Isaiah 45:7 - Did God Create Evil?

The argument surrounding Isaiah 45:7 often arises because of how different English translations render the original Hebrew text.

In the King James Version (KJV),  Isaiah 45:7  reads:

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.

However, in modern translations, it is rendered as:- "form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things."

The Linguistic Context: Ra' vs. Moral Evil

The Hebrew word translated as "evil" in the KJV is רַע (ra').

• In Hebrew, ra' is a very broad term. While it can mean moral evil, it is far more frequently used to denote natural disaster, calamity, affliction, adversity, or grief.

• Throughout the Old Testament, when a city is destroyed by a famine, war, or plague, it is often described as a ra' (a disaster or calamity) brought upon them.

The Literary Context: Antithetical Parallelism

Hebrew poetry and prophecy frequently use a literary device called antithetical parallelism, where two opposing ideas are placed side-by-side to highlight a complete thought.

Look at how the verse is structured:

• Pair 1: I form light and create darkness ↔ (Exact opposites)

• Pair 2: I make peace/well-being (shalom) ↔ and create calamity/evil (ra')

The opposite of moral evil is righteousness or holiness. But the word contrasted with ra' here is shalom, which means peace, wholeness, safety, and prosperity. Therefore, to maintain the poetic structure, the opposite of shalom must be adversity, trouble, or calamity, not moral wickedness.

The Historical Context:

Contextually, Isaiah 45 is addressed to Cyrus the Great, the King of Persia.

The Persians practiced Zoroastrianism, a dualistic religion that believed in two co-equal, cosmic deities: one good god who created light and peace, and one equal but independent evil god who created darkness and chaos.

By saying "I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity," God is correcting this dualistic worldview. He is telling Cyrus that there is no independent "god of bad luck or chaos." God is utterly sovereign. If a nation falls into calamity or judgments (like Babylon falling to Persia), it isn't because an evil god won a battle, it is because the one true God sovereignly decreed that judgment.

Isaiah 45:7 is an assertion of God's absolute sovereignty over history, asserting that both prosperity and disaster are under His control. It is not a theological statement about the origin of sin or moral wickedness.