Isaiah 44:26

26 ¹who confirms the word of his servant and fulfills the counsel of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, 'She shall be inhabited,' ²and of the cities of Judah, 'They shall be built, and I will raise up their ruins';

Isaiah 44:26 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 44:26

That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the
counsel of his messengers
Who, as he confirmed the word of Isaiah and other prophets, and fulfilled their predictions concerning the captivity of the Jews, and their deliverance from it; so he has confirmed and established the word preached by his servants, the Gospel, which is the counsel of God, delivered out by his messengers, the apostles, and first preachers of it; it being attended with the demonstration of the spirit, and of power, to the conversion of sinners, and to the destruction of idolatry and Pagan worship. By the Lord's "servant" some understand Moses, as Jarchi; others Isaiah, as Kimchi and most interpreters; and why not Paul, as Cocceius? though the singular seems rather to be put for the plural, as the next clause explains it; and so the Arabic version renders it, "his servants"; to which the Targum agrees, paraphrasing it,

``confirming the words of his servants the righteous:''

that saith to Jerusalem, thou shalt be inhabited, and to the cities of
Judah, ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places
thereof;
all which suppose that Jerusalem, which, in the prophet's time, was full of inhabitants, should be emptied of them, by the sword, famine, pestilence, and captivity; yet, nevertheless, there should be a return of the Jews from captivity, and this city should be peopled and inhabited again; and also, that the cities of Judah, which were now in good circumstances, should be laid waste, and all the adjacent country be in a ruinous condition, all which should be rebuilt and restored to a flourishing state again. The Lord had said it, and it should be done; as accordingly it was. This may be understood, in a spiritual sense, of the building up of the church of God, and the setting up and establishing the interest of Christ, by the preaching of the Gospel.

Isaiah 44:26 In-Context

24 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: "I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,

25 who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish,

26 who confirms the word of his servant and fulfills the counsel of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, 'She shall be inhabited,' and of the cities of Judah, 'They shall be built, and I will raise up their ruins';

27 who says to the deep, 'Be dry; I will dry up your rivers';

28 who says of Cyrus, 'He is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose'; saying of Jerusalem, 'She shall be built,' and of the temple, 'Your foundation shall be laid.'"

Cross References

• 1. [2 Chronicles 36:22]
• 2. [Jeremiah 32:15, 44]