5 I am Yahweh, and there is none else.
Besides me, there is no God.
I will strengthen [1] you,
though you have not known me; 6 that they may know from the rising of the sun,
and from the west,
that there is none besides me.
I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. 7 I form the light,
and create darkness.
I make peace,
and create calamity.
I am Yahweh,
who does all these things.
8 Distil, you heavens, from above,
and let the skies pour down righteousness.
Let the earth open, that it may bring forth salvation,
and let it cause righteousness to spring up with it.
I, Yahweh, have created it. 9 Woe to him who strives with his Maker—
a clay pot among the clay pots of the earth!
Shall the clay ask him who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’
or your work, ‘He has no hands?’ 10 Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What have you become the father of?’
or to a mother, ‘To what have you given birth?’”
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Isaiah 45:5-10
Commentary on Isaiah 45:5-10
(Read Isaiah 45:5-10)
There is no God beside Jehovah. There is nothing done without him. He makes peace, put here for all good; and creates evil, not the evil of sin, but the evil of punishment. He is the Author of all that is true, holy, good, or happy; and evil, error, and misery, came into the world by his permission, through the wilful apostacy of his creatures, but are restrained and overruled to his righteous purpose. This doctrine is applied, for the comfort of those that earnestly longed, yet quietly waited, for the redemption of Israel. The redemption of sinners by the Son of God, and the pouring out the Spirit, to give success to the gospel, are chiefly here intended. We must not expect salvation without righteousness; together the Lord hath created them. Let not oppressors oppose God's designs for his people. Let not the poor oppressed murmur, as if God dealt unkindly with them. Men are but earthen pots; they are broken potsherds, and are very much made so by mutual contentions. To contend with Him is as senseless as for clay to find fault with the potter. Let us turn God's promises into prayers, beseeching him that salvation may abound among us, and let us rest assured that the Judge of all the earth will do right.