Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have created it. (Isaiah 45:8)
Isaiah pictures righteousness descending from heaven as a gentle rain, bringing life and refreshment to the barren earth (see Ps. 72:6; Hosea 6:3; Joel 2:23).
Let the earth open.
Dead Sea scroll 1QIs reads, for this clause and the next, “the one saying to the earth, Bud forth with salvation.” This scroll lacks “together; I the Lord have created it.”