Isaiah 44:19

19 No one recalls * *, nor is there 1knowledge or understanding to say, "I have burned half of it in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it. Then I make the rest of it into an 2abomination, I fall down before a block of wood!"

Isaiah 44:19 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 44:19

And none considereth in his heart
Or, "and he does not return it to his heart" F11; he does not come to himself again, or return to his right mind, but lives and dies under the infatuation; never once revolving it in his mind, pondering within himself what he has done, or is doing, whether right or wrong: neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say;
within himself, and reason the matter in his own mind, and thus express himself: I have burnt part of it in the fire;
to warm myself with: yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof;
both heated the oven, and baked bread with it; and also upon the live coals have laid kneaded dough, and baked a cake on them: and I have roasted flesh, and eaten it;
made a fire with another part of it, and roasted meat at it, and ate it with great pleasure and satisfaction: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination?
an idol, which is an abominable thing to God, and to all men of sense and goodness: shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?
or "the bud of a tree?" F12 or that which is made out of a tree of my own planting, cutting down, and hewing, part of which has been used to the above purposes; and the remaining lifeless log, shall I worship it as a god? and yet, though such reasoning might be justly expected from a man that is a reasonable creature, sottish are idolaters, that they seem to be quite deprived of their rational powers, or at least these are disused by them.


FOOTNOTES:

F11 (wbl la byvy alw) "et non reducet ad cor suum", Pagninus, Montanus; "reducit", Piscator.
F12 (Ue lwbl) "ante id quod provenit ex abore", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "germen ligni", Forerius.

Isaiah 44:19 In-Context

17 But the rest of it he makes into a god, his graven image. He falls down before it and worships; he also prays to it and says, "Deliver me, for you are my god."
18 They do not know, nor do they understand, for He has smeared over their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot comprehend.
19 No one recalls , nor is there knowledge or understanding to say, "I have burned half of it in the fire and also have baked bread over its coals. I roast meat and eat it. Then I make the rest of it into an abomination, I fall down before a block of wood!"
20 He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has turned him aside. And he cannot deliver himself, nor say, "Is there not a lie in my right hand?"
21 "Remember these things, O Jacob, And Israel, for you are My servant; I have formed you, you are My servant, O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Isaiah 5:13; Isaiah 44:18, 19; Isaiah 45:20
  • 2. Deuteronomy 27:15; 1 Kings 11:5, 7; 2 Kings 23:13, 14

Footnotes 3

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