Focused Passage
The LORD Who Chose Jacob, Pours Out His Spirit, Blots Out Sin, and Names Cyrus
Isaiah 44 moves from comfort to Jacob-Israel as the LORD’s chosen servant, to the promise of water on dry ground and the Spirit poured out on offspring, to the LORD’s declaration that He is the first and the last with no God besides Him, to an extended satire exposing the foolishness of idol-making, to the call for Israel to remember that the LORD has redeemed them and swept away their sins, and finally to the LORD’s announcement that He frustrates false signs, confirms His servants’ words, restores Jerusalem, dries up the deep, and names Cyrus as His shepherd who will fulfill His pleasure.
Berean Standard Bible, Public Domain - Translation notes - Reference sources
6 Thus says the LORD, the King and Redeemer of Israel, the LORD of Hosts: “I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God but Me.
7 Who then is like Me? Let him say so! Let him declare his case before Me, since I established an ancient people. Let him foretell the things to come, and what is to take place.
8 Do not tremble or fear. Have I not told you and declared it long ago? You are My witnesses! Is there any God but Me? There is no other Rock; I know not one.”
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