Jerusalem Restored through Cyrus

• 24 Thus says Yahweh, your redeemer, and he who formed you in[fn] the womb:
• “I am Yahweh, who made everything,
  • who stretched out the heavens alone,
  • who spread out the earth—who was with me?—
  • 25 who frustrates[fn] the signs of oracle priests and makes a fool of diviners,
• who drives the wise men back
  • and makes their knowledge foolish,
  • 26 who keeps[fn] the word of his servant and carries out the plan of his messengers,
• who says of Jerusalem, ‘It shall be inhabited,’
  • and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be rebuilt,
  • and I will restore its ruins’;
  • 27 who says to the deep, ‘Dry up! And I will cause your rivers to dry up’;
  • 28 who says of Cyrus, ‘My shepherd,’ and he shall carry out all my wishes[fn];
• and saying of Jerusalem, ‘It shall be rebuilt,’
  • and the temple, ‘It shall be founded.’ ”
  
  
  • to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped
• to subjugate nations before him,
  • and I uncover[fn] the loins of kings
• to open doors before him,
  • and the gates shall not be shut:
  • 2 “I myself will go before you, and I will level the mountains .[fn]
• I will break the doors of bronze
  • and cut through the bars of iron.
  • 3 And I will give you the treasures of darkness and treasures of secret places
• so that you may know that I am Yahweh,
  • the one who calls you by your name, the God of Israel,
  • 4 for the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen one.
• And I call you by your name;
  • I give you a name of honor, though[fn] you do not know me.
  • 5 I am Yahweh, and there is none besides me; besides me there is no god.
    • I gird you though[fn] you do not know me,
  • 6 so that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none besides me;
    • I am Yahweh and there is none besides me.
  • 7 I form light and I create darkness; I make peace and I create evil;
    • I am Yahweh; I do all these things.
  • 8 Trickle, O heavens, from above, and let clouds trickle with righteousness;
• let the earth open so that[fn] salvation may be fruitful,
  • and let it cause righteousness to sprout along with it.[fn]
    • I myself, Yahweh, have created it.
  • 9 Woe to the one who strives with his maker ,[fn] a potsherd among[fn] potsherds of earth!
• Does the clay say to the one who fashions it,
  • ‘What are you making?’
  • and ‘Your work has no hands’?
  • 10 Woe to the one who says to a father, ‘What you are begetting?’ or[fn] to a woman, ‘ With what are you in labor?’ ”
  • 11 Thus says Yahweh, the holy one of Israel, and its maker :[fn]
• “Ask me of the things to come about[fn] my children,
  • and you command me about the work of my hands.
  • 12 I myself made the earth, and I created humankind upon it.
• I, my hands, stretched out the heavens,
  • and I commanded all their host.
  • 13 I myself have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his paths smooth.
• He himself shall build my city,
  • and he shall set my exiles free,
  
  

not for price or a gift,” says Yahweh of hosts.