Isaiah 44

But now listen, Jacob, my servant, and Israel, the people I chose.

1Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen:

Note"Jacob" and "Israel" here are names for the whole nation, not the individual. Israel was the second name given to Jacob, and both names were used for the people descended from him. Also, where the text prints LORD in capitals it stands for the personal name of God in Hebrew, four consonants usually written YHWH; Jewish practice was to say "Lord" instead of pronouncing it, and English translations follow that by printing LORD.

2This is what the LORD says, the one who made you and shaped you from before your birth, and who will help you: Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant, and Jeshurun, the people I chose.

2Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.

Note"Jeshurun" (spelled "Jesurun" in the King James) is a rare poetic nickname for Israel, used only four times in the Hebrew Bible. It appears to be built on a root meaning "upright" or "straight," so it works something like "the upright one."

3For I will pour water on thirsty ground, and streams on dry land. I will pour out my Spirit on your children, and my blessing on those who come after you.

3For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:

NoteThe word translated "Spirit" is the Hebrew *ruach*, which also means breath and wind. The image runs continuously from the poured water of the first half of the verse into the poured spirit of the second. The King James "thy seed" means descendants; it has nothing to do with plant seed.

4They will sprout up among the grass, like willow trees beside flowing streams.

4And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.

5One person will say, "I belong to the LORD." Another will call himself by the name of Jacob. Another will write on his hand, "The LORD's," and will take the name Israel.

5One shall say, I am the LORD’s; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel.

NoteWriting a name on the hand was a public mark of belonging: servants and slaves could be marked with their owner's name, and the gesture also resembles signing one's name to a document. The point is that people will publicly enroll themselves as belonging to the LORD and to Israel, including, the wording suggests, people not born into the nation.

6This is what the LORD says, the King of Israel and the one who buys his people back, the LORD of Armies: I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God except me.

6Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.

Note"Redeemer" (in the rendering, "the one who buys his people back") translates the Hebrew *go'el*, a legal term from family law. The *go'el* was the nearest relative, whose duty was to buy back a kinsman's land that had been sold, or to buy the kinsman himself out of slavery. Calling God Israel's *go'el* casts him in that family role toward a nation in exile. "LORD of hosts" / "LORD of Armies" is a standard title meaning commander of the heavenly armies.

7Who is like me? Let him speak up. Let him tell it and lay it out in order before me, going back to the time I set up the people of long ago. And let such gods tell them what is coming, the things that are still to happen.

7And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them.

NoteThe Hebrew of the middle clause is unclear and translators divide over it. It can mean "since I established an ancient, enduring people" (Israel, set up long ago), or "since I appointed the people of long ago," or even "since I set up the everlasting one." The rendering keeps the ambiguity rather than choosing.

8Do not tremble and do not be afraid. Did I not tell you this long ago, and announce it? You yourselves are my witnesses. Is there any God except me? No, there is no other rock. I know of none.

8Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.

Note"Rock" was a common title for a god, meaning a place of shelter and secure footing. The King James has "there is no God"; the Hebrew word is the ordinary word for rock. The talk of witnesses belongs to a courtroom scene running through this chapter: the LORD and the other gods are pictured as parties to a lawsuit, each summoning witnesses to prove they predicted events in advance.

9Everyone who makes a carved idol is nothing, and the things they treasure are worth nothing. The idols' own witnesses see nothing and know nothing, so they end up ashamed.

9They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.

NoteThis continues the courtroom scene. The idols' worshipers are called as the idols' witnesses, and the sarcasm is that these witnesses can neither see nor understand, the same defects the passage attributes to the idols themselves.

10Who would shape a god or cast a metal idol that is good for nothing?

10Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?

11Look, everyone who joins in this will be ashamed. The craftsmen are only human. Let them all gather together and take their stand. They will be terrified and ashamed together.

11Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.

12The blacksmith takes his tool and works over the coals. He shapes the idol with hammers and works it with his strong arms. But he gets hungry and his strength gives out. He drinks no water and grows faint.

12The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint.

NoteThe King James "the smith with the tongs" reflects a Hebrew word whose meaning is uncertain; it may be a tool such as an axe or chisel, or possibly mean that the smith works in iron. The hunger, thirst and faintness are the human craftsman's, contrasted with the god he is manufacturing.

13The woodworker stretches out his measuring line and marks the shape with a marker. He works it with chisels and marks it out with a compass. He makes it look like a man, a handsome man, to sit in a shrine.

13The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.

