Passage

Isaiah 45.23

Book: Isaiah · NASB95

"I have sworn by Myself, The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness And will not turn back, That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance." (Isaiah 45:23, NASB95)

Isaiah 45:23 is one of the most apologetically loaded verses in the Old Testament because Paul applies its YHWH-exclusive worship language to Jesus in Philippians 2.10-11 and to the Christian's accountability before Christ in Romans 14.11. In context the verse is the climax of Isaiah's most aggressive monotheistic argument (chapters 40-48): YHWH alone is God, all idols are nothing, and every knee on earth will ultimately bow to Him. Paul's transfer of this exact pledge to Jesus is the single strongest pre-Pauline christological move in the New Testament, made within roughly 20-30 years of the resurrection and delivered to congregations under live Jewish-monotheist supervision.

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"21. Declare ye, and bring it forth; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath showed this from ancient time? who hath declared it of old? have not I, Jehovah? and there is no God else besides me, a just God and a Saviour; there is none besides me. 22. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else."

"23. By myself have I sworn, the word is gone forth from my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear."

"24. Only in Jehovah, it is said of me, is righteousness and strength; even to him shall men come; and all they that were incensed against him shall be put to shame. 25. In Jehovah shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." (Isaiah 45:21-25, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"21. Declare and present it. Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Haven't I, Yahweh? There is no other God besides me, a just God and a Savior; There is no one besides me. 22. "Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other."

"23. I have sworn by myself. The word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and will not be revoked, that to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath."

"24. They will say of me, 'There is righteousness and strength only in Yahweh.'" Even to him shall men come; and all those who raged against him shall be disappointed. 25. All the offspring of Israel will be justified in Yahweh, and will rejoice!" (Isaiah 45:21-25, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"21. Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. 22. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else."

"23. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear."

"24. Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. 25. In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." (Isaiah 45:21-25, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"21. Declare ye, and bring near, Yea, they take counsel together, Who hath proclaimed this from of old? From that time hath declared it? Is it not I, Jehovah? And there is no other god besides Me, A God righteous and saving, there is none save Me. 22. Turn to Me, and be saved, all ends of the earth, For I [am] God, and there is none else."

"23. By Myself I have sworn, Gone out from my mouth in righteousness hath a word, And it turneth not back, That to Me, bow doth every knee, every tongue swear."

"24. Only in Jehovah, said hath one, Have I righteousness and strength, Unto Him he cometh in, And ashamed are all those displeased with Him. 25. In Jehovah are all the seed of Israel justified, And they boast themselves.'" (Isaiah 45:21-25, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: YHWH, in first-person divine oath
Audience: the nations (the ends of the earth, v. 22), through Isaiah to exilic and post-exilic Israel
Location: Israel / Judah (Isaiah of Jerusalem; the second-Isaiah section likely composed for exilic audience)
Time period: Isaiah's ministry c. 740-680 BC; chapters 40-55 address the late-exilic situation (c. 540 BC)

Theological reading

Verse 23 is YHWH's self-oath. The clause I have sworn by Myself uses the language of unconditional divine commitment, the same oath-form Hebrews 6:13-18 invokes ("when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself"). What YHWH swears is exclusive worship: every knee and every tongue will perform the two universal postures of religious allegiance, bowing and oath-swearing. The Hebrew here is shaba (swear an oath), preserved in the LXX as exomologesetai, "will confess / swear allegiance to." The verse is monotheism-defining, not merely monotheism-asserting; YHWH commits divine power to producing universal recognition.

The chapter's preceding verses establish exclusivity beyond any reasonable doubt: I am YHWH, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God (45:5), there is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none except Me (45:21). The "every knee" of verse 23 is the worship-act that no one besides YHWH may receive. This is the verse Paul knows when he writes Philippians 2.10-11: that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Paul does not merely cite Isaiah; he reassigns the worship-act YHWH reserved for Himself to Jesus, and resolves the apparent contradiction by glossing the result to the glory of God the Father. The same move appears in Romans 14.11 (as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me) in a context where the Lord before whom believers will stand is Christ.

The apologetic force is severe. Isaiah 45:23 cannot be sub-divinized. It is YHWH-only worship, sworn by YHWH-only oath. Paul, a first-century Pharisaic Jew writing for monotheistic audiences, applies it to Jesus with no apology and no qualification beyond the Father-glory clause. The implication is either that Paul has committed gross monotheistic violation (which his original Jewish-Christian audience would have rejected) or that Paul's Christology operates within the boundaries of Jewish monotheism with Jesus included on the divine side of the creator-creature line. The pre-Pauline-creed status of Philippians 2.10-11 (Philippians 2:6-11 is widely held to be a hymn Paul received, not composed) pushes the Christology earlier still, into the first two decades after the resurrection. Richard Bauckham develops this as divine identity Christology: Jesus is included in the unique identity of the one God of Israel without dissolving monotheism. See Old Testament Witness to the Deity of Christ and Cumulative Case for the Deity of Christ.

Key words

H8034 - shem, shem, "name"; the YHWH-only sworn-by-self formula draws on divine-name theology.
H0136 - adonai, adonai, "Lord"; the title regularly substituted for the Tetragrammaton, which Paul applies to Jesus as kyrios in Philippians 2.

Theological themes

Strict monotheism. YHWH alone is God; all worship belongs to Him exclusively.
Universal eschatology. Every knee, every tongue: no human being is exempt from final accountability.
Divine oath. YHWH swears by Himself; the promise is unconditional and cannot fail.
Deity of Christ. Paul's reuse of the verse for Jesus is the strongest pre-Pauline-creed christological move in the New Testament.
Salvation universalism of opportunity, not outcome. Look to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth offers salvation universally; the every knee will bow clause guarantees universal recognition, not universal salvation.

Cross-references

Philippians 2.10-11 - Paul's direct application to Jesus.
Romans 14.11 - Paul's second application, in the context of Christ's judgment seat.
Isaiah 43.10-11 - parallel YHWH-only / no-other-savior declaration earlier in the same monotheistic block.
Isaiah 44.6 - "I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me" (cf. Christ's self-application in Revelation 1.8).
Hebrews 6.13-18 - the same divine-oath / sworn-by-Himself form, applied to the Abrahamic promise.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.