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Journey of a Passage

Isaiah 44:28–45:1

"Cyrus, my shepherd… his anointed"

"That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure… Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden." Cyrus's name stands in the Masoretic Text, the Great Isaiah Scroll, 1QIsa-b and the Cave 4 copies. The library's Greek reads "Be wise" for "my shepherd" in 44:28 and calls Cyrus "my christ" (christos) in 45:1. Josephus says Cyrus read this prophecy.

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The oracle as first spoken or written8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)
  2. Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
  3. 4QIsa-b (4Q56), Qumran Cave 41st century BC (reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
  4. 1QIsa-b (1Q8), Qumran Cave 11st century BC – 1st century AD (reported)Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
  5. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written
Greek
  1. Greek Isaiah (library: Giguet's French)Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Isaiah
Latin
  1. Latin Vulgate (Clementine)Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592Translated from the Hebrew text Jerome used
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. 8th–6th century BC (by section; debated)

    The oracle as first spoken or written

    – No copy survives

    No original survives. The oldest copies of Isaiah are the Qumran scrolls: the Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a, about 125 BC, nearly complete), 1QIsa-b (1Q8) and some twenty other fragmentary manuscripts.

  2. c. 125 BC (palaeography; reported)

    Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsa-a), Qumran Cave 1

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

    How the site knows this: Described from a published transcription of the manuscript. Described in the site's own words from Martin Abegg's transcription (ETCBC/CACCHT Dead Sea Scrolls dataset v2.0.5); the transcription itself is not reproduced. Photographs and DJD XXXII not yet checked.

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 44:28. "Who says of Cyrus, My shepherd" and "to the temple, You shall be founded" as in the Masoretic Text; the last verb has a letter added above the line. Otherwise the differences are of spelling (fuller use of vowel letters) and small grammatical forms.

  3. 1st century BC (reported)

    4QIsa-b (4Q56), Qumran Cave 4

    ◐ Contains part of itDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

    How the site knows this: Described from a published transcription of the manuscript. Described in the site's own words from Martin Abegg's transcription (ETCBC/CACCHT Dead Sea Scrolls dataset v2.0.5); the transcription itself is not reproduced. Photographs and DJD XXXII not yet checked.

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 44:28. A fragmentary copy: only parts of these verses survive, and in the transcription much of the passage is restored by the editors. Preserves "all my pleasure" and part of "Jerusalem."

  4. 1st century BC – 1st century AD (reported)

    1QIsa-b (1Q8), Qumran Cave 1

    ◐ Contains part of itDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

    How the site knows this: Described from a published transcription of the manuscript. Described in the site's own words from Martin Abegg's transcription (ETCBC/CACCHT Dead Sea Scrolls dataset v2.0.5); the transcription itself is not reproduced. Photographs and DJD XXXII not yet checked.

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 44:28. Has Cyrus's name, "my shepherd," Jerusalem and the temple, agreeing with the Masoretic Text; a few letters are damaged.

  5. Jerome c. AD 400, from Hebrew; edition 1592

    Latin Vulgate (Clementine)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Hebrew text Jerome used

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    qui dico Cyro: Pastor meus es, et omnem voluntatem meam complebis; qui dico Jerusalem: Ædificaberis, et templo: Fundaberis.

    Latin numbering: Isaiah 44:28. Jerome translated Isaiah from Hebrew (c. AD 400).

  6. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The oracle as first spoken or written

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    הָאֹמֵ֤ר לְכ֙וֹרֶשׁ֙ רֹעִ֔י וְכָל־חֶפְצִ֖י יַשְׁלִ֑ם וְלֵאמֹ֤ר לִירוּשָׁלִַ֙ם֙ תִּבָּנֶ֔ה וְהֵיכָ֖ל תִּוָּסֵֽד׃

    Who says of Cyrus, My shepherd; he will carry out all my purpose, saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built, and of the temple, Your foundation shall be laid

    Hebrew numbering: Isaiah 44:28.

  7. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.

  8. Greek translation c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

    Greek Isaiah (library: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Isaiah

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    C’est moi qui dis à Cyrus: Sois prudent, et tu accompliras toutes mes volontés; et qui dis à Jérusalem: Tu seras rebâtie, et je jetterai les fondations de mon saint temple.

    Greek (digital file) numbering: Isaiah 44:28. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check only); a C check needs Ziegler's Göttingen Isaiah or Rahlfs–Hanhart.

What changed, and why

Classification: stable Hebrew text across all Qumran witnesses; Greek = different reading of ro'i ("my shepherd"); interpretation of the named king is the subject of "From Babylon to Cyrus."

Mashiach ("anointed") in 45:1 is the word for Israel's kings and priests; here it is given to a Persian.

Cyrus authorized the temple's rebuilding (Ezra 1:1–4); it was finished in 515 BC, and the city walls only under Nehemiah (445).

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedCyrus's name appears in 44:28 in all ancient Hebrew witnesses. Described from transcriptions.
  • Independently documentedThe library's Greek reads "Be wise" for "my shepherd." Giguet; C check.
  • Matter of faithIsaiah foretold Cyrus by name 150 years in advance.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Isaiah 44: I Am the First and the Last →God will pour water on the thirsty and his Spirit on Jacob's offspring; people will write "The LORD's" on their hands (44:1–5). "I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God… ye are even my witnesses" (vv. 6–8). A satire: the blacksmith grows faint making a god; the carpenter cuts a cedar, burns half to bake bread and warm himself, and bows down to the rest: "Deliver me; for thou art my god" (vv. 9–20). "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions": heavens and mountains sing (vv. 21–23). The God who made all things says of Jerusalem, "Thou shalt be inhabited," and of Cyrus, "He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure… to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid" (vv. 24–28).
    • Isaiah 45: To His Anointed, to Cyrus →"Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden": God will open gates before him and give him hidden treasures, "though thou hast not known me," for Israel's sake and so that all may know "I am the Lord, and there is none else" (45:1–6). "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil" (v. 7). Let the heavens rain righteousness; woe to clay that argues with its potter; Cyrus will rebuild the city and free the exiles without payment (vv. 8–13). Nations will come and confess: "God is in thee… Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself" (vv. 14–17). God created the earth to be lived in, not as chaos; "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth… unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear" (vv. 18–25).
    • Investigation: From Babylon to Cyrus →Isaiah 40–48 speaks to Judeans in Babylon, announces Babylon's fall, and twice names Cyrus of Persia as the LORD's shepherd and anointed. The Babylonian sources (the Nabonidus Chronicle, the Cyrus Cylinder, the Verse Account of Nabonidus) and Greek historians describe how Cyrus actually took Babylon in 539 BC. This investigation sets the events in order, compares what Isaiah says with what the sources say, and lays out the four main ways of explaining a prophecy that names a king: long-range prediction, composition in the 540s, later editorial insertion of the name, and literary unity.
    • Cyrus, the Proclamation and the Vessels →In the first year of Cyrus, "that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled," the Persian king proclaims that the house of the God of heaven be rebuilt in Jerusalem. Families rise to go; neighbors give silver, gold and animals; and Cyrus hands the temple vessels Nebuchadnezzar had taken to Sheshbazzar, "the prince of Judah." Ezra opens under a foreign emperor, not a restored king of David's line.