The Great Isaiah Scroll, the best preserved of the biblical scrolls found at Qumran from the second century BC, contains all the verses in this chapter.
The parashah sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex.[3] Isaiah 45 is a part of the Consolations (Isaiah 40–66). {P}: open parashah; {S}: closed parashah.
Thus saith the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him, and to loose the loins of kings; to open the doors before him, and that the gates may not be shut:
Some older translations state "I have surnamed you".[5]
Verse 13
I have roused him up in victory, and I make level all his ways; he shall build My city, and he shall let Mine exiles go free, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts.
Thus saith the LORD: The labour of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine; they shall go after thee, in chains they shall come over; and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee: Surely God is in thee, and there is none else, there is no other God.
The Egyptian, Ethiopian and Sabaean peoples "are apparently represented here as already conquered by Cyrus". The text may be interpreted as foretelling "spontaneous homage rendered to Israel by distant nations of the earth", or in terms of a prospective conquest; for John Skinner, in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, "the whole scene strongly suggests a submission that has been preceded by humiliation and defeat. The meaning probably is that the treasures of the nations are made over to Israel by Cyrus".[6]
Verse 25
In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.