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    I form the light, and create the darkness,
I make weal and create woe;[a]
    I, the Lord, do all these things.
Let justice descend, you heavens, like dew from above,
    like gentle rain let the clouds drop it down.
Let the earth open and salvation bud forth;
    let righteousness spring up with them![b]
    I, the Lord, have created this.(A)
Woe to anyone who contends with their Maker;(B)
    a potsherd among potsherds of the earth![c]
Shall the clay say to the potter, “What are you doing?”
    or, “What you are making has no handles”?

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Footnotes

  1. 45:7 Create woe: God created and controls all aspects of creation (light and darkness, order and chaos).
  2. 45:8 The Vulgate rendering gave a messianic sense to this verse, using “just one” and “savior” in place of “justice” and “salvation,” phraseology taken over in the Advent liturgy, e.g., the “Rorate coeli.”
  3. 45:9 No one may challenge God’s freedom of action, exemplified here by the selection of Cyrus as his anointed.