44 1 The Lord promiseth comfort, and that he will assemble his Church of divers nations. 9 The vanity of Idols. 17 The beastliness of idolaters.
1 Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant, and Israel whom I have chosen.
2 Thus saith the Lord, that made thee, and formed [a]thee from the womb: he will help thee. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, and thou righteous [b]whom I have chosen.
3 For I will pour water upon the [c]thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thy buds.
4 And they [d]shall grow as among the grass, and as the willows by the rivers of waters.
5 One shall say, I am the Lord’s: another [e]shall be called by the name of Jacob: and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord, and name himself by the name of Israel.
6 Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel and his redeemer, the Lord of hosts, [f]I am the first, and I am the last, and without me is there no God.
7 And who is like me, that shall [g]call and shall declare it, and set [h]it in order before me, since I appointed the [i]ancient people? and what is at hand, and what things are to come? let [j]them show unto them.
8 Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee of old, and have declared it? [k]you are even my witnesses, whether there be a God beside me, and that there is no God that I know not.
9 All they that make an image, are vanity, and [l]their delectable things shall nothing profit: and they are their own witnesses, [m]that they see not nor know: therefore they shall be confounded.
10 Who hath made a [n]god, or molten an image, that is [o]profitable for nothing?
11 Behold, all that are of the [p]fellowship thereof, shall be confounded: for the workmen themselves are men: let them all be gathered together, and [q]stand up, yet they shall fear, and be confounded together.
12 The smith taketh an instrument, and worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms, yea, he is [r]an hungered, and his strength faileth, he drinketh no water, and is faint.
13 The carpenter stretcheth forth a line, he fashioneth it with a red thread, he planeth it, and he portrayeth it with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, and according to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in [s]an house.
14 He will hew him down cedars, and take the pine tree and the oak, and taketh courage among the trees of the forest; he planteth a fir tree, and the rain doth nourish it.
15 And man burneth thereof; for he will take thereof, and [t]warm himself: he also kindleth it, and baketh bread, yet he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it an idol, and boweth unto it.
16 He burneth the half thereof even in the fire, and upon the half thereof he [u]eateth flesh; he roasteth the roast, and is satisfied; also he warmeth himself and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have been at the fire.
17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his idol; he boweth unto it, and worshippeth and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.
18 They have not known, nor understood: [v]for God hath shut their eyes that they cannot see, and their heart, that they cannot understand.
19 And none [w]considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burnt half of it, even in the fire, and have baked bread also upon the coals thereof: I have roasted flesh, and eaten it, and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I bow to the stock of a tree?
20 He feedeth [x]of ashes: a seduced heart hath deceived him, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
21 [y]Remember these (O Jacob and Israel) for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel forget me not.
22 I have put away thy transgressions like a cloud, and thy sins as a mist; turn unto me, for I have redeemed thee.
23 [z]Rejoice ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it; shout, ye lower parts of the earth; burst forth into praises, ye mountains, O forest and every tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel.
24 Thus saith the Lord thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that made all things, that spread out the heavens alone, and stretched out the earth by myself.
25 I destroy the [aa]tokens of the soothsayers, and make them that conjecture, fools, and turn the wise men backward, and make their knowledge foolishness.
26 ¶ He confirmeth the word of his [ab]servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers, saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited: and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built up, and I will repair the decayed places thereof.
27 He saith to the [ac]deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy floods.
28 He saith to [ad]Cyrus, Thou art my shepherd, and he shall perform all my desire: saying also to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the Temple, Thy foundation shall be surely laid.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 44:2 He treated and chose thee from the beginning of his own mercy, and before thou couldest merit anything.
- Isaiah 44:2 Whom God accepteth as righteous: or which haddest occasion thereunto because of the Law, and of thine holy vocation.
- Isaiah 44:3 Because man of himself is as the dry and barren land, he promiseth to moisten him with the waters of his holy Spirit, Joel 2:28; John 7:38; Acts 2:17.
- Isaiah 44:4 That is, thy children and posterity shall increase wonderfully after their deliverance from Babylon.
- Isaiah 44:5 By this diversity of speech he meaneth one thing, that is, that the people shall be holy, and receive the true religion of God, as Ps. 87:5.
- Isaiah 44:6 I am always like myself, that is, merciful toward my Church, and most able to maintain it, as Isa. 41:4 and 48:12; Rev. 1:17 and 22:13.
- Isaiah 44:7 And appoint them that shall deliver the Church.
- Isaiah 44:7 That is, declare unto me how I ought to proceed herein.
- Isaiah 44:7 God calleth the Israelites ancient, because he preferred them to all others in his eternal election.
- Isaiah 44:7 Meaning, their idols.
- Isaiah 44:8 Read Isa. 43:10.
- Isaiah 44:9 Whatsoever they bestow upon their idols, to make them to seem glorious.
- Isaiah 44:9 That is, the idolaters seeing their idols blind, most needs be witnesses of their own blindness, and feeling that they are not able to help them, must confess that they have no power.
- Isaiah 44:10 Meaning, that whatsoever is made by the hand of man, if he be esteemed as God, is most detestable.
- Isaiah 44:10 Whereby appeareth their blasphemy, which call images the books of the laity, seeing that they are not only here called unprofitable, but Isa 41:24 abominable, and Jeremiah calleth them the work of errors, Jer. 10:15; Habakkuk, a lying teacher, Hab. 2:18.
- Isaiah 44:11 That is, which by any way consent either to the making or worshipping.
- Isaiah 44:11 Signifying, that the multitude shall not then save the idolaters, when God will take vengeance, although they excuse themselves thereby among men.
- Isaiah 44:12 He describeth the raging affection of the idolaters, which forget their own necessities to set forth their devotion toward their idols.
- Isaiah 44:13 To place it in some Temple.
- Isaiah 44:15 He setteth forth the obstinacy and malice of the idolaters, which though they see by daily experience that their idols are no better than the rest of the matter whereof they are made, yet they refuse the one part, and make a god of the other, as the Papists make their cake god, and the rest of their idols.
- Isaiah 44:16 That is, he either maketh a table or trenchers.
- Isaiah 44:18 The Prophet giveth here an answer to all them that wonder how it is possible that any should be so blind to commit such abomination, saying, that God hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts.
- Isaiah 44:19 Hebrew, turneth.
- Isaiah 44:20 He is abused as one that would eat ashes, thinking to satisfy his hunger.
- Isaiah 44:21 Showing that man’s heart is most inclined to idolatry, and therefore he warneth his people by these examples, that they should not cleave to any but to the living God, when they should be among the idolaters.
- Isaiah 44:23 He showeth that the work of the Lord toward his people shall be so great, that the insensible creatures shall be moved therewith.
- Isaiah 44:25 He armeth them against the soothsayers of Babylon, which would have borne them in hand, that they knew by the stars, that God would not deliver them, and that Babylon should stand.
- Isaiah 44:26 Of Isaiah and the rest of his Prophets, which did assure the Church of God’s favor and deliverance.
- Isaiah 44:27 He showeth that God’s work should be no less notable in this their deliverance, than when he brought them out of Egypt, through the sea.
- Isaiah 44:28 To assure them of their deliverance, he nameth the person by whom it should be, more than an hundred years before he was born.