If you were to read Isaiah 45:7 in the KJV, you would think God creates evil: “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.” Clearly here, God says that He “creates evil.” Is God personally responsible for the evil in the world? Surely not for that would corrupt the holy nature of God.
At this point, it would help to compare other translations. The NASV says: “The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these.” The ESV reads: “I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.”
The NIV translates: “I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.” Finally, the NKJV has: “I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.’”
So, as is typical, the KJV translates this word with its literal and fundamental definition. But later translators, realizing that translation causes problems with God’s nature, have opted to go with a different definition of the word. What we see here is an example of a word’s “semantic range.” The semantic range is the various words that can be used to define a word or can be used as synonyms for that word.
Yes, the word translated “evil” is ra in Hebrew and it generally means evil. But it does not always nor must it mean “moral” evil in the sense of sin. The word is found in the Hebrew Bible 640 times. Of those, 275 refer to “trouble” or “calamity” (Motyer, 323).
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It is clear here that ra does not have the moral connotation of “sin” because it is set in contrast to “peace” as opposed to “righteousness.” Thus, in contrast to “peace,” “calamity” (or a similar synonym) would be an appropriate (even better) translation. We use the word “bad” in the same way; Hitler is “bad” (morally evil) and “I’m having a bad day (full of disasters).” But, we do not use the word “evil” with that type of ambiguity.
Two chapters over, in 47:11, Isaiah uses the same word in a similar context. Observe the synonyms used for the same idea: “But evil (ra) shall come upon you, which you will not know how to charm away; disaster shall fall upon you, for which you will not be able to atone; and ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing.” This context is, again, dealing with the destruction of Babylon at the hands of Cyrus and the Persians and we can understand that “evil” is not, here, “sin.” It means “disaster” or “ruin.”
No, God did not create evil in the sense of moral evil. But He does cause bad things to happen to bad men. You can make your choices but you can’t choose their consequences.
–Paul Holland
