Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant, and Israel, who I have chosen:
Thus saith Jehovah that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, who will help thee: Fear not, O Jacob my servant; and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
For I will pour water upon {Or, the thirsty land}him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:
and they shall spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses.
One shall say, I am Jehovah's; and another shall {Or, proclaim the name}call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall {Or, write on his hand, Unto Jehovah}subscribe with his hand unto Jehovah, and {Or, give for a title the name of Israel}surname himself by the name of Israel.
Thus saith Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts: I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.
{Or, And who, as I, can proclaim? let him declare it &c.}And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I established the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and that shall come to pass, let them {Or, declare unto them}declare.
Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have I not declared unto thee of old, and showed it? and ye are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? yea, there is no Rock; I know not any.
They that fashion a graven image are all of them {Or, confusion}vanity; and the things that they delight in shall not profit; and their own witnesses see not, nor know: that they may be put to shame.
Who hath fashioned a god, or molten an image that is profitable for nothing?
Behold, {Or, all that join themselves thereto}all his fellows shall be put to shame; and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; they shall fear, they shall be put to shame together.
The smith {Or, sharpeneth a tool}maketh an axe, and worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with his strong arm: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth; he drinketh no water, and is faint.
The carpenter stretcheth out a line; he marketh it out with {Or, red ochre}a pencil; he shapeth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compasses, and shapeth it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house.
He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the holm-tree and the oak, and strengtheneth for himself one among the trees of the forest: he planteth {Or, an ash}a fir-tree, and the rain doth nourish it.
Then shall it be for a man to burn; and he taketh thereof, and warmeth himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread: yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.
He burneth {Or, the half}part thereof in the fire; with {Or, the half}part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied; yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire.
And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image; he falleth down unto it and worshippeth, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.
They know not, neither do they consider: for he hath {Hebrew: daubed.}shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
And none calleth to mind, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?
He feedeth on ashes; a deceived heart hath turned him aside; and he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.
I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
Sing, O ye heavens, for Jehovah hath done it; shout, ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for Jehovah hath redeemed Jacob, and will glorify himself in Israel.
Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb: I am Jehovah, that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth ( {Another reading is, by myself.}who is with me?);
that frustrateth the signs of the {Or, boasters}liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;
that confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith of Jerusalem, She shall be inhabited; and of the cities of Judah, They shall be built, and I will raise up the waste places thereof;
that saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers;
That saith of {Hebrew: Coresh.}Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built; {Or, and the foundation of the temple shall be laid}and of the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
Querverweise zu Jesaja 44,12 Jes 44,12
The image, a workman hath cast it, and the goldsmith overlayeth it with gold, and casteth for it silver chains.
Behold, is it not of Jehovah of hosts that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?
They help every one his neighbor; and every one saith to his brother, Be of good courage.
So the carpenter encourageth the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smiteth the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good; and he fasteneth it with nails, that is should not be moved.
Such as lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, they hire a goldsmith, and he maketh it a god; they fall down, yea, they worship.
They bear it upon the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its place, and it standeth, from its place shall it not remove: yea, one may cry unto it, yet can it not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.
And he received it at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf: and they said, {Or, This is thy God}These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed unto it, and said, These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
For the {Hebrew: statues.}customs of the peoples are vanity; for {Or, it is but a tree which one cutteth}one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe.
They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
They are like a {Or, pillar}palm-tree, of turned work, and speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.
There is none like unto thee, O Jehovah; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.
Who should not fear thee, O King of the nations? for {Or, it beseemeth thee}to thee doth it appertain; forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is none like unto thee.
But they are {Or, through one thing}together brutish and foolish: {Or, the stock is a doctrine of vanities}the instruction of idols! it is but a stock.
There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith; blue and purple for their clothing; they are all the work of skilful men.
But Jehovah is {Or, God in truth}the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the earth trembleth, and the nations are not able to abide his indignation.
{This verse is in Aramaic.}Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, {Or, they shall…under these heavens}these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.