1st Reading – Isaiah 45:1, 4-6

Thus says the LORD to his anointed, Cyrus,
whose right hand I grasp,
subduing nations before him,
and making kings run in his service,
opening doors before him
and leaving the gates unbarred:
For the sake of Jacob, my servant,
of Israel, my chosen one,
I have called you by your name,
giving you a title, though you knew me not.
I am the LORD and there is no other,
there is no God besides me.
It is I who arm you, though you know me not,
so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun
people may know that there is none besides me.
I am the LORD, there is no other.

Our first reading is set during the final years of the Babylonian Exile, a time of great suffering in Jewish history. In 587 BC, the Babylonians had destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple, carried many of the people of Judah into captivity, and brought the kingdom of Judah to an end.

Cyrus, king of Persia, ultimately conquered Babylon in 539 BC. Isaiah presents this pagan king, who does not even know the God of Israel, as God’s chosen instrument, raised up and empowered for the sake of his chosen people.
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