44:24 This is what the Lord, your protector, ¹  says,

the one who formed you in the womb:

“I am the Lord, who made everything,

who alone stretched out the sky,

who fashioned the earth all by myself, ² 

44:25 who frustrates the omens of the empty talkers ³ 

and humiliates ⁴  the omen readers,

who overturns the counsel of the wise men ⁵ 

and makes their advice ⁶  seem foolish,

44:26 who fulfills the oracles of his prophetic servants ⁷ 

and brings to pass the announcements ⁸  of his messengers,

who says about Jerusalem, ⁹  ‘She will be inhabited,’

and about the towns of Judah, ‘They will be rebuilt,

her ruins I will raise up,’

44:27 who says to the deep sea, ‘Be dry!

I will dry up your sea currents,’

44:28 who commissions ¹⁰  Cyrus, the one I appointed as shepherd ¹¹ 

to carry out all my wishes ¹² 

and to decree concerning Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt,’

and concerning the temple, ‘It will be reconstructed.’” ¹³