Isaiah 44
International Children’s Bible
The Lord Is the Only God
44 The Lord says, “People of Jacob, you are my servants. Listen to me!
People of Israel, I chose you.”
2 This is what the Lord says. He made you.
He formed you when you were in your mother’s body.
And he will help you.
The Lord says, “People of Jacob, my servants, don’t be afraid.
Israel, I chose you.
3 I will pour out water for the thirsty land.
I will make streams flow on dry land.
I will put my Spirit into your children.
My blessing will be like a stream of water flowing over your family.
4 Your children will grow like a tree in the grass.
They will be like poplar trees growing beside streams of water.
5 One person will say, ‘I belong to the Lord.’
Another will use the name Jacob.
Another will sign his name ‘I am the Lord’s.’
And another will use the name Israel.”
6 The Lord is the king of Israel.
The Lord of heaven’s armies saves Israel.
The Lord says, “I am the beginning and the end.
I am the only God.
7 There is no other God like me.
If there is, then that god should come and prove it.
Who has announced coming events from the beginning?
He should tell what will happen in the future.
8 Don’t be afraid! Don’t worry!
I have always told you what will happen.
You are my witnesses.
There is no other God.
I know of no other Rock. I am the only One.”
False Gods Are Useless
9 Some people make idols, but they are worth nothing.
People love them, but they are useless.
Those people are witnesses for the statues. But those people cannot see.
They know nothing. They don’t know enough to be ashamed.
10 Who made these false gods?
Who made these useless idols?
11 The workmen who made those gods will be ashamed!
Those workmen are only human.
If they all would come together,
they would all be ashamed and afraid.
12 One workman uses tools to heat iron.
He works over hot coals.
He uses his hammer to beat the metal and make a statue.
He uses his powerful arms.
But when he becomes hungry, he loses his power.
If he does not drink water, he becomes tired.
13 Another workman uses a line and a compass
to draw lines on the wood.
Then he uses his chisels to cut a statue from wood.
He uses his calipers to measure the statue.
This way, the workman makes the wood look exactly like a man.
And this statue of a man sits in the house.
14 A man cuts down cedar
or gets cypress or oak trees.
Those trees grew by their own power in the forest.
Or he plants a pine tree, and the rain makes it grow.
15 Then he burns the tree.
He uses some of the wood for a fire to keep himself warm.
He also starts a fire to bake his bread.
But he uses part of the wood to make a god. Then he worships it!
He makes the idol and bows down to it!
16 The man burns half of the wood in the fire.
He uses the fire to cook his meat.
And he eats the meat until he is full.
He burns the wood to keep himself warm. He says,
“Good! Now I am warm. I can see because of the fire’s light.”
17 But the man makes a statue from the wood that is left. He calls it his god.
He bows down to it and worships it.
He prays to it and says,
“You are my god. Save me!”
18 Those people don’t know what they are doing. They don’t understand!
It is as if their eyes are covered so they can’t see.
Their minds don’t understand.
19 They have not thought about these things.
They don’t understand.
They have never thought to themselves,
“I burned half of the wood in the fire.
I used the hot coals to bake my bread.
I cooked and ate my meat.
And I used the wood that was left to make this hated thing.
I am worshiping a block of wood!”
20 He doesn’t know what he is doing.
His confused mind leads him the wrong way.
He cannot save himself.
He cannot say, “This statue I am holding is a false god.”
The Lord Is the True God
21 The Lord says, “People of Jacob, remember these things!
People of Israel, remember you are my servants.
I made you. You are my servants.
So Israel, I will not forget you.
22 I have swept away your sins like a big cloud.
I have removed your sins like a cloud that disappears into the air.
Come back to me because I saved you.”
23 Skies, sing for joy because the Lord did great things!
Earth, shout for joy, even in your deepest parts!
Sing, you mountains, with thanks to God.
Sing, too, you trees in the forest!
The Lord saved the people of Jacob!
The Lord showed his greatness when he saved Israel.
24 The Lord saved you.
He formed you while you were still in your mother’s body.
The Lord says, “I, the Lord, made everything!
I alone stretched out the skies.
I spread out the earth by myself.
25 I show that the lying prophets’ signs are false.
I make fools of those who do magic.
