And why couldn't that have taken several billion years.
It is you who are making assumptions.
You state that known facts are not true because your interpretation of Genesis conflicts with reality.
As for the quote "Isaiah 45:12 It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts."
Where does that give any time paramters?
Facts are facts. Adjust your interpretation of the bible to match reality, else you'll be delusional.
reality: 1. The quality or state of being actual or true.
We fundamentally disagree on what is true. All of what we believe to be true in terms of origins is based on some assumptions and beliefs. Take the age of the universe.
1. Fact: We can see starlight from distant stars
2. Fact: The speed of light in a vaccum, when measured on or near earth, travels at a given rate.
3. Assumption: C has always been (and is) constant.
4. Assumption: The stars arrived at their present locations (more or less) about 13 billion years ago.
5. Ipso facto Assumption: since we can see the stars, and light travels at a given rate, the furthest, and oldest, ones we can see are 13 billion light years away, and correspondingly 13 billion years old.
While you will accept assumptions 3-5 without question, I do not. I don't have much faith in scientific conjecture, only in the hard sciences that can be demonstrated in the laboratory. Thus, I will not "interpret" the Bible differently just because it seems popular or pragmatic to do so, if it violates the plain reading of the verses. To wit:
Exodus 20:11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
To reinterpret that passage to actually mean 13+ billion years requires that I completely dismiss the plain reading of the text, don't you agree?