8. “Open up, O heavens,and pour out your righteousness.Let the earth open wideso salvation and righteousness can sprout up together.I, the lord, created them.
9. “What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator.Does a clay pot argue with its maker?Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying,‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’Does the pot exclaim,‘How clumsy can you be?’
10. How terrible it would be if a newborn baby said to its father,‘Why was I born?’or if it said to its mother,‘Why did you make me this way?’”
11. This is what the lord says—the Holy One of Israel and your Creator:“Do you question what I do for my children?Do you give me orders about the work of my hands?
12. I am the one who made the earthand created people to live on it.With my hands I stretched out the heavens.All the stars are at my command.
13. I will raise up Cyrus to fulfill my righteous purpose,and I will guide his actions.He will restore my city and free my captive people—without seeking a reward!I, the lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”
14. This is what the lord says:“You will rule the Egyptians,the Ethiopians, and the Sabeans.They will come to you with all their merchandise,and it will all be yours.They will follow you as prisoners in chains.They will fall to their knees in front of you and say,‘God is with you, and he is the only God.There is no other.’”
15. Truly, O God of Israel, our Savior,you work in mysterious ways.
16. All craftsmen who make idols will be humiliated.They will all be disgraced together.
17. But the lord will save the people of Israelwith eternal salvation.Throughout everlasting ages,they will never again be humiliated and disgraced.
18. For the lord is God,and he created the heavens and earthand put everything in place.He made the world to be lived in,not to be a place of empty chaos.“I am the lord,” he says,“and there is no other.
19. I publicly proclaim bold promises.I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner.I would not have told the people of Israel to seek meif I could not be found.I, the lord, speak only what is trueand declare only what is right.
20. “Gather together and come,you fugitives from surrounding nations.What fools they are who carry around their wooden idolsand pray to gods that cannot save!
21. Consult together, argue your case.Get together and decide what to say.Who made these things known so long ago?What idol ever told you they would happen?Was it not I, the lord?For there is no other God but me,a righteous God and Savior.There is none but me.