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Isaías 44

BLIVRE · Chapter 44/66

1Agora, pois, ouve, ó Jacó, meu servo; tu, ó Israel, a quem escolhi.

2Assim diz o SENHOR, aquele que te fez, e te formou desde o ventre, que te socorre: não temas, ó Jacó, meu servo; tu Jesurum, a quem escolhi.

3Porque derramarei água sobre o sedento, e rios sobre a terra seca; derramarei meu Espírito sobre tua semente, e minha bênção sobre teus descendentes;

4E brotarão entre a erva, como salgueiros junto a ribeiros de águas.

5Um dirá: Eu sou do SENHOR; e outro se chamará pelo nome de Jacó; e um [terceiro] escreverá [em] sua mão: Eu sou do SENHOR, e tomará para si o nome de Israel.

6Assim diz o SENHOR, Rei de Israel, e seu Redentor, o SENHOR dos exércitos:Eu sou o primeiro, e sou o último; e além de mim não há Deus.

7Quem, como eu, anunciará isto? Que declare e explique para mim, visto que determinei um povo eterno! Anunciem-lhes as coisas futuras, as que estão para vir!

8Não vos assombreis, nem temais; por acaso eu não vos contei e anunciei com antecedência? Pois vós sois minhas testemunhas. Por acaso há outro Deus além de mim? Não há outra Rocha, não que eu conheça.

9Todos os que formam imagens de escultura são nada, e as coisas que eles se agradam são de nenhum proveito; e elas mesmas são suas testemunhas: nada veem, nem entendem; por isso serão envergonhados.

10Quem é que forma um deus e funde uma imagem de escultura que não lhe tem proveito algum?

11Eis que todos os companheiros dele serão envergonhados, pois os artífices nada são além de homens. Ajuntem-se todos, [e] fiquem de pé; eles se assombrarão, e juntamente serão envergonhados.

12O ferreiro, [com] a ferramenta de corte, trabalha nas brasas, e forma [o ídolo] com martelos; e ele o faz com a força de seu braço; ele, porém, tem fome e perde as forças, e [se] não beber água, desfalece.

13O carpinteiro estende a linha de medir, [e] o desenha com um marcador; ele o confecciona com formões, e o desenha com um compasso; e o faz à semelhança de um homem, conforme a beleza humana, para habitar numa casa.

14Ele corta para si cedros, e toma um cipreste ou um carvalho, e reserva para si das árvores da floresta; ele planta um pinheiro, e a chuva [o] faz crescer.

15Então [tal madeira] servirá ao homem para queimar, e toma parte deles para se aquecer, e os acende, e aquece o pão; ele também faz um deus, e o adora; fabrica dela uma imagem de escultura, e se prostra diante dela.

16Sua metade ele queima no fogo; com a [outra] metade como carne; prepara assado, e [dele] se sacia; também se esquenta, e diz: Ah! Já me aqueci! Já vi o fogo!

17Então do resto ele faz um deus, para imagem de escultura para si; ele se ajoelha a ela, e a adora, e ora a ela, e diz: Livra-me, pois tu és meu deus.

18Eles nada sabem, nem entendem; porque seus olhos foram encobertos para que não vejam; [e] seus corações, para que não entendam.

19E nenhum deles pensa [sobre isso] em seu coração, e não tem conhecimento nem entendimento para dizer: A metade queimei no fogo; e aqueci pão sobre suas brasas; assei carne, e a comi; e faria eu do resto uma abominação? Prostraria eu ao que saiu de uma árvore?

20Ele se alimenta de cinzas; [seu] coração enganado o desviou, de modo que ele já não pode livrar a sua alma, nem dizer: Por acaso não é uma mentira [o que há] na minha mão direita?

21Lembra-te destas coisas, ó Jacó e Israel, pois tu és meu servo; eu te formei. Meu servo és, ó Israel; eu não me esquecerei de ti.

22Eu elimino tuas transgressões como a névoa, e teus pecados como a nuvem; volta a mim, pois eu já te resgatei.