Note"Compass" here does not mean a magnetic compass for finding direction. It means a pair of dividers or calipers, the drafting tool used to scribe circles and arcs. The "house" at the end of the verse is a shrine or small temple built to hold the finished image.

14He cuts down cedars, or picks out a cypress or an oak, letting it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a laurel tree, and the rain makes it grow.

14He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.

NoteThe tree the King James calls an "ash" cannot be identified with confidence; other translations guess laurel, pine or cedar. The detail that matters is that these are ordinary timber trees, planted and watered by rain like any other crop.

15Then it becomes fuel for a person. He takes some of it and warms himself. He lights a fire and bakes bread. He also makes a god out of it and worships it. He makes a carved idol and bows down to it.

15Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.

16He burns half of the wood in the fire. Over that half he cooks meat. He eats the roast and is full. He warms himself too, and says, "Ah, I am warm. I can see the fire."

16He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:

Note"I have seen the fire" is an idiom for enjoying its blaze and heat, roughly "I can feel the glow of it."

17Out of what is left he makes a god, his carved idol. He bows down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, "Rescue me, for you are my god."

17And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.

18They do not know and do not understand. He has shut their eyes so they cannot see, and closed their minds so they cannot understand.

18They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.

19No one stops to think it over. No one has the knowledge or the sense to say, "I burned half of it in the fire. I even baked bread on its coals. I roasted meat and ate it. Should I make the rest into something disgusting? Should I bow down to a block of wood?"

19And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?

Note"Abomination" (rendered "something disgusting") translates a standard Hebrew word for something ritually repulsive; it is used so often of idols that it had become almost a synonym for them. The "stock of a tree" is a block or log of wood.

20He feeds on ashes. A heart that has fooled him has led him off the path. He cannot save himself, and he cannot say, "Isn't this thing in my right hand a lie?"

20He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

Note"He feeds on ashes" is an idiom for taking in something with no substance, as pointless as eating what is left after a fire. "A lie in my right hand" means the idol he is holding: the object itself is the falsehood.

21Remember these things, Jacob and Israel, for you are my servant. I made you; you are my servant. Israel, I will not forget you.

21Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.

22I have wiped away the wrong you did, the way a cloud is swept away, and your sins, like a mist. Come back to me, for I have bought you back.

22I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.

Note"Blotted out" is the language of writing: ink washed or scraped off a document, as a debt is canceled by erasing the record. The two comparisons are to a heavy cloud and a thin mist, both of which burn off and leave nothing.

23Sing, you heavens, for the LORD has done this. Shout, you depths of the earth. Burst into song, you mountains, and you forest with every tree in it. For the LORD has bought Jacob back, and has shown his glory in Israel.

23Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.

Note"Lower parts of the earth" translates a phrase that can mean the depths of the ground, the underworld of the dead, or simply the world below the sky as opposed to the heavens above. The verse calls the whole created order, top to bottom, to shout.

24This is what the LORD says, the one who buys you back, who shaped you from before your birth: I am the LORD, who made everything, who stretched out the heavens alone, who spread out the earth by myself.

24Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;

25I ruin the signs given by false prophets and make fools of fortune-tellers. I turn wise men back and make their knowledge look foolish.

25That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;

Note"Tokens" means signs or omens. "Diviners" were professionals who read the future from physical signs, the markings on a sacrificed animal's liver, the movement of stars, the fall of arrows or lots. Such specialists were a normal and respected part of Babylonian public life, which is the setting these verses have in view.

26I make the word of my servant come true and carry out what my messengers say. I say of Jerusalem, "People will live in you again," and of the towns of Judah, "You will be rebuilt, and I will raise up their ruins."

26That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof:

Note"Messengers" here means the prophets, people sent to deliver a message on someone's behalf; the Hebrew word is the ordinary one for an envoy. "The decayed places" means the ruins of the towns.

27I say to the deep waters, "Dry up," and I will dry up your rivers.

27That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:

Note"The deep" is the usual word for the sea or deep water. The same drying language is used elsewhere of the sea at the exodus from Egypt, and the mention of rivers alongside it also suits the canals and waterways that defended Babylon.

28I say of Cyrus, "He is my shepherd, and he will do everything I want." I say of Jerusalem, "You will be rebuilt," and of the temple, "Your foundation will be laid."

28That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.

NoteCyrus was the Persian king who took Babylon in 539 BC and afterwards permitted deported peoples, Judeans among them, to return home and rebuild their sanctuaries. "Shepherd" was a standard royal title across the ancient Near East, meaning a ruler who feeds and protects his people; it is not a religious title. "The temple" is the temple in Jerusalem, destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC.