1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible
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| Isaiah 44:1 | And *now hear, O Jacob, my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen. Jeremias 30:10.; Jeremias 46:27. | |
| Isaiah 44:2 | Thus saith the Lord, that made and formed thee, thy helper from the womb: Fear not, O my servant, Jacob, and thou most righteous, whom I have chosen. | |
| Isaiah 44:3 | For I will pour out waters upon the thirsty ground, and streams upon the dry land: I will pour out my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thy stock. | Stock. I will give fresh life to my people, as to the figure of Christ's Church. |
| Isaiah 44:4 | And they shall spring up among the herbs, as willows beside the running waters. | |
| Isaiah 44:5 | 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, To the Lord, and surname himself by the name of Israel. | Israel. They shall no longer be ashamed of being called Israelites or Christians. |
| Isaiah 44:6 | Thus saith the Lord, the king of Israel, and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: *I am the first, and I am the last, and besides me there is no God. Isaias 41:4.; Isaias 48:12.; Apocalypse 1:8.; Apocalypse 17.; Apocalypse 22:13. | |
| Isaiah 44:7 | Who is like to me? let him call and declare: and let him set before me the order, since I appointed the ancient people: and the things to come, and that shall be hereafter, let them shew unto them. | |
| Isaiah 44:8 | Fear ye not, neither be ye troubled, from that time I have made thee to hear, and have declared: you are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me, a Maker, whom I have not known? | Witnesses. The history of the true religion is its best proof, Isaias 43:9, 10. --- Known. Ruled, consequently no other can be truly God. (Calmet) --- Idolaters are foolish, trusting in those who cannot announce future events. (Worthington) |
| Isaiah 44:9 | The makers of idols are all of them nothing; and their best beloved things shall not profit them. They are their witnesses, that they do not see, nor understand, that they may be ashamed. | Ashamed of the origin and imbecility of their idols. (Calmet) --- All this may be turned against heretics, who worship their own fictions; which the Church never does. (St. Jerome) (Worthington) |
| Isaiah 44:10 | Who hath formed a god, and made a graven thing that is profitable for nothing? | |
| Isaiah 44:11 | Behold, all the partakers thereof shall be confounded: for the makers are men: they shall all assemble together, they shall stand and fear, and shall be confounded together. | |
| Isaiah 44:12 | *The smith hath wrought with his file, with coals, and with hammers he hath formed it, and hath wrought with the strength of his arm: he shall hunger and faint, he shall drink no water, and shall be weary. Wisdom 13:11. | File. Hebrew mahatsad, (Haydock; Jeremias 10:3.) "to make an ax, with," etc. This is the remote cause of the idol. |
| Isaiah 44:13 | The carpenter hath stretched out his rule, he hath formed it with a plane: he hath made it with corners, and hath fashioned it round with the compass: and he hath made the image of a man as it were a beautiful man dwelling in a house. | Man. To be styled afterwards a god. (Calmet) --- Maluit esse deum. (Horace 1:ser. 8.) |
| Isaiah 44:14 | He hath cut down cedars, taken the holm, and the oak that stood among the trees of the forest: he hath planted the pine-tree, which the rain hath nourished. | |
| Isaiah 44:15 | And it hath served men for fuel: he took thereof, and warmed himself: and he kindled it, and baked bread: but of the rest he made a god, and adored it: he made a graven thing, and bowed down before it. | |
| Isaiah 44:16 | Part of it he burnt with fire, and with part of it he dressed his meat: he boiled pottage, and was filled, and was warmed, and said: Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire. | |
| Isaiah 44:17 | But the residue thereof he made a god, and a graven thing for himself: he boweth down before it, and adoreth it, and prayeth unto it, saying: Deliver me, for thou art my god. | |
| Isaiah 44:18 | They have not known, nor understood: for their eyes are covered, that they may not see, and that they may not understand with their heart. | Covered. Septuagint, "darkened." Are Catholics in the same predicament? (Chap. 40:18.) (Haydock) |
| Isaiah 44:19 | They do not consider in their mind, nor know, nor have the thought to say: I have burnt part of it in the fire, and I have baked bread upon the coals thereof: I have broiled flesh, and have eaten, and of the residue thereof shall I make an idol: shall I fall down before the stock of a tree? | |
| Isaiah 44:20 | Part thereof is ashes: his foolish heart adoreth it, and he will not save his soul, nor say: Perhaps there is a lie in my right hand. | Lie. Can I assert in conscience that it is a god? |
| Isaiah 44:21 | Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for thou art my servant. I have formed thee, thou art my servant, O Israel, forget me not. | |
| Isaiah 44:22 | I have blotted out thy iniquities as a cloud, and thy sins as a mist: return to me, for I have redeemed thee. | Return from captivity, (Calmet) and from your former errors, Matthew 11:26. (Haydock) |
| Isaiah 44:23 | Give praise, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath shewn mercy: shout with joy, ye ends of the earth: ye mountains, resound with praise, thou, O forest, and every tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and Israel shall be glorified. | |
| Isaiah 44:24 | Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, and thy Maker, from the womb: I am the Lord, that make all things: that alone stretch out the heavens, that establish the earth, and there is none with me. | |
| Isaiah 44:25 | That make void the tokens of diviners, and make the soothsayers mad. That turn the wise backward, and that make their knowledge foolish. | Mad. That people may be no longer deluded. |
| Isaiah 44:26 | That raise up the word of my servant, and perform the counsel of my messengers, who say to Jerusalem: Thou shalt be inhabited: and to the cities of Juda: You shall be built, and I will raise up the wastes thereof. | Servant. The prophets and Jesus Christ, whose works never fail, Matthew 24:35. (Calmet) --- In all this prediction of the Church, Isaias alludes to Jerusalem destroyed, and afterwards rebuilt. (Worthington) |
| Isaiah 44:27 | Who say to the deep: Be thou desolate, and I will dry up thy rivers. | Deep. Babylon, situated amid waters, Isaias 21:1. (Calmet) --- Rivers, as Cyrus did. (Herodotus 1:191.) |
| Isaiah 44:28 | Who say to Cyrus: Thou art my shepherd, and thou shalt perform all my pleasure. Who say to Jerusalem: Thou shalt be built: and to the temple: Thy foundations shall be laid. | Cyrus. This was spoken 110 years before his birth, which shews the prescience and power of God, so as not to injure free-will. The parents of Cyrus could not give him this name to fulfill the prediction, as they knew nothing of it. Amon was apprised that a person called Josias would overturn idolatry; but he had no reason to suppose that it would be his son, 1 Kings 13:2. --- My shepherd. Chaldean, "that he shall reign." This was shewn by the Jews to Cyrus, on which account, (Calmet) he gave them leave to return, etc. (Josephus, [Jewish Antiquities?] 11:1.) --- The title of shepherd is given to Agamemnon by Homer, and it denotes a good prince, such as historians represent Cyrus to have been. He observed that kings and shepherds had the like duties to perform; (Xenophon viii.) and after his death he was bewailed as a "father." (Herodotus 3:89.) --- At first he did not bear the name of Cyrus, (Herodotus 1:113.) which in the Persian language means "the sun." (Ctesias.) (Plut.[Plutarch?]) |