Isaiah 44
44
1 YET NOW hear, O Jacob, My servant and Israel, whom I have chosen.
2 Thus says the Lord, Who made you and formed you from the womb, Who will help you: Fear not, O Jacob, My servant, and you Jeshurun [the upright one–applied to Israel as a type of the Messiah], whom I have chosen.
3 For I will pour water upon him who is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour My Spirit upon your offspring, and My blessing upon your descendants. [Isa. 32:15; 35:6, 7; Joel 2:28; John 7:37-39.]
4 And they shall spring up among the grass like willows or poplars by the watercourses.
5 One will say, I am the Lord's; and another will call himself by the name of Jacob; and another will write [even brand or tattoo] upon his hand, I am the Lord's, and surname himself by the [honorable] name of Israel.
6 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. [Rev. 1:17; 2:8; 22:13.]
7 Who is like Me? Let him [stand and] proclaim it, declare it, and set [his proofs] in order before Me, since I made and established the people of antiquity. [Who has announced from of old] the things that are coming? Then let them declare yet future things.
8 Fear not, nor be afraid [in the coming violent upheavals]; have I not told it to you from of old and declared it? And you are My witnesses! Is there a God besides Me? There is no [other] Rock; I know not any.
9 All who make graven idols are confusion, chaos, and worthlessness. Their objects (idols) in which they delight do not profit them, and their own witnesses (worshipers) do not see or know, so that they are put to shame.
10 Who is [such a fool as] to fashion a god or cast a graven image that is profitable for nothing?
11 Behold, all his fellows shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen, [how can they make a god?] they are but men. Let them all be gathered together, let them stand forth; they shall be terrified, they shall be put to shame together.
12 The ironsmith sharpens and uses a chisel and works it over the coals; he shapes [the core of the idol] with hammers and forges it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint.
13 The carpenter stretches out a line, he marks it out with a pencil or red ocher; he fashions [an idol] with planes and marks it out with the compasses; and he shapes it to have the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, that it may dwell in a house.
14 He hews for himself cedars, and takes the holm tree and the oak and lets them grow strong for himself among the trees of the forest; he plants a fir tree or an ash, and the rain nourishes it.
15 Then it becomes fuel for a man to burn; a part of it he takes and warms himself, yes, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. [Then out of the remainder, the leavings] he also makes a god and worships it! He [with his own hands] makes it into a graven image and falls down and worships it!
16 He burns part of the wood in the fire; with part of it he [cooks and] eats flesh, he roasts meat and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire!
17 And from what is left [of the log] he makes a god, his graven idol. He falls down to it, he worships it and prays to it and says, Deliver me, for you are my god!
18 They do not know or understand, for their eyes God has let become besmeared so that they cannot see, and their minds as well so that they cannot understand.
19 And no one considers in his mind, nor has he knowledge and understanding [enough] to say [to himself], I have burned part of this log in the fire, and also I have baked bread on its coals and have roasted meat and eaten it. And shall I make the remainder of it into an abomination [the very essence of what is disgusting, detestable, and shamefully vile in the eyes of a jealous God]? Shall I fall down and worship the stock of a tree [a block of wood without consciousness or life]?
20 That kind of man feeds on ashes [and finds his satisfaction in ashes]! A deluded mind has led him astray, so that he cannot release and save himself, or ask, Is not [this thing I am holding] in my right hand a lie?
21 Remember these things [earnestly], O Jacob, O Israel, for you are My servant! I formed you, you are My servant; O Israel, you shall not be forgotten by Me.
22 I have blotted out like a thick cloud your transgressions, and like a cloud your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.
23 Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it; shout, you depths of the earth; break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest and every tree in it! For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and He glorifies Himself in Israel.
24 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and He Who formed you from the womb: I am the Lord, Who made all things, Who alone stretched out the heavens, Who spread out the earth by Myself [who was with Me]?–
25 [I am the Lord] Who frustrates the signs and confounds the omens [upon which the false prophets' forecasts of the future are based] of the [boasting] liars and makes fools of diviners, Who turns the wise backward and makes their knowledge foolishness, [I Cor. 1:20.]
26 [The Lord] Who confirms the word of His servant and performs the counsel of His messengers, Who says of Jerusalem, She shall [again] be inhabited, and of the cities of Judah, They shall [again] be built, and I will raise up their ruins,
27 Who says to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up your rivers,
28 Who says of Cyrus, He is My shepherd (ruler), and he shall perform all My pleasure and fulfill all My purpose–even saying of Jerusalem, She shall [again] be built, and of the temple, Your foundation shall [again] be laid.
