Isaiah 44:1-13 ▼

1 So heare nowe O Iacob my seruaunt, and Israel whom I haue chosen.

2 For thus saith the Lorde that made thee, fassioned thee, and helped thee euen from thy mothers wombe: Be not afraide O Iacob my seruaunt, thou righteous whom I haue chosen:

3 For I shall powre water vpon the drye grounde, and riuers vpon the thirstie: I shall powre my spirite vpon thy seede, and my blessing vpon thy stocke:

4 They shall growe together lyke as the grasse, and as the willowes by the waters side.

5 One shal say, I am the Lordes: another shall call hym selfe after the name of Iacob: the thirde shall subscribe with his hande vnto the Lorde, and geue hym selfe vnder the name of Israel.

6 Thus hath the Lorde spoken, euen the kyng of Israel, and his redeemer the Lorde of hoastes: I am the first and the last, and besides me there is no God.

7 If any be like me, let hym call foorth the thing past, and openly shewe it, and lay it playne before me, what hath chaunced since I appointed the people of the worlde, and what shalbe shortly, or what shal come to passe in tyme long to come let them shewe these thinges?

8 Be not abashed nor afraide: for haue not I euer tolde you hitherto and warned you? ye can beare me recorde your selues: is there any God except me, or any maker, that I should not know hym?

9 All caruers of images are but vayne, and the carued images that they loue can do no good: they must beare recorde them selues, that seeing they can neither see nor vnderstande, they shalbe confounded.

10 Who dare then make a god, or fashion an image that is profitable for nothing?

11 Beholde, all the felowship of them must be brought to confusion, & truely all the workemasters of them are men: they shal all be gathered together, they shall stand, tremble, and be confounded one with another.

12 The smith maketh an axe, and tempereth it with hotte coales, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with all the strength of his armes, yea sometime he is fainte for very hunger, and so thirstie that he hath no more power.

13 The carpenter or image caruer taketh measure of the timber, and spreadeth foorth his line, he marketh it with some colour, he playneth it, he ruleth it, and squareth it, and maketh it after the image of a man, and according to the beautie of a man, that it may stande in the house.