Isaiah 44
44
Isaiah 44
God’s Blessing on Israel
1 #
Isa 41.8; Jer 30.10; 46.27, 28 But now hear, O Jacob my servant,
Israel whom I have chosen!
2 #
Deut 32.15; Isa 43.1, 7 Thus says the Lord who made you,
who formed you in the womb and will help you:
Do not fear, O Jacob my servant,
Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
3 #
Isa 35.7; Joel 2.28; Jn 7.38; Acts 2.18 For I will pour water on the thirsty land
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour my spirit upon your descendants
and my blessing on your offspring.
4They shall spring up like a green tamarisk,#44.4 Q ms: MT in the midst of grass
like willows by flowing streams.
5 #
Isa 19.21; Zech 8.20–22 This one will say, “I am the Lord’s”;
another will be called by the name of Jacob;
yet another will write on the hand, “The Lord’s,”
and adopt the name of Israel.
6 #
Isa 41.4; 43.1, 14; 48.12; Rev 1.8, 17; 22.13 Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel,
and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
I am the first, and I am the last;
besides me there is no god.
7 #
Isa 41.4, 22 Who is like me? Let them proclaim it;
let them declare and set it forth before me.
Who has announced from of old the things to come?#44.7 Cn: Heb from my placing an eternal people and things to come
Let them tell us#44.7 Tg: Heb them what is yet to be.
8 #
Deut 4.35; 1 Sam 2.2; Isa 26.4; 41.22; 43.10 Do not fear or be afraid;
have I not told you from of old and declared it?
You are my witnesses!
Is there any god besides me?
There is no other rock; I know not one.
The Absurdity of Idol Worship
9 #
Isa 41.24; 42.17; 43.9; 66.3 All who make idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit; their witnesses neither see nor know, and so they will be put to shame. 10#Jer 10.5; Hab 2.18Who would fashion a god or cast an image that can do no good? 11#Isa 1.29; 42.17All its devotees shall be put to shame; the artisans, too, are merely human. Let them all assemble; let them stand up; they shall be terrified; they shall all be put to shame.
12 #
Isa 40.19; 41.6; Jer 10.3–5 The blacksmith works it with a tool over the coals, shaping it with hammers and forging it with his strong arm; he becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. 13#Ps 115.5–7; Isa 41.7The carpenter stretches a line, marks it out with a stylus, fashions it with planes, and marks it with a compass; he makes it in human form, with human beauty, to be set up in a shrine. 14He cuts down cedars or chooses a holm tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. 15#vv 17, 19; 2 Chr 25.14Then it can be used as fuel. Part of it he takes and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Then he makes a god and worships it, makes it a carved image and bows down before it. 16Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he roasts meat, eats it,#44.16 Cn Compare Gk Syr: Heb he eats, he roasts a roast and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Ah, I am warm#44.16 Q ms: MT I see by the fire!” 17#v 15; 1 Kings 18.26, 28; Isa 45.20The rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, bows down to it and worships it; he prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god!”
18 #
Isa 1.3; 6.9, 10 They do not know, nor do they comprehend, for their eyes are shut, so that they cannot see, and their minds as well, so that they cannot understand. 19#Deut 27.15; Isa 5.13; 27.11; 45.20No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. Now shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” 20#Job 15.31; Ps 102.9; Isa 57.11He feeds on ashes; a deluded mind has led him astray, and he cannot save himself or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a fraud?”
Israel Is Not Forgotten
21 #
vv 1, 2
; Isa 46.8; 49.15Remember these things, O Jacob,
and Israel, for you are my servant;
I formed you, you are my servant;
O Israel, do not forget me.#44.21 Q ms Compare Gk Syr Tg: MT you will not be forgotten by me
22 #
Isa 43.1, 25; 55.7; 1 Pet 1.18, 19 I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud
and your sins like mist;
return to me, for I have redeemed you.
23 #
Isa 42.10; 43.1; 55.12; 61.3 Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it;
shout, O depths of the earth;
break forth into singing, O mountains,
O forest and every tree in it!
For the Lord has redeemed Jacob
and will be glorified in Israel.
24 #
v 2
; Isa 40.14, 22; 43.14Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
who formed you in the womb:
I am the Lord, who made all things,
who alone stretched out the heavens,
who by myself spread out the earth;
25 #
Isa 29.14; 40.14; 1 Cor 1.20, 27 who frustrates the omens of soothsayers
and makes fools of diviners;
who turns back the wise
and makes their knowledge foolish;
26 #
Isa 49.7–20; 55.11; Jer 32.15, 44 who confirms the word of his servant
and fulfills the prediction of his messengers;
who says of Jerusalem, “It shall be inhabited,”
and of the cities of Judah, “They shall be rebuilt,
and I will raise up their ruins”;
27 #
Isa 42.15; 43.16 who says to the deep, “Be dry—
I will dry up your rivers”;
28 #
Isa 14.32; 45.1, 13 who says of Cyrus, “He is my shepherd,
and he shall carry out all my purpose”;
and who says of Jerusalem, “It shall be rebuilt,”
and of the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.”
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Isaiah 44: NRSVUE
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New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, copyright © 2021 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.