23Cantai louvores, vós céus, porque o SENHOR [assim] fez; gritai de alegria, vós partes baixas da terra; vós montes, fazei ruídos de júbilo, [também] vós bosques, e todas as árvores neles; porque o SENHOR regatou a Jacó, e glorificou a si mesmo em Israel.

24Assim diz o SENHOR, o teu redentor, aquele que te formou desde o ventre: Eu sou o SENHOR que tudo faço; que sozinho estico os céus, e que estendo a terra por mim mesmo;

25Que desfaço os sinais dos inventores de mentiras, e faço de todos aos adivinhos; que faço aos sábios retrocederem, e torno o conhecimento deles em loucura;

26[Sou aquele] que confirma a palavra de seu servo, e cumpre o conselho de seus mensageiros; que diz a Jerusalém: Tu serás habitada; E às cidades de Judá: Sereis reconstruídas; e eu erguerei seus lugares arruinados.

27Que diz à profundeza: Seca-te; e eu secarei teus rios.

28Que diz de Ciro: Ele é meu pastor, e cumprirá toda a minha vontade, dizendo à Jerusalém: Serás edificada; e ao Templo: Terás posto teu fundamento.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God promises to pour out his Spirit on Israel's descendants like water on dry ground, and humorously satirizes idol-making by craftsmen who use the very same wood both for cooking and for worship. The chapter ends by naming Cyrus as the instrument God will use to restore Jerusalem.

Explanation

The satire on idol-making is one of the most vivid and almost comical passages in the Bible: the prophet describes a man who cuts down a tree, uses half the wood to build a fire and cook his food, and the other half to carve a god before which he then kneels, asking to be saved — exposing the sheer logical absurdity of idolatry. The naming of 'Cyrus' as God's 'shepherd' who would rebuild Jerusalem and the temple is remarkable because Cyrus, the future Persian king, had not even been born when Isaiah wrote this (he would reign around 550-530 BC, more than a century after Isaiah). The practical application today is to reflect on what we place at the center of our trust and worship — whether a literal idol or anything else that takes the place that belongs to God in our lives.

