KJ3 Literal Translation
Isaiah 44
Jehovah comforts His people with His promises. He exhorts to praise Jehovah for His redemption and omnipotency.
1And now listen, My servant Jacob, and Israel whom I have elected.
2So says Jehovah, who made you and formed you from the womb. He helps you. Do not fear, My servant Jacob; and you, Jeshurun whom I have elected.
3For I will pour water on a thirsty one, and floods on the dry ground. I will pour My Spirit on your seed, and My blessing on your offspring.
4And they shall sprout as among grass, as willows by streams of water.
5This one shall say, I am Jehovah's; and this one will call himself by the name of Jacob; and this one shall write with his hand, For Jehovah, and be surnamed by the name of Israel.
6So says Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts: I am the First, and I am the Last; and there is no God except Me.
7And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare this, and set it in order before Me, since I placed the people of old? And as to things to come, yea, which shall come, let them declare concerning them.
8Do not dread, nor be afraid. Have I not declared and made you hear since then? So you are My witnesses: Is there a God besides Me? Yea, there is not one. I have not known a Rock.
9Those who form a carved image are all of them vanity. And their delights do not profit; and they are their own witnesses. They do not see, and not do know, that they may be ashamed.
10Who has formed a god, or poured out an image to no profit?
11Behold, all his companions shall be ashamed; and the craftsmen, they are from men. They shall assemble, all of them shall stand; they shall dread; they shall be shamed together.
12He carves iron with a tool; he works in the coals and forms it with hammers, and works it with his powerful arm; then he is hungry, and has no strength; he drinks no water and is weary.
13He fashions wood, and stretches a line; he marks it with a stylus; he shapes it with a carving tool, and he marks it with a compass. And he makes it according to the figure of a man, as the beauty of a man, to sit in the house.
14He cuts down cedars and takes cypress and oak, and he makes the trees of the forest strong for him. He plants a tree, and rain makes it grow.
15And it shall be for a man to burn; yea, he takes of them and is warmed; and he kindles it and bakes bread. Yea, he makes a god and worships; he makes a carved image and bows to it.
16He burns half of it in the fire; he eats flesh on half of it; he roasts roast, and is satisfied. Then he warms himself and says, Ah, I am warm; I have seen the fire.
17And he makes a god of the rest, his carved image; he bows to it and worships, and prays to it, and says, Deliver me, for you are my god.
18They do not know and not discern; for He has smeared their eyes from seeing, their hearts from understanding.
19And not one turns back to his heart, and not has knowledge and not discernment to say, I have burned half of it in the fire; and I also have baked bread on its coals. I have roasted flesh and have eaten it; and I have made the rest of it into a disgusting thing. Shall I bow down to a product of a tree?
20Feeding on ashes, a deceived heart turns him aside, and he does not deliver his soul, and does not say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
21Remember these, O Jacob, and Israel. For you are My servant; I have formed you; you are My servant, O Israel; you shall not forget Me.
22I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud; and your sins like a cloud. Turn back to Me, for I have redeemed you.
23Sing, O heavens, for Jehovah has done it. Shout, O lower parts of the earth; burst forth into praise, O mountains. O forest and every tree in it, sing praise, because Jehovah has redeemed Jacob, and He glorifies Himself in Israel.
24So says Jehovah, your Redeemer and the One forming you from the womb; I am Jehovah who makes all things; stretching out the heavens, I alone spreading out the earth. Who was with Me,
25frustrating the signs of liars; yea, He makes divining ones mad, turning wise ones backward, and making their knowledge foolish,
26confirming the word of His servant, and completes the counsel of His messengers. He says to Jerusalem, You will be lived in; and to the cities of Judah, You shall be built; and, I will raise up its wastes.
27He says to the deep, Be a waste! And I will dry up your rivers!
28He says to Cyrus, You are My shepherd; and he shall complete all My pleasure, even for Me to say to Jerusalem, You are built; and to the temple, You are founded.
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