Isaiah · WEB-C
Isaiah
44
Bible textSynthetic voice (AI)
Yet listen now, Jacob my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen. See also: Isaiah 41:8Romans 11:5-6Jeremiah 30:10This is what the LORD who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you says: “Don’t be afraid, Jacob my servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. See also: Jeremiah 1:5Isaiah 43:1Isaiah 46:3-4For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring; See also: Joel 2:28Acts 2:17Isaiah 59:21and they will spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses. See also: Isaiah 58:11Psalms 1:3Psalms 92:13-15One will say, ‘I am the LORD’s.’ Another will be called by the name of Jacob; and another will write with his hand ‘to the LORD,’ and honor the name of Israel.” See also: Zechariah 13:9Nehemiah 9:38Exodus 13:9This is what the LORD, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of Armies, says: “I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God. See also: Isaiah 41:4Isaiah 43:10-11Revelation 1:8Who is like me? Who will call, and will declare it, and set it in order for me, since I established the ancient people? Let them declare the things that are coming, and that will happen. See also: Isaiah 41:26Isaiah 46:9-10Isaiah 41:22Don’t fear, neither be afraid. Haven’t I declared it to you long ago, and shown it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is not. I don’t know any other Rock.” See also: Isaiah 43:101 Samuel 2:2Deuteronomy 4:35Everyone who makes a carved image is vain. The things that they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses don’t see, nor know, that they may be disappointed. See also: Jeremiah 10:14-15Isaiah 41:24Psalms 97:7Who has fashioned a god, or molds an image that is profitable for nothing? See also: Jeremiah 10:5Habakkuk 2:18Acts 19:26Behold, all his fellows will be disappointed; and the workmen are mere men. Let them all be gathered together. Let them stand up. They will fear. They will be put to shame together. See also: Isaiah 42:17Isaiah 45:16Isaiah 1:29The blacksmith takes an ax, works in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. He is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is faint. See also: Isaiah 41:6-7Isaiah 40:19Isaiah 46:6-7The carpenter stretches out a line. He marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes. He marks it out with compasses, and shapes it like the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to reside in a house. See also: Judges 17:4-5Psalms 115:5-7Romans 1:23He cuts down cedars for himself, and takes the cypress and the oak, and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest. He plants a cypress tree, and the rain nourishes it. See also: Isaiah 40:20Habakkuk 2:19Jeremiah 10:3-8Then it will be for a man to burn; and he takes some of it and warms himself. Yes, he burns it and bakes bread. Yes, he makes a god and worships it; he makes it a carved image, and falls down to it. See also: 2 Chronicles 25:14Isaiah 45:20Revelation 9:20He burns part of it in the fire. With part of it, he eats meat. He roasts a roast and is satisfied. Yes, he warms himself and says, “Aha! I am warm. I have seen the fire.” The rest of it he makes into a god, even his engraved image. He bows down to it and worships, and prays to it, and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!” See also: Isaiah 45:20Daniel 6:20-22Daniel 6:27They don’t know, neither do they consider, for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see, and their hearts, that they can’t understand. See also: Isaiah 6:9-102 Corinthians 4:3-4John 12:39-40No one thinks, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “I have burned part of it in the fire. Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals. I have roasted meat and eaten it. Shall I make the rest of it into an abomination? Shall I bow down to a tree trunk?” See also: Deuteronomy 27:151 Kings 11:51 Kings 11:7He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can’t deliver his soul, nor say, “Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?” See also: Romans 1:28Hosea 12:1Job 15:31Remember these things, Jacob and Israel, for you are my servant. I have formed you. You are my servant. Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. See also: Isaiah 44:1-2Isaiah 49:15-16Deuteronomy 4:23I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins. Return to me, for I have redeemed you. See also: Isaiah 43:251 Corinthians 6:20Acts 3:18-19Sing, you heavens, for the LORD has done it! Shout, you lower parts of the earth! Break out into singing, you mountains, O forest, all of your trees, for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and will glorify himself in Israel. See also: Ephesians 1:6-7Revelation 5:8-14Psalms 69:34The LORD, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb says: “I am the LORD, who makes all things; who alone stretches out the heavens; who spreads out the earth by myself; See also: Isaiah 42:5Isaiah 45:12Isaiah 54:5who frustrates the signs of the liars, and makes diviners mad; who turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish; See also: Psalms 33:10Job 5:12-142 Samuel 15:31who confirms the word of his servant, and performs the counsel of his messengers; who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited;’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will be built,’ and ‘I will raise up its waste places;’ See also: Isaiah 42:91 Kings 18:36-38Acts 2:25-28who says to the deep, ‘Be dry,’ and ‘I will dry up your rivers,’ See also: Jeremiah 51:36Isaiah 42:15Jeremiah 50:38who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure,’ even saying of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built;’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’” See also: 2 Chronicles 36:22Isaiah 45:1Daniel 10:1
See also: Cross references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), derived in part from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
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Notes · Haydock (1859, public domain)13 notes
Notes in English 19th-century Catholic commentary by Fr. George Leo Haydock, shown as published.
