1. Thus saith Jehovah to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him--and I will loose the loins of kings; to open before him the two-leaved doors, and the gates shall not be shut:
2. I will go before thee, and make the elevated places plain; I will break in pieces the brazen doors, and cut asunder the bars of iron;
3. and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places; that thou mayest know that I, Jehovah, who call thee by name, am the God of Israel.
4. For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have called thee by thy name; I surnamed thee, though thou didst not know me;
5. I am Jehovah, and there is none else; there is no God beside me: I girded thee, and thou hast not known me;
6. --that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the going down, that there is none beside me. I am Jehovah, and there is none else;
7. forming the light and creating darkness, making peace and creating evil: I, Jehovah, do all these things.
8. Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and with it let righteousness spring up. I, Jehovah, have created it.
9. Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let a potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that formeth it, What makest thou? Or thy work, He hath no hands?
10. Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou? Or to his mother, What hast thou brought forth?
11. Thus saith Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: Ask me of the things to come; concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands, command ye me.
12. It is I that have made the earth, and created man upon it; it is I, my hands, that have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.