The Book of the Prophet Isaiah 44 The Sovereignty of God; The Vanity of Idols

 The Book of the Prophet Isaiah 44

The Sovereignty of God; The Vanity of Idols

1 Now therefore hear, O Jacob, my servant, and you, O Israel, whom I have chosen.

2 Thus says the Lord, who created you, who formed you from the womb, who will help you: Do not fear, O Jacob, my servant, and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.

4 They will spring up among the grass, like willows by the streams of water.

5 This one will say, 'I am the Lord,' and that one will be called by the name of Jacob; and that one will write with his hand, 'I am the Lord,' and he will be called by the 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, and besides me there is no God.

7 And who will call like me, and declare this, and set it in order before me, since I appointed an eternal people? He will declare the things to come, and the things that are yet to come.

8 Do not be dismayed, nor be afraid; have I not since made it known to you, and declared it to you? For you are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock that I know.

9 All the makers of carved images are vanity, and their most desirable things are of no value; and their witnesses themselves see nothing or understand nothing, so that they are confounded.

10 Who forms a god, and casts a carved image, which is of no value? 

11 Behold, all his followers will be ashamed, for the craftsmen themselves are from among men; let them all assemble and stand up; they will be dismayed, and be put to shame together.

12 The smith makes the axe, and works in the coals, and shapes it with hammers, and works it with the strength of his arm; he is hungry, and his strength fails, and he drinks no water, and he faints.

13 The carpenter stretches out the rule, uses the awl, he makes plan with the plank, and marks it out with the compass; and he made his god in the likeness of a man, in the form of a man, to dwell in the house.

14 He took for himself cedars, or a cypress or an oak, and strives against the trees of the forest; he plants an elm, and the rain makes it grow.

15 Then they will serve man for the burning; With it he warms himself and bakes bread. He also makes a god and bows down before it. He makes a carved image and kneels before it.

16 Half of it he burns in the fire, and with the other half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, "I am warm, I have seen the fire."

17 Then with the rest he makes a god, a carved image; he kneels down before it and bows down and prays to it, saying, "Deliver me, for you are my god."

18 They know nothing, nor do they understand; for their eyes have been covered so that they cannot see, and their hearts so that they cannot understand. 

19 And none of them lays it to heart, neither do they have the knowledge nor the understanding to say, 'I burned half of it in the fire, and baked bread on its coals, and roasted meat on it, and ate it; and should I make the rest an abomination? Should I bow down to what came out of a tree?

20 He feeds on ashes; his heart has deceived him; so that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, 'Is there not a lie in my right hand?'