Section 116 of 17445:1–7Isaiah

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King James VersionIsaiah 45:1–7

Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;

I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:

And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.

For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.

I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:

That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.

Scripture text: King James Version, Standardized 1769 text. Public domain in the United States.About this Bible text

Isaiah 45:1–7

Cyrus Is Anointed without Knowing the LORD

I gird you, though you do not know me

The Lord anoints Cyrus, takes him by the right hand, opens doors, levels mountains, and gives hidden treasures—for the sake of Jacob, and so that the king himself may know who called him. Light and darkness, well-being and calamity, are claimed by the one God. There is no rival deity of disaster to blame.

Anointing language on a Persian king is the scandal. God can conscript an emperor who does not pray this God's prayers. That is not nationalism, not war propaganda, and not permission to map our enemies onto Babylon so that our violence becomes holy. Imperial force in the report is not an ethical model for the church.

The phrase 'you do not know me' is the guardrail. Instrument is not intimacy, and success is not covenant. A warranted life is to stop requiring that God work only through people who already speak our creed, and to refuse the habit of treating a political win as proof of anointing.

How this should shape us

Stop requiring that God work only through people who already speak your creed, and refuse to treat a political win as proof of anointing. Instrument is not intimacy.

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King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.

Isaiah 45:1–7, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Isaiah

Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology at the exact unit, without treating morphology as apparatus, lexicon, composition history, or interpretation.

Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Isa.xml, OSIS 45:1–7 with Hebrew/KJV versification difference checked

NET Bible Notes: Isaiah

Supports: Verse-level controls for Hebrew, syntax, poetry, older KJV language, chronology, names, textual issues, and material translation alternatives.

Official NET Isaiah PDF, translator, study, and textual notes attached to Isaiah 45:1–7 in the complete 205-page book PDF

Second Isaiah study-guide course

Supports: Babylonian-exile and Persian horizons, new exodus, Cyrus, servant figures, Daughter Zion, nations, suffering, and transition to plural servants.

Yale Bible Study, Second Isaiah course, Agents of God's Redemption guide on Cyrus, Babylon, and Isaiah 44:24-48:22; applied to Isaiah 45:1–7

Isaiah course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, themes, and reception

Supports: Whole-book historical, literary, theological, ethical, and reception synthesis across Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and postexilic horizons.

Enter the Bible Isaiah course, Outline Book 2A-2B, Background, Introductory Issues, and Themes; applied to Isaiah 45:1–7

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King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

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Exact location: Isaiah 45:1–7, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus

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hebrew text and morphology

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Isaiah

Open Scriptures

Open Scriptures, release 2.2

Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology at the exact unit, without treating morphology as apparatus, lexicon, composition history, or interpretation.

Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Isa.xml, OSIS 45:1–7 with Hebrew/KJV versification difference checked

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translation and translator notes

NET Bible Notes: Isaiah

Biblical Studies Press

Biblical Studies Press, 2016; current official PDF

Supports: Verse-level controls for Hebrew, syntax, poetry, older KJV language, chronology, names, textual issues, and material translation alternatives.

Exact location: Official NET Isaiah PDF, translator, study, and textual notes attached to Isaiah 45:1–7 in the complete 205-page book PDF

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open university study guide series

Second Isaiah study-guide course

Robert R. Wilson and Stephen L. Cook

Yale Bible Study, 2019; current public course

Supports: Babylonian-exile and Persian horizons, new exodus, Cyrus, servant figures, Daughter Zion, nations, suffering, and transition to plural servants.

Exact location: Yale Bible Study, Second Isaiah course, Agents of God's Redemption guide on Cyrus, Babylon, and Isaiah 44:24-48:22; applied to Isaiah 45:1–7

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modern scholarly book course

Isaiah course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, themes, and reception

Fred Gaiser; revised by Michael Chan

Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised August 2024

Supports: Whole-book historical, literary, theological, ethical, and reception synthesis across Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and postexilic horizons.

Exact location: Enter the Bible Isaiah course, Outline Book 2A-2B, Background, Introductory Issues, and Themes; applied to Isaiah 45:1–7

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