I confuse even wise men.
They think they know much, but I make them look foolish.
26 I make the messages of my servants come true.
I make the advice of my messengers come true.
I say to Jerusalem,
‘People will live in you again!’
I say to the towns of Judah,
‘You will be built again!’
I say to Jerusalem’s ruins,
‘I will repair you.’
27 I tell the deep waters, ‘Become dry!
I will make your streams become dry!’
28 I say of Cyrus,[a] ‘He is my shepherd.
He will do all that I want him to do.
He will say to Jerusalem, “You will be built again!”
He will tell the Temple, “Your foundations will be rebuilt.”’”
Footnotes
- 44:28 Cyrus A king of Persia. He ruled from about 550–530 b.c.
Isaiah 44
Jubilee Bible 2000
44 ¶ Yet now hear, O Jacob my slave and Israel, whom I have chosen:
2 Thus saith the LORD that made thee and formed thee from the womb, who will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my slave, and thou, Jesurun, {Heb. the upright one} whom I have chosen.
3 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine offspring:
4 And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.
5 One shall say, I am the LORD’s; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD and surname himself by the name of Israel.
6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel and his redeemer, the LORD of the hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
7 And who shall call as I do and declare this in advance and set it in order for me, since I made the people of the world? Let them declare unto them the things that are near and the things that shall come.
8 Do not fear, neither be afraid; have I not caused thee to hear from of old and declared unto thee beforehand that which was to come? Then ye are my witnesses that there is no God but me, and there is no Strong One that I do not know.
9 ¶ Those that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and that which is most precious to them is useful for nothing; and they are their own witnesses that they do not see, nor understand; therefore, they shall be ashamed.
10 Who has formed God? And who cast a graven image that is profitable for nothing?
11 Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed; for the workmen, they are of men; even if all of them are gathered together and stand, they shall fear and shall be ashamed together.
12 The smith shall take the tongs; he shall work among the coals; he shall give it form with the hammers and bring forth in it the arm of his strength; though he is hungry and his strength fails: he shall not drink water, even if he faints.
13 The carpenter stretches out his rule; he measures it with a line; he fits it with planes; he marks it out with the compass; he makes it after the form of a noble man, in the likeness of the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.
14 He shall hew down cedars and take the cypress and the oak, and he shall strengthen himself with the trees of the forest; he shall plant a fir tree, which shall be nourished with the rain.
15 The man shall then use of it for firewood; for he will take thereof and warm himself; he will kindle it and bake bread; he will also make a god and worship it; he will fabricate an idol and shall kneel down before it.
16 He shall burn part of it in the fire; with another part thereof he shall eat flesh; he shall roast meat and shall satisfy himself. Afterwards he shall warm himself and say, Aha, I have warmed myself, I have seen fire;
17 the residue of it he turns into god, into his graven image; he humbles himself before it and worships it and prays unto it and says, Deliver me; for thou art my god.
18 They did not know nor understand; for he has anointed their eyes that they not see and their hearts that they not understand.
19 He does not return to his right mind; he does not have knowledge nor intelligence to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; I have also baked bread upon the coals of it; I have roasted flesh and eaten it and shall I make the residue of it an abomination? Do I have to humble myself before the trunk of a tree?
20 The ashes feed him; his deceived heart inclines him, that he not deliver his soul and say, Is not the lie at my right hand?
21 ¶ Remember these things, O Jacob and Israel: that thou art my slave: I have formed thee; thou art my slave, O Israel, do not forget me.
22 I have undone, as a cloud, thy rebellions, and thy sins, as a mist, return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
23 Sing praises, O ye heavens; for the LORD has done it; shout with joy, ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into praise, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein, for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and in Israel he shall be glorified.
24 Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that makes all things, that stretches forth the heavens alone, that spreads abroad the earth by myself;
25 that undoes the signs of the fortune tellers and makes the diviners mad; that turns the wise men backward and makes their wisdom fade away;
26 that awakes the word of his slave and fulfills the counsel of his messengers, that says unto Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be rebuilt, and I will raise up thy ruins
27 that says to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers
28 that calls Cyrus, my shepherd, and all that I desire, he shall fulfil, by saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
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