Isaiah 44

The LORD comforts his people with the promise of his Spirit poured out like water on dry ground. He declares that he alone is God, and mocks the folly of men who burn half a tree for warmth and bow down to the other half. The chapter ends with forgiveness, a call to return, and the promise that Jerusalem will be rebuilt.

Isaiah 44:1

After warnings of judgment, God turns to his people with a tender ‘But now.’ He calls them servant and chosen. Their place with him rests on his choice and not on their record, and that is why he can speak comfort to them.

BSA: chosen (“selected, elected, to be My special people”): God picked Israel out for himself, so their standing comes from his love and not from their merit.

See also: Deuteronomy 7:6-7.

Isaiah 44:2

The God who shaped you before birth is the one who will help you now. So there is no reason to fear. ‘Jeshurun’ is a affectionate title for Israel, meaning the upright one. It shows what God intends his people to be.

BSA: formed (“shaped, molded”): God worked on his people like a potter, so he knows them and cares for what he made.

Hebrew: יְשֻׁרוּן (Yeshurun, H3484) — “the upright one.” It is a pet name built on the Hebrew word for upright. God speaks to Israel by the name of what he wants them to become.

See also: Psalm 139:13.

Isaiah 44:3

God promises water for the thirsty land and, in the same breath, his Spirit for the next generation. Dry ground pictures a people who are spiritually parched. The Spirit brings life and blessing that they could never produce themselves.

BSA: Spirit (“breath of life, divine presence”): The Spirit is God’s own life-giving presence, which makes dry people live.

See also: Joel 2:28; John 7:37-39.

Isaiah 44:4

When the Spirit comes, the result is fast, healthy growth. The picture is of willows beside a stream: they stay green because the water never stops. A life near God’s supply flourishes even in a dry land.

BSA: willows (“or poplar trees”): These are thirsty trees that grow quickly beside water, a picture of life that depends on a constant supply.

See also: Psalm 1:3.

Isaiah 44:5

People will openly claim the LORD as theirs. Some will say it aloud, some will take the family name of Jacob, and some will write on the hand. The picture is of joyful, public belonging, where others once turned away.

BSA: LORD’s (“a mark of ownership and devotion”): Writing his name on the hand marks a person as his possession and shows wholehearted loyalty.

Hebrew: יִכְתֹּב (yikhtov, H3789) — “will write.” Writing on the hand pictures a personal, visible mark of belonging, in the way an owner marks what is his.

Isaiah 44:6

The LORD introduces himself as King and Redeemer. He is the first and the last, with nothing before him and nothing after him. No other God exists beside him. He is both ruler of all and rescuer of his people.

BSA: Redeemer (“one who buys back or rescues”): God acts like a close relative who pays the price to set his people free.

Hebrew: גֹּאֲלוֹ (go’alo, H1350) — “his redeemer.” The word was used of a family member who stepped in to rescue a relative in trouble. God says he does this for Israel.

See also: Revelation 1:17.

Isaiah 44:7

God puts every rival on trial. Let anyone who claims to be a god say so, and prove it by announcing the future the way the LORD has. He has guided his people from ancient times, and no idol can match that.

BSA: established (“appointed, set in order”): God arranged his people’s history on purpose, which is why he can speak of what lies ahead.

See also: Isaiah 46:9-10.

Isaiah 44:8

Because God has spoken ahead of time, his people need not tremble. They have heard his promises and seen them kept, so they are his witnesses. He is the only Rock, the one sure place to stand.

BSA: witnesses (“testifiers, those who have seen”): Israel can testify from experience that God’s word comes true. Rock (“refuge, stronghold”): God is a safe place to run to when everything else gives way.

Hebrew: צוּר (tsur, H6697) — “rock.” A rock was a high cliff where people hid from enemies. Calling God a Rock says he is solid, safe and unchanging.

See also: Deuteronomy 32:4.

Isaiah 44:9

Now the prophet turns to idol-makers. Their work comes to nothing, and what they love is useless. Their witnesses are blind, so those who trust the idols end in shame.

BSA: nothing (“empty, worthless”): Idols have no substance, and those who make them end up empty too.

Hebrew: תֹהוּ (tohu, H8414) — “emptiness, formlessness.” This is the same word used for the empty, shapeless earth in Genesis 1:2. Idol-makers shape something that is really emptiness.

Isaiah 44:10-11

No one gains anything from making a god that cannot help. The craftsmen are only mortal, so a human made what he is asked to worship. If they all stood together before the true God, they would be terrified and ashamed.

BSA: profits (“benefits, gains, ho’il”): The idol brings no benefit, though the maker has put his whole effort into it.

Isaiah 44:12

The prophet describes the metalworker at his fire. He toils, sweats and tires. The man making the god gets hungry and faint, while the god he makes needs no food or strength because it has no life at all.

BSA: faint (“weary, exhausted”): The idol-maker is worn out, which shows how weak the source of his ‘god’ is.

Isaiah 44:13

The woodworker measures, marks and carves with great care. He shapes the wood into the form of a man so it can sit in a shrine. The god is only a human likeness, made by a human hand and set in a house that humans built.

BSA: likeness (“pattern, model”): The idol is simply copied from a human shape, so man is imitating himself and calling it God.

Hebrew: בַּיִת (bayit, H1004) — “house.” The Hebrew word here is simply ‘house.’ The carved figure is given a house to live in, like a pet, though the real God made the universe.