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Isaiah 44: AMPC
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1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
Isaiah 44
44
The LORD is the Only God
1The LORD says,
“Listen now, Israel, my servant,
my chosen people, the descendants of Jacob.
2I am the LORD who created you;
from the time you were born, I have helped you.
Do not be afraid; you are my servant,
my chosen people whom I love.
3“I will give water to the thirsty land
and make streams flow on the dry ground.
I will pour out my spirit on your children
and my blessing on your descendants.
4They will thrive like well-watered grass,
like willows by streams of running water.
5“One by one, people will say, ‘I am the LORD's.’
They will come to join the people of Israel.
They will each mark the name of the LORD on their arms
and call themselves members of God's people.”
6 #
Is 48.12; Rev 1.17; 22.13 The LORD, who rules and protects Israel,
the LORD Almighty, has this to say:
“I am the first, the last, the only God;
there is no other god but me.
7Could anyone else have done what I did?
Who could have predicted all that would happen
from the very beginning to the end of time?#44.7 Verse 7 in Hebrew is unclear.
8Do not be afraid, my people!
You know that from ancient times until now
I have predicted all that would happen,
and you are my witnesses.
Is there any other god?
Is there some powerful god I never heard of?”
Idolatry is Ridiculed
9All those who make idols are worthless, and the gods they prize so highly are useless. Those who worship these gods are blind and ignorant — and they will be disgraced. 10It's no good making a metal image to worship as a god! 11Everyone who worships it will be humiliated. The people who make idols are human beings and nothing more. Let them come and stand trial — they will be terrified and will suffer disgrace.
12The metalworker takes a piece of metal and works with it over a fire. His strong arm swings a hammer to pound the metal into shape. As he works, he gets hungry, thirsty, and tired.
13The carpenter measures the wood. He outlines a figure with chalk, carves it out with his tools, and makes it in the form of a man, a handsome human figure, to be placed in his house. 14He might cut down cedars to use, or choose oak or cypress wood from the forest. Or he might plant a laurel-tree and wait for the rain to make it grow. 15A person uses part of a tree for fuel and part of it for making an idol. With one part he builds a fire to warm himself and bake bread; with the other part he makes a god and worships it. 16With some of the wood he makes a fire; he roasts meat, eats it, and is satisfied. He warms himself and says, “How nice and warm! What a beautiful fire!” 17The rest of the wood he makes into an idol, and then he bows down and worships it. He prays to it and says, “You are my god — save me!”
18Such people are too stupid to know what they are doing. They close their eyes and their minds to the truth. 19The maker of idols hasn't the wit or the sense to say, “Some of the wood I burnt up. I baked some bread on the embers and I roasted meat and ate it. And the rest of the wood I made into an idol. Here I am bowing down to a block of wood!”
20It makes as much sense#44.20 It makes as much sense; or It will do as much good. as eating ashes. His foolish ideas have so misled him that he is beyond help. He won't admit to himself that the idol he holds in his hand is not a god at all.
The LORD, the Creator and Saviour
21The LORD says,
“Israel, remember this;
remember that you are my servant.
I created you to be my servant,
and I will never forget you.
22I have swept your sins away like a cloud.
Come back to me; I am the one who saves you.”
23Shout for joy, you heavens!
Shout, deep places of the earth!
Shout for joy, mountains, and every tree of the forest!
The LORD has shown his greatness
by saving his people Israel.
24“I am the LORD, your saviour;
I am the one who created you.
I am the LORD, the Creator of all things.
I alone stretched out the heavens;
when I made the earth, no one helped me.
25 #
1 Cor 1.20
I make fools of fortune tellers
and frustrate the predictions of astrologers.
The words of the wise I refute
and show that their wisdom is foolishness.
26But when my servant makes a prediction,
when I send a messenger to reveal my plans,
I make those plans and predictions come true.
I tell Jerusalem that people will live there again,
and the cities of Judah that they will be rebuilt.
Those cities will rise from the ruins.
27With a word of command I dry up the ocean.
28 #
2 Chr 36.23; Ezra 1.2 I say to Cyrus, ‘You are the one who will rule for me;
you will do what I want you to do:
you will order Jerusalem to be rebuilt
and the Temple foundations to be laid.’ ”
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.