Isaiah 44:1-18 ▼

1 |But now listen, Jacob my servant and Israel whom I have chosen:

2 This what the LORD says, the one who made you, formed you from the womb, and who will help you: |Don't be afraid, Jacob my servant, and Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.

3 For I'll pour water upon thirsty ground and streams on parched land. So will I pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing upon your descendants.

4 They'll spring up as among the green grass, like willows by flowing streams.

5 One will say, 'I belong to the LORD,' and another will call himself by the name of Jacob; still another will have written on his hand, 'the LORD's,' and will adopt the name of Israel.|

6 This is what the LORD says, the King of Israel and its Redeemer— the LORD of the Heavenly Armies is his name— |I am the first and I am the last, and apart from me there is no God.

7 Who is like me? Let him proclaim and declare it, and lay it out for himself— since he made an ancient people. And let him speak future events; let them tell him what will happen.

8 Don't tremble, and don't be afraid. Didn't I tell you and announce it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? There is no other Rock— I don't know of any.|

9 Now, all the forming of images means nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their own witnesses cannot see, and they know nothing. So they will be put to shame.

10 Who would shape a god or cast an image that profits nothing?

11 To be sure, all who associate with it will be put to shame; and as for the craftsmen, they are only human. Let them all gather together and take their stand. Then let them be terrified—they will be humiliated together.

12 The blacksmith prepares a tool and works in the coals, then fashions an idol with hammers, working by the strength of his arm. He even becomes hungry and loses his strength; he drinks no water and grows faint.

13 The carpenter measures it with a line; he traces its shape with a stylus, then fashions it with planes and shapes it with a compass. He makes the idol like a human figure, with human beauty, to be at home in a shrine.

14 He cuts down cedars, or chooses a cypress tree or an oak, and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. Or he plants a cedar, and the rain makes it grow.

15 He divides it up for people to burn. Taking part of it, he warms himself, makes a fire, and bakes bread. Or perhaps he constructs a god and worships it. He makes it an idol and bows down to it.

16 Half the wood he burns in the fire, and over that half he places meat so he can eat. He sits by its coals, warms himself, and says, |Ah! I am warm in front of the fire.|

17 And the rest of it he makes into a god. To blocks of wood he bows down, worships, prays, and says, |Save me, since you are my god.|

18 They don't realize; they don't understand, because their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds, too, so they cannot understand.