Isaiah 44:14-15

The same tree serves two purposes. Someone plants a tree and the rain makes it grow. Then he cuts it down and uses it for firewood to warm himself and bake bread. Part of the tree becomes an idol that he worships.

BSA: rain (“a shower, refreshing downpour”): The rain that grows the tree comes from the true God, whom the idol-maker ignores.

Isaiah 44:16

Half the wood is burned to cook his meal and to keep him warm. He eats until he is full and enjoys the fire. All of it is ordinary, useful wood, and the other half of the same log is treated as divine.

BSA: satisfied (“filled, content”): The wood does its ordinary job well, and that makes worshiping the other half even more absurd.

Isaiah 44:17

He takes what is left over and makes it a god. Then he bows to it and prays, ‘Save me.’ He asks help from a leftover scrap. Salvation belongs to the living God alone.

BSA: Save me (“rescue, deliver”): He asks the block of wood for the one thing only God can give, deliverance.

See also: Isaiah 45:20-22.

Isaiah 44:18

Such people do not understand. Their eyes are shut and their minds closed. Scripture describes this blindness as something that God allows, and also as something that people bring on themselves by clinging to what is false.

BSA: shut (“closed or sealed”): Their sight is sealed over, so they cannot see even what is plain.

Hebrew: טַח (tach, H2902) — “plastered over, smeared.” The word pictures the eyes being coated over like a wall covered with plaster. Light is there, but nothing gets through.

Isaiah 44:19

No one stops to think. The very same log gave him a meal and a warm fire, and he calls the rest a god. Just a moment of honest thought would show it as a detestable thing.

BSA: detestable (“abhorrent, disgusting”): God sees idol worship as something hateful because it robs him of what is his.

Hebrew: תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, H8441) — “abomination, detestable thing.” This is a strong word in Scripture for what God finds loathsome. It treats idolatry as a moral wrong and not merely a mistake.

Isaiah 44:20

Chasing after idols is like feeding on ashes. It looks like food but gives nothing. The man’s heart is misled, and he cannot see that the thing in his right hand is a lie.

BSA: ashes (“the dust of a dead fire, worthless remains”): He is eating what is left after the fire has burned out, which cannot feed anyone.

Hebrew: שֶׁקֶר (sheqer, H8267) — “lie, falsehood.” An idol is a lie in solid form. It promises help and delivers none.

See also: Romans 1:25.

Isaiah 44:21

God tells Israel to remember all this. They are his servants, and he made them. The most comforting words come at the end: ‘I will never forget you.’ A people God made are not forgotten by him.

BSA: forget (“neglect or disregard”): God will never overlook his people or let them drop out of his care.

See also: Isaiah 49:15.

Isaiah 44:22

God wipes out sins as the sun burns off a morning mist. The call to return rests on what he has already done: he has redeemed them. We come back because the price is paid, and not to earn it.

BSA: blotted out (“wiped away, erased”): God does not just cover sin but removes it completely. redeemed (“bought back, set free”): The price has been paid, so returning to God is coming home to what is already secured.

Hebrew: מָחִיתִי (machiti, H4229) — “I have wiped away.” The verb is the one used for wiping a dish clean or erasing writing. It is in the past tense, as something already accomplished.

See also: Psalm 103:12; Acts 3:19.

Isaiah 44:23

The whole creation is invited to sing. Heavens, earth, mountains and forests all join in because the LORD has redeemed Jacob. His rescue of one people shows his glory to the whole world.

BSA: glory (“beauty, splendor”): God’s saving work displays how beautiful and magnificent he is.

See also: Psalm 98:7-9.

Isaiah 44:24

The LORD is Redeemer and Creator both. The one who shaped Israel in the womb also made everything, with no helper. If he made the heavens and the earth by himself, nothing stands in the way of his promises.

BSA: alone (“by myself, without help”): God needed no helper or rival god in creating or in saving.

See also: Genesis 1:1.

Isaiah 44:25

God also overturns the false claims of religion and human cleverness. Those who predict the future by omens end up looking foolish, and the wise find their knowledge turned into nonsense, because it is God who writes history.

BSA: foils (“frustrates, makes void”): God makes the predictions of false prophets come to nothing.

See also: 1 Corinthians 1:20.

Isaiah 44:26

In contrast to the false prophets, God proves true the word of his real servants. He promises that Jerusalem will have people living in it again and that the ruined cities of Judah will be rebuilt. What he says, he does.

BSA: confirms (“establishes, fulfills”): God does not leave his messengers’ words hanging but brings them to pass.

Isaiah 44:27

God speaks to the deep waters and they dry up. This recalls how he dried up the sea for his people at the Exodus, and it shows that no obstacle is too great for him to remove when he has promised to rescue.

BSA: currents (“rivers, streams, floods”): Even the strongest waters obey his command.

See also: Exodus 14:21-22.

Isaiah 44:28

God names Cyrus, a Persian king who did not know him, as his shepherd. Through Cyrus he will see Jerusalem rebuilt and the temple foundation laid. God works through whom he chooses to carry out his purposes for his people.

BSA: shepherd (“one who cares for my people”): God gives Cyrus a shepherd’s task of leading his scattered people home.

Hebrew: רֹעִי (ro’i, H7462) — “my shepherd.” Shepherd was a common title for kings in the ancient world. God calls a foreign king his own shepherd for the work he gives him.

See also: Ezra 1:1-3.