Fun facts

  • The specific mention of the name 'Cyrus' as Israel's future liberator, written about 150 years before his birth, is one of the most debated points among biblical scholars regarding the dating and authorship of the book of Isaiah.
  • The 19th-century archaeological discovery of the 'Cyrus Cylinder' in Babylon confirms that Cyrus did indeed have a policy of allowing exiled peoples to return to their homelands and rebuild their temples — exactly what the Bible describes in Ezra 1.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Isaías 44:1Picking up “hear” right after the accusation at the end of chapter 43 marks a shift in tone: despite the unfaithfulness described before, the chapter begins again with a promise of care.
  2. Isaías 44:2Jesurun is an affectionate, uncommon nickname for Israel, used only a few times in the Hebrew Bible, tied to the idea of uprightness. It appears here alongside the more common name, Jacob, as an added term of endearment.
  3. Isaías 44:3Water on the thirsty and the Spirit on the people’s offspring are parallel images: the same abundance that quenches physical thirst also describes a spiritual blessing on the coming generations.
  4. Isaías 44:4Willows by the watercourses, plants that grow quickly because of the constant water, describe the vigorous growth promised to the people’s offspring after this blessing is poured out.
  5. Isaías 44:5Writing “I am the Lord’s” on one’s own hand may refer to a mark or identifying tattoo used at the time, a sign of belonging declared publicly, like someone taking on a new surname.
  6. Isaías 44:6“I am the first, and I am the last” is one of the most direct declarations in the book about God’s uniqueness, repeated in similar form in chapter 41 and chapter 48.
  7. Isaías 44:7The challenge for someone to announce what’s coming, in the same order and detail that God does, repeats the test already put to the idols in earlier chapters: no other supposed deity can foresee the future.
  8. Isaías 44:8Rock is one of the titles used for God in the Old Testament, an image of strength and refuge — present in this verse’s underlying Hebrew, though the KJV renders the line as “there is no God; I know not any.” The rhetorical question closes out the idea that no other foundation of trust compares.
  9. Isaías 44:9Calling the makers of idols “vanity” sets up the long satirical description that follows, showing step by step how an ordinary piece of wood becomes an object of worship.
  10. Isaías 44:10The question “Who hath formed a god” already contains the ironic answer: it is precisely an ordinary human being who makes something later treated as a deity, a reversal the rest of the chapter details.
  11. Isaías 44:11Gathering all the craftsmen and their companions to be put to shame together broadens the criticism: it isn’t just the idol that’s ridiculous, it’s the entire chain of people involved in making it.
  12. Isaías 44:12The detail that the smith himself grows hungry and thirsty while making the idol is cruel irony: a fragile, limited human worker is literally creating something he will later worship as all-powerful.
  13. Isaías 44:13The description of the carpenter with rule, compass, and plane details the real woodworking tools of the time, showing that the idol is the product of ordinary measuring and calculation, nothing supernatural in its origin.
  14. Isaías 44:14Choosing cedar, cypress, or oak, ordinary trees that grow with normal rainfall, reinforces that the idol’s raw material is plain, everyday vegetation, nothing special before it becomes a carved image.
  15. Isaías 44:15The scene of the carpenter is raw mockery: he takes the same piece of wood, uses half of it to make a fire and roast food, and carves the other half into a god to worship and beg for help. The prophet exposes the absurdity by showing the process step by step.
  16. Isaías 44:16The same tree serves both to roast meat and to become a god: half becomes kitchen firewood, half becomes an object of worship, an absurdity the text exposes without further comment, letting the scene speak for itself.
  17. Isaías 44:17The idol made from the leftover wood receives prayers for help from the very person who made it and used part of it as firewood minutes before. It’s the height of mockery: begging for salvation from something its own owner literally built.
  18. Isaías 44:18“He hath shut their eyes” describes an almost deliberate blindness: the people caught up in this process simply cannot, or will not, see the absurdity of what they’re doing.
  19. Isaías 44:19The question the prophet imagines the idolater should ask — am I really going to bow down to what’s left of an ordinary tree? — is the kind of question he never actually gets around to asking. The text suggests the habit is so strong that the person doesn’t even notice the obvious contradiction.
  20. Isaías 44:20“He feedeth on ashes” is an image of someone eating something with no nutritional value at all, comparing faith in idols to an empty sustenance that deceives whoever believes in it.
  21. Isaías 44:21After all the mockery of the idols, the text turns back to Israel with a direct appeal: to remember that it was formed by God as a servant, along with the personal assurance that it will not be forgotten.
  22. Isaías 44:22A thick cloud and a cloud that quickly clear away describe the kind of forgiveness offered: the transgressions disappear like something that evaporates, without a trace, and the invitation to return follows that same promise of lightness.
  23. Isaías 44:23Calling on the heavens, the earth, the mountains, and the forests to sing for joy at Jacob’s redemption is a common poetic device in the book, personifying nature to celebrate an event that, in truth, involves only people.
  24. Isaías 44:24Repeating “I am the Lord that maketh all things” before introducing Cyrus in the following verses prepares the ground: before naming a foreign king as an instrument, the text reaffirms that it is God who stands behind everything.
  25. Isaías 44:25Frustrating the tokens of “the liars” and driving diviners mad is a direct criticism of the divination and magic practices common in Babylon, showing that these methods will fail in the face of God’s plan.
  26. Isaías 44:26Confirming the word of “his servant” here probably refers to the prophets in general, whose predictions about the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the cities of Judah will come true, even decades after being spoken.
  27. Isaías 44:27“Saith to the deep, Be dry” can echo both the crossing of the Red Sea and, more directly in context, Cyrus’s future conquest of Babylon, who historically diverted a river’s course to invade the city.
  28. Isaías 44:28Here the name Cyrus appears for the first time, the Persian king who will still conquer Babylon decades after this text was written. He is called a shepherd because he will be the one to authorize the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple, even though he does not belong to the people of Israel.

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