Isaiah · Bible in Basic English
Isaiah 44 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Isaiah is not in PT1904.
1 And now, give ear, O Jacob my servant, and Israel whom I have taken for myself:
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2 The Lord who made you, forming you in your mother's body, the Lord, your helper, says, Have no fear, O Jacob my servant, and you, Jeshurun, whom I have taken for myself.
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3 For I will send water on the land needing it, and streams on the dry earth: I will let my spirit come down on your seed, and my blessing on your offspring.
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4 And they will come up like grass in a well-watered field, like water-plants by the streams.
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5 One will say, I am the Lord's; and another will give himself the name, Jacob; another will put a mark on his hand, I am the Lord's, and another will take the name of Israel for himself.
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6 The Lord, the King of Israel, even the Lord of armies who has taken up his cause, says, I am the first and the last, and there is no God but me.
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7 If there is one like me, let him come forward and say it, let him make it clear and put it in order before me: who has made clear in the past the things to come? let him make clear the future to me.
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8 Have no fear, be strong in heart; have I not made it clear to you in the past, and let you see it? and you are my witnesses. Is there any God but me, or a Rock of whom I have no knowledge?
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9 Those who make a pictured image are all of them as nothing, and the things of their desire will be of no profit to them: and their servants see not, and have no knowledge; so they will be put to shame.
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10 Whoever makes a god, makes nothing but a metal image in which there is no profit.
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11 Truly, all those who make use of secret arts will be put to shame, and their words of power are only words of men: let them all come forward together; they will all be in fear and be put to shame.
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12 The iron-worker is heating the metal in the fire, giving it form with his hammers, and working on it with his strong arm: then for need of food his strength gives way, and for need of water he becomes feeble.
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13 The woodworker is measuring out the wood with his line, marking it out with his pencil: after smoothing it with his plane, and making circles on it with his instrument, he gives it the form and glory of a man, so that it may be placed in the house.
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14 He has cedars cut down for himself, he takes an oak and lets it get strong among the trees of the wood; he has an ash-tree planted, and the rain gives it growth.
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15 Then it will be used to make a fire, so that a man may get warm; he has the oven heated with it and makes bread: he makes a god with it, to which he gives worship: he makes a pictured image out of it, and goes down on his face before it.
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16 With part of it he makes a fire, and on the fire he gets meat cooked and takes a full meal: he makes himself warm, and says, Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire:
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17 And the rest of it he makes into a god, even his pictured image: he goes down on his face before it, giving worship to it, and making prayer to it, saying, Be my saviour; for you are my god.
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18 They have no knowledge or wisdom; for he has put a veil over their eyes, so that they may not see; and on their hearts, so that they may not give attention.
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19 And no one takes note, no one has enough knowledge or wisdom to say, I have put part of it in the fire, and made bread on it; I have had a meal of the flesh cooked with it: and am I now to make the rest of it into a false god? am I to go down on my face before a bit of wood?
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20 As for him whose food is the dust of a dead fire, he has been turned from the way by a twisted mind, so that he is unable to keep himself safe by saying, What I have here in my hand is false.
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21 Keep these things in mind, O Jacob; and you Israel, for you are my servant: I have made you; you are my servant; O Israel, I will not let you go out of my memory.
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22 I have put your evil doings out of my mind like a thick cloud, and your sins like a mist: come back to me; for I have taken up your cause.
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23 Make a song, O heavens, for the Lord has done it: give a loud cry, you deep parts of the earth: let your voices be loud in song, you mountains, and you woods with all your trees: for the Lord has taken up the cause of Jacob, and will let his glory be seen in Israel.
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24 The Lord, who has taken up your cause, and who gave you life in your mother's body, says, I am the Lord who makes all things; stretching out the heavens by myself, and giving the earth its limits; who was with me?
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25 Who makes the signs of those who give word of the future come to nothing, so that those who have knowledge of secret arts go off their heads; turning the wise men back, and making their knowledge foolish:
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26 Who makes the word of his servants certain, and gives effect to the purposes of his representatives; who says of Jerusalem, Her people will come back to her; and of the towns of Judah, I will give orders for their building, and will make her waste places fertile again:
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27 Who says to the deep, Be dry, and I will make your rivers dry:
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28 Who says of Cyrus, He will take care of my sheep, and will do all my pleasure: who says of Jerusalem, I will give the word for your building; and of the Temple, Your bases will be put in place.