These notes keep the polemics of their time: some speak harshly of the Jewish people or of other Christians. The Church teaches otherwise today. The Jewish people may not be blamed for the death of Christ (Nostra Aetate 4; Catechism 597–598), and Christians of other communities are our brothers and sisters in the Lord (Unitatis Redintegratio 3). Christian unity
Isaiah 44:3
Ver. 3. Stock. I will give fresh life to my people, as to the figure of Christ's Church.
↑ 3Isaiah 44:5
Ver. 5. Israel. They shall no longer be ashamed of being called Israelites or Christians.
↑ 5Isaiah 44:8
Ver. 8. Witnesses. The history of the true religion is its best proof. C. xliii. 9. 10.
--- Known.
Ruled, consequently no other can be truly God. C. --- Idolaters are foolish, trusting in those who cannot announce future events. W.
↑ 8Isaiah 44:9
This 19th-century note uses polemical language; read it in the light of the note at the top of this panel.
Ver. 9. Ashamed of the origin and imbecility of their idols. C. --- All this may be turned against heretics, who worship their own fictions; which the Church never does. S. Jer. W.
↑ 9Isaiah 44:12
Ver. 12. File. Heb. mahatsad, (H. Jer. x. 3.) "to make an ax, with," &c. This is the remote cause of the idol.
↑ 12Isaiah 44:13
Ver. 13. Man. To be styled afterwards a god. C. --- Maluit esse deum. Hor. i. ser.
8.
↑ 13Isaiah 44:18
Ver. 18. Covered. Sept. "darkened." Are Catholics in the same predicament? C.
xl. 18. H.
↑ 18Isaiah 44:20
Ver. 20. Lie. Can I assert in conscience that it is a god?
↑ 20Isaiah 44:22
Ver. 22. Return from captivity, (C.) and from their former errors. Mat. xi. 26. H.
↑ 22Isaiah 44:25
Ver. 25. Mad. That people may be no longer deluded.
↑ 25Isaiah 44:26
Ver. 26. Servant. The prophets and Jesus Christ, whose works never fail. Mat.
xxiv. 35. C. ---
In all this prediction of the Church, Isaias alludes to Jerusalem destroyed, and afterwards rebuilt.
W.
↑ 26Isaiah 44:27
Ver. 27. Deep. Babylon, situated amid waters. C. xxi. 1. C. --- Rivers, as Cyrus did. Herod. i.
191.
↑ 27Isaiah 44:28
Ver. 28. Cyrus. This was spoken 110 years before his birth, which shews the prescience and power of God, so as not to injure free-will. The parents of Cyrus could not give him this name to fulfill the prediction, as they knew nothing of it. Amon was apprised that a person called Josias would overturn idolatry; but he had no reason to suppose that it would be his son. 1 K. xiii. 2.
---
My shepherd. Chal. "that he shall reign." This was shewn by the Jews to Cyrus, on which account, (C.) he gave them leave to return, &c. Joseph. xi. 1.
--- The title of shepherd is given to Agamemnon by Homer, and it denotes a good prince, such as historians represent Cyrus to have been. He observed that kings and shepherds had the like duties to perform; (Xenoph. viii.) and after his death he was bewailed as a "father." Herod. iii. 89. --- At first he did not bear the name of Cyrus, (Herod. i. 113.) which in the Persian language means "the sun." Ctesias. Plut.
↑ 28License: Notes by Fr. George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), from the Douay-Rheims Bible with Haydock's commentary (first ed. Thomas Haydock, Manchester/Dublin, 1811–1814; New York: Edward Dunigan & Brother, 1859); New Testament notes compiled with Fr. Benedict Rayment. Public domain. Digital text: "The Haydock Bible", Internet Archive (archive.org/details/TheHaydockBible), uploaded 2011 under the Public Domain Mark. · Credits and licenses