This verse speaks of God’s creative power and his control of world events. All three Hebrew verbs used for creation in Gen 1–2 occur here (rendered form, create, and make). These same verbs occur again in verse 18.

I form light and create darkness is literally “The one forming light and the one creating darkness.” This is a summary description of God’s creation of everything in the natural world, which is represented by the two opposing elements of light and darkness. For the verbs form and create, see 40.26 and 43.1.

I make weal and create woe is literally “the one making peace and the one creating trouble.” The Israelites believed Yahweh was responsible for everything that happened in the world he made, whether it was good or bad. Nothing happened outside the will of God (compare Amos 3.6). The Hebrew nouns rendered weal and woe refer to two opposite human conditions. Good News Translation has “blessing” and “disaster,” New International Version uses “prosperity” and “disaster,” and Contemporary English Version says “happiness” and “sorrow.” In French Bible en français courant uses words that are similar in sound but opposite in meaning: bonheur (“good”) and malheur (“bad”). This is similar to weal and woe in English. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch does the same in German with Glück (“fortune”) and Unglück (“misfortune”). If languages have such a word pair, it would be good to use it here.

I am the LORD, who do all these things: All these things refers to everything in verses 2-7b. Yahweh concludes that everything is under his control, including Cyrus’ rise to power. This is the climax of his words to Cyrus.

Translation examples for this verse are:

• I am the one who forms the light and creates the darkness;
I am the one who establishes harmony and causes trouble.
I am Yahweh, the one who does all this.

• I form the light and create the darkness;
I establish peace and create hardship.
I am the LORD, the one who makes all this happen.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .