RHQ]
◄Why do you tell me about the work that I should do?/You should not tell me about the work that I should do.► [RHQ]
12 I am the one who created the earth
and created people to live on it.
I stretched out the sky with my hands,
and I put the stars in their places.
13 And I will appoint Cyrus to do things that are right/just,
and I will enable him to do all those things easily [MET].
His workers will rebuild my city,
and he will free my people who have been ◄exiled/forced to leave their country►.
And he will do it without my rewarding/paying him!
Those things will surely happen because I, the Almighty Commander of the armies of angels, have said it.”
14 And this is also what I, Yahweh, say to you, my people:
“You will rule the people of Egypt and Ethiopia,
and the tall people of Seba in Arabia will become your slaves.
They will come to you bringing all the things that they sell,
and it will all be yours.
They will have chains on their arms as they follow you.
They will prostrate themselves in front of you and say,
‘God is with/helping you
and he is the only God;
there is no other God.’ ”
15 God, although we cannot see you,
you are the one to whom we Israeli people belong, the one who saves us.
16 All those who make idols will be humiliated.
They will all be disgraced together.
17 But you, Yahweh, will rescue us, your Israeli people,
and we will be free forever.
Never again, during all the future, will we again be humiliated and disgraced.
18 Yahweh is God;
he is the one who created the sky
and created and formed the earth.
He did not want it to remain with nothing living on it;
he wanted people to live on it.
He says, “I am Yahweh;
there is no other God.
19 What I proclaimed, I did not speak secretly
or hide what I was saying by speaking in a dark place.
When I spoke to the descendants of Jacob,
I did not tell them
‘It will be useless for you to ◄seek for/pray to► me!’
I, Yahweh, speak only what is true and what is right.
20 You people who are still alive after experiencing great disasters,
should come and gather together and listen to this:
The people who carry around their wooden idols
and pray to them are foolish, because those idols cannot rescue them!
21 Talk among yourselves, and decide what you will say to prove that your praying to idols is good.
And when you do that, I will ask you,
‘Who predicted long ago what has now happened?
Did any idol tell you that those things would happen [RHQ]?’
No, it was [RHQ] only I, Yahweh, who told you,
because I am the only God; there is no other God.
I am a God who acts righteously and saves people;
there is no other one who does these things.
22 Everyone in the world should ask me to save them,
because I am the only God who can do that;
there is no other one.
23 I have solemnly declared, using my own name;
I [SYN] have spoken what is true,
and I will never change what I have said:
Some day, everyone [SYN] will bow in front of me,
and they will all solemnly promise to be loyal to me.
24 They will declare,
‘Yahweh is the one who enables us to live righteously and to be strong.’ ”
And all those who have been angry at him will come to him,
and they will be ashamed for having been angry with him.
25 Yahweh is the only one who will enable us Israeli people in all future times to defeat our enemies,
and then we will boast about what he has done for us.