UNROLL
Early morning by a bright, flowing stream: a row of willows and poplars along the bank in fresh leaf, new green grass to the water's edge, under a calm, pale, empty sky.

Comfort My people

Isaiah 44

Whose name would you write on your hand?

28 verses≈ 7 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1–5Zion on trialJudah’s sin, the mountain raised, the vineyard’s song
  2. 6Holy, holy, holyIsaiah’s call, in the year King Uzziah died (about 740 BC)
  3. 7–12ImmanuelAhaz’s fear, the sign, the Child, the shoot of Jesse
  4. 13–23The nations judgedBabylon to Tyre: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
  5. 24–27The whole earthThe earth laid waste, and death swallowed up
  6. 28–35Woe and a KingEgypt’s help or the LORD’s, and the King in His beauty
  7. 36–39Hezekiah’s crisisSennacherib, 701 BC: the prayer, the sickness, the envoys
  8. 40–48Comfort My peopleTo the exiles ahead: Cyrus, the idols, the ServantChapter 44
  9. 49–55The Servant and ZionPierced for our transgressions; Zion restored
  10. 56–66New heavens and earthA house of prayer, the Anointed One, all things new

The LORD Has Chosen Israel

God

But now listen, O Jacob My servant,

Israel, whom I have chosen.

This is the word of the LORD, your Maker,

who formed you from the womb and who will help you:

“Do not be afraid, O Jacob My servant,

Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

God
A heavy rain shower sweeps over a cracked, sun-baked field in the hill country; the first rivulets run across the dry earth and a few green shoots stand at the field's edge, sunlight breaking behind the shower.

For I will pour water on the thirsty land,

and currents on the dry ground.

I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants,

and My blessing on your offspring.

They will sprout among the grass

like willows by flowing streams.

God

One will say, ‘I belong to the LORD,’

another will call himself by the name of Jacob,

and still another will write on his hand, ‘The LORD’s,’

and will take the name of Israel.”

God

Thus says the LORD, the King and Redeemer of Israel, the LORD of Hosts: “I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God but Me.

God

Who then is like Me?

Let him say so!

Let him declare his case before Me,

since I established an ancient people.

Let him foretell the things to come,

and what is to take place.

God

Do not tremble or fear.

Have I not told you and declared it long ago?

You are My witnesses!

Is there any God but Me?

There is no other Rock;

I know not one.”

Isaiah

All makers of idols are nothing,

and the things they treasure are worthless.

Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend,

so they are put to shame.

Who fashions a god or casts an idol

which profits him nothing?

Behold, all his companions will be put to shame,

for the craftsmen themselves are only human.

Let them all assemble and take their stand;

they will all be brought to terror and shame.

Isaiah
A smith's forge in a Babylonian workshop with no one there: coals glowing in a clay hearth, a hammer and tongs laid down on a stone anvil beside a small half-formed metal idol, a clay water jar tipped over and empty.

The blacksmith takes a tool

and labors over the coals;

he fashions an idol with hammers

and forges it with his strong arms.

Yet he grows hungry and loses his strength;

he fails to drink water and grows faint.

Isaiah
Isaiah

The woodworker extends a measuring line;

he marks it out with a stylus;

he shapes it with chisels

and outlines it with a compass.

He fashions it in the likeness of man,

like man in all his glory,

that it may dwell in a shrine.

Isaiah
In a forest of tall trees after rain, a freshly felled cedar trunk lies on the slope beside its stump, a bronze axe resting against it, and nearby a young laurel sapling newly planted in dark, wet earth.

He cuts down cedars

or retrieves a cypress or oak.

He lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest.

He plants a laurel, and the rain makes it grow.

Isaiah
Isaiah

It serves as fuel for man.

He takes some of it to warm himself,

and he kindles a fire

and bakes his bread.

He also fashions it into a god and worships it;

he makes an idol and bows down to it.

He burns half of it in the fire,

and he roasts meat on that half.

He eats the roast and is satisfied.

Indeed, he warms himself and says,

“Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.”

Isaiah

From the rest he makes a god, his graven image.

He bows down to it and worships;

he prays to it and says,

“Save me, for you are my god.”

Question

Quick question

Isaiah tells the woodworker’s day step by step: the tree, the fire, the bread, the roast.

What does the woodworker do with the rest of his log (44:15–17)?

Isaiah

They do not comprehend or discern,

for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see

and closed their minds so they cannot understand.

Isaiah

And no one considers in his heart, no one has the knowledge or insight to say, “I burned half of it in the fire, and I baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make something detestable with the rest of it? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”

Isaiah
Gray morning light in the same courtyard: a cold clay oven full of gray ashes, and on a mud-brick shelf above it the rough wooden figure, plain and unfinished, dust on it.

He feeds on ashes.

His deluded heart has led him astray,

and he cannot deliver himself or say,

“Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”

One log, two halves

A tree heplanted44:14Half for thefire44:15–16: bread,roast, warmthHalf for a god44:15, 17: “Save me”No one stops tothink44:19A lie in hisright hand44:20

Whiteboard

The same block of wood warms him and is prayed to. Isaiah asks the question the idol-maker never asks himself.

Jerusalem to Be Restored

God

Remember these things, O Jacob,

for you are My servant, O Israel.

I have made you, and you are My servant;

O Israel, I will never forget you.

God

I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud,

and your sins like a mist.

Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.

Isaiah 44:22

Isaiah

Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this;

shout aloud, O depths of the earth.

Break forth in song, O mountains,

you forests and all your trees.

For the LORD has redeemed Jacob,

and revealed His glory in Israel.

God

Thus says the LORD,

your Redeemer who formed you from the womb:

“I am the LORD,

who has made all things,

who alone stretched out the heavens,

who by Myself spread out the earth,

who foils the signs of false prophets

and makes fools of diviners,

who confounds the wise

and turns their knowledge into nonsense,

God
God

who confirms the message of His servant

and fulfills the counsel of His messengers,

who says of Jerusalem,

‘She will be inhabited,’

and of the cities of Judah,

‘They will be rebuilt, and I will restore their ruins,’

God

who says to the depths of the sea,

‘Be dry, and I will dry up your currents,’

God
Dawn on the old temple site in Jerusalem, a cleared stony platform: a first line of great cut foundation stones laid on it, wooden rollers and levers at rest, no one there, under a pale sky.

who says of Cyrus,

‘My shepherd will fulfill all that I desire,’

who says of Jerusalem,

‘She will be rebuilt,’

and of the temple,

‘Let its foundation be laid.’”

0:11

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

Pray

LORD, open my eyes to what I am tempted to trust in Your place. Thank You that You blot out my sins like a cloud. You have not forgotten me; I return to You. Amen.

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Isaiah 44

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A verse to carry with you

I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.

Isaiah 44:22

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