I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.
ISAIAH 45:7
In the days of Josiah king of Judah, Huldah the prophetess tells those sent by the king that God is going to bring calamity on Jerusalem because its inhabitants have forsaken Him and worshipped other gods.
Time passes and the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans are making war against Judah in the days of Zedekiah king of Judah so God tells Jeremiah the prophet to tell king Zedekiah to tell the people of Judah that God has set before them the way of life and the way of death. Those who remain in Jerusalem will die but those who go out and defect to the Chaldeans will live. Judah is then taken away captive to Babylon.
Time passes again and God divides the kingdom of Babylon and gives it to the Medes and Persians because the king of Babylon glorifies himself over God. God then encourages His people who are in captivity telling them that He has chosen them and He will help them. They are not to fear for He will pour water on those who are thirsty and floods on the dry ground and He will pour His Spirit on their descendants and His blessing on their offspring. He is their king and redeemer and besides Him there is no God for He has appointed the ancient people and the things that are coming and shall come.
God says their Idols are useless and cannot deliver their soul but He is the one who has formed them and they will not be forgotten by Him. He has blotted out their sins and asks them to return to Him for He is their redeemer who makes all things. He frustrates the signs of those who lie and performs the counsel of His messengers who say Jerusalem will be inhabited again, that the cities of Judah will be built and that Cyrus king of Persia will perform all His pleasure in building Jerusalem and laying the foundation of the temple.
God then tells Cyrus king of Persia that He has called him although the king does not know Him. God will strengthen him to subdue nations for His people’s sake that the king may know that God is Israel’s God and that His people may know that there is no God but Him. He forms the light and creates the darkness, makes peace and creates calamity and will direct the king’s ways so that the king will build God’s city and let His people go free. Those who worship idols will be ashamed and disgraced but God’s people will not be ashamed or disgraced for He will save them with an everlasting salvation.
King Cyrus then makes a proclamation throughout all his kingdom that God has given him all the kingdoms of the earth and has commanded him to build Him a house at Jerusalem. As such His people are to go up to Jerusalem and build the house of the God of Israel.
References
2 KINGS 22:1,14-17, 24:10-14, 25:11, EZRA 1:1-3, ISAIAH 44:1-3,6-9,20-28, 45:1-7,13,15-17 JEREMIAH 21:2-4,8-10, DANIEL 5:22-28, JOEL 2:28.