9 The person who argues against their creator won’t end well.

They’re like a piece of broken pottery lying among all the other pieces on the ground.

Does the clay ask the potter what he’s making,[ref]

or ask why he didn’t do a very good job making what he did?

10 Anyone who asks a father what he’s fathering won’t end well,

and nor will anyone who asks a woman what she’s in labour for.

11 Yahweh, Yisrael’s holy one and the one who formed it, asks this:

‘Concerning the things to come, do you question me about my children?

And will you all tell me what actions that I should take?’

12 I made the earth and created humankind on it.

My own hands stretched the skies out,

and I ordered all the heavenly bodies into place.

13 I stirred Cyrus up to do what’s right,

and I’ll smooth out his paths ahead of him.

He’ll be the one to build my city, and he’ll release my exiles—

not for a ransom or for a bribe.

Commander-in-chief Yahweh says that.

14 Yahweh says this:

Egypt’s produce and Ethiopia’s profit and those tall people from Sava

will all be turned over to you and they’ll belong to you.

They’ll walk behind you and will be handed over in chains.

They’ll bow down to you and state,

‘Surely God is with you—he’s the only god—there’s no other.’

15 You are certainly a god who hides himself,

you god who rescues Yisrael.

16 Those who craft idols will be humiliated—

≈ all of them will be put to shame together.

≈ Those who craft idols will be publicly disgraced.

17 Yisrael has been rescued by Yahweh—freed forever.

You all won’t be humiliated or put to shame ever again.

18 Yahweh who created the skies, is God.

≈ He formed the earth and established it.

He didn’t create it as a wasteland,

^ but rather, he formed it to be lived in.

Yahweh says this:

19 I didn’t speak in secrecy in a place where it’s all dark.

It wasn’t in vain that I told Yakov’s descendants to search for me.

I am Yahweh who says what is right and declares what is proper.