[45:9] Does a clay pot dare argue with its maker, a pot that is like all the others? Does the clay ask the potter what he is doing? Does the pot complain that its maker has no skill?
[45:10] Do we dare say to our parents, “Why did you make me like this?”
[45:11] The Lord, the holy God of Israel, the one who shapes the future, says: “You have no right to question me about my children or to tell me what I ought to do!
[45:12] I am the one who made the earth and created human beings to live there. By my power I stretched out the heavens; I control the sun, the moon, and the stars.
[45:13] I myself have stirred Cyrus to action to fulfill my purpose and put things right. I will straighten out every road that he travels. He will rebuild my city, Jerusalem, and set my captive people free. No one has hired him or bribed him to do this.” The Lord Almighty has spoken.
[45:14] The Lord says to Israel, “The wealth of Egypt and Ethiopia will be yours, and the tall men of Seba will be your slaves; they will follow you in chains. They will bow down to you and confess, ‘God is with you—he alone is God.
[45:15] The God of Israel, who saves his people, is a God who conceals himself.
[45:16] Those who make idols will all be ashamed; all of them will be disgraced.
[45:17] But Israel is saved by the Lord, and her victory lasts forever; her people will never be disgraced.’”
[45:18] The Lord created the heavens— he is the one who is God! He formed and made the earth— he made it firm and lasting. He did not make it a desolate waste, but a place for people to live. It is he who says, “I am the Lord, and there is no other god.
[45:19] I have not spoken in secret or kept my purpose hidden. I did not require the people of Israel to look for me in a desolate waste. I am the Lord, and I speak the truth; I make known what is right.”