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ISAIAH INSTITUTE TRANSLATION

  Isaiah

44

Isaiah 44

Jehovah’s servant resembles Moses and Cyrus in dissuading people from idols and rebuilding the temple.

1 Hear now, Jacob my servant,and Israel whom I have chosen. 2 Thus says Jehovah, your Maker,who formed you from the womb and succored you:Be not afraid, O Jacob, my servant,and Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
3 I will pour water on the thirsty soil,showers upon the dry ground;I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,my blessing upon your posterity. 4 They shall shoot up like grassamong streamsa of water,like willows by running brooks. 5 One will say, I am Jehovah’s,and another name himself Jacob.Yet others will inscribe on their arm, To Jehovah,and adopt the name Israel.
6 Thus says Jehovah, the King of Israel,Jehovah of Hosts, their Redeemer:I was at the first and I am at the last;apart from me there is no God. 7 Who predicts bwhat happensb as do I,and is the equal of mein appointing a people from of old cas types,cforetelling things to come? 8 Be not perturbed or shaken.Have I not made it known to you from of old?Did I not foretell it, you being my witnesses?Is there a God, then, apart from me?There is no Rock unknown to me.
9 All who manufacture idols are deranged;the things they cherish profit nothing.Those who promote them are themselvessightless and mindless, to their own dismay. 10 Who would fashion a god or cast an idolthat cannot benefit them? 11 Their whole society is confused;their fabricators are mere mortals.Were they all to assembleand take their stand before me,they would at once cringe in fear.
12 The smith with his tools works the iron over the coalsand gives it shape by hammering;he forges his god by the strength of his arm:when he becomes hungry, he no longer has strength;if he fails to drink water, he begins to grow faint.
13 The woodworker draws a diagram,sketching his idol with a marker.He creates it by chiseling to the outline of the dividers;he gives it a human likeness, resembling man’s beauty,fit to lodge in a house.
14 He is required to cut down cedars;he must select holms and oaksand care for them among the trees of the forest.He plants firs, which the rain makes grow: 15 that which serves men as fuel,which they use to warm themselvesor light fire with to bake bread,of that they create gods which they adore,from it they make idols to which they stoop.
16 Half of it they burn in the fire.dOver it they broil a roast;dthey eat the meat and are satisfied.They also warm themselves and say,Ah, it is warm ein front ofe the fire! 17 From the rest they make a god, their idol,to which they bow in adoration and pray,Save us; you are our god!
18 They have become unaware and insensible;their eyes are glazed so they cannot see,their minds are incapable of discernment. 19 They reflect not,nor have the sense or comprehension to say,A part of this I burned in the fire;I also baked bread in its embers,roasted meat and ate it.Am I not making an abomination of what is left?Do I not stoop to a mere lump of wood? 20 They are followers of ashes;their deluded minds have distracted them.They cannot liberate themselves from them or say,Surely this thing in my hand is a fraud.
21 Ponder these things, O Jacob, and you,f O Israel,for you are my servant.I have created you to be my servant, O Israel;Do not disregard me. 22 I have removed your offenses like a thick fog,your sins like a cloud of mist.Return to me; I have redeemed you. 23 Sing, O heavens, for what Jehovah has done;cause it to resound, O earth beneath!Burst into song, O mountains,forests, and all trees therein:Jehovah has redeemed Jacob;he shall be glorified in Israel.
24 Thus says Jehovah, your Redeemer,who formed you from the womb:I am Jehovah, the Maker of all things,who alone suspends the heavens,who himself gives form to the earth, 25 who annuls the predictions of impostorsand makes fools of diviners,who turns wise men aboutand makes nonsense of their knowledge, 26 who fulfills the word of his servant,accomplishes the aims of his messengers,who says of Jerusalem, It shall be reinhabited,and of the cities of Judah, They shall be rebuilt,their ruins I will restore, 27 who says to the deep, Become dry;I am drying up your currents, 28 who says of Cyrus, He is my shepherd;he will do whatever I will.He will say of Jerusalem that it must be rebuilt,its temple foundations relaid.

  • a4 So LXX; term not in MT.
  • b7 Hebrew yiqrāᵓ, will call, emended to yiqrâ.
  • c7 Hebrew wěᵓōtîyôt, the coming things, emended to kěᵓōtôt; compare 8:18; 1QIsaa; 45:11.
  • d16 Phrase transposed (compare v 19); in the text it follows eat the meat.
  • e16 So 1QIsaa; MT I see.
  • f21 Word transposed; in the text it follows created you.


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