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Cross references (27)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Isaiah 41:8; Romans 11:5–6; Jeremiah 30:10; Psalm 105:6; Hebrews 3:7–8
- 2 Jeremiah 1:5; Isaiah 43:1; Isaiah 46:3–4; Isaiah 44:24; Isaiah 43:7
- 3 Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17; Isaiah 59:21; John 7:37–39; Proverbs 1:23
- 4 Isaiah 58:11; Psalm 1:3; Psalm 92:13–15; Ezekiel 17:5; Psalm 137:1–2
- 5 Zechariah 13:9; Deuteronomy 26:17–19; Nehemiah 9:38–10:29; 1 Peter 2:9; Galatians 6:16
- 6 Isaiah 41:4; Isaiah 43:10–11; Revelation 1:8; Revelation 22:13; Isaiah 44:8
- 7 Isaiah 41:26; Isaiah 41:22; Isaiah 46:9–10; Isaiah 45:21; Isaiah 43:9
- 8 Isaiah 43:10; 1 Samuel 2:2; Deuteronomy 4:35; Deuteronomy 4:39; John 10:30
- 9 Isaiah 41:24; Jeremiah 10:14–15; Habakkuk 2:18–20; Psalm 97:7; Isaiah 41:29
- 10 Jeremiah 10:5; Habakkuk 2:18; Acts 19:26; Daniel 3:1; 1 Corinthians 8:4
- 11 Isaiah 42:17; Isaiah 45:16; Psalm 97:7; Isaiah 1:29; Acts 19:24–34
- 12 Isaiah 41:6–7; Isaiah 40:19; Isaiah 46:6–7; Jeremiah 10:3–11; Habakkuk 2:13
- 13 Judges 17:4–5; Deuteronomy 4:16–18; Psalm 115:5–7; Romans 1:23; Acts 17:29
- 14 Isaiah 40:20; Jeremiah 10:3–8; Habakkuk 2:19; Hosea 4:12
- 15 2 Chronicles 25:14; Judges 2:19; Revelation 9:20; Isaiah 45:20; Isaiah 44:10
- 17 Isaiah 45:20; Daniel 3:29; 1 Kings 18:26; Isaiah 37:38; Isaiah 36:19–20
- 18 Isaiah 6:9–10; 2 Corinthians 4:3–4; John 12:39–40; 2 Thessalonians 2:9–12; Jeremiah 5:21
- 19 Deuteronomy 27:15; 1 Kings 11:7; 1 Kings 11:5; Isaiah 5:13; Isaiah 45:20
- 20 Hosea 12:1; Psalm 102:9; Romans 1:28; Job 15:31; Romans 1:25
- 21 Isaiah 44:1–2; Isaiah 49:15–16; Isaiah 46:8–9; Isaiah 43:15; Isaiah 43:1
- 22 Isaiah 43:25; 1 Corinthians 6:20; Acts 3:18–19; Isaiah 43:1; 1 Peter 1:18–19
- 23 Ephesians 1:6–7; Revelation 5:8–14; Psalm 98:7–8; Revelation 19:1–6; Psalm 69:34
- 24 Isaiah 45:12; Isaiah 42:5; Isaiah 54:5; Isaiah 45:18; Revelation 5:9
- 25 Psalm 33:10; Job 5:12–14; 2 Samuel 15:31; Jeremiah 50:36; Isaiah 47:12–14
- 26 1 Kings 18:36–38; Isaiah 42:9; Acts 2:25–28; 2 Peter 1:19–21; Nehemiah 1:3
- 27 Jeremiah 51:36; Jeremiah 50:38; Isaiah 42:15; Revelation 16:12; Jeremiah 51:32
- 28 2 Chronicles 36:22; Isaiah 45:1; Daniel 10:1; Ezra 6:3–18; Isaiah 45:13
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
And this shall come to pass through the loving-kindness of God, who says to you, Behold, I will blot out as a cloud thy transgressions, and as a thick cloud thy sins.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
However, a time will come, when all shall be consumed by fire; as Isaiah says of the God of the universe in these words, "That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers." Reject then the foolish wisdom of this world, and receive with me the more simple but infallible doctrine of truth.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)