to break up (usually figuratively) · verb, hiphil active participle, masculine singular absolute
tokens
אֹת֣וֹת'o.Tot
H226
a signal (literally or figuratively) · noun, common feminine plural construct
liars
בַּדִּ֔יםba.Dim
H907
a brag or lie · noun, common masculine plural absolute
diviners
וְקֹסְמִ֖יםve.ko.se.Mim
H7080
properly · conjunction + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
mad
יְהוֹלֵ֑לye.ho.Lel
H1984
to be clear (orig. of sound · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
turneth
מֵשִׁ֧יבme.Shiv
H7725
to turn back (hence · verb, hiphil active participle, masculine singular absolute
wise
חֲכָמִ֛יםcha.kha.Mim
H2450
wise · adjective, masculine plural absolute
backward
אָח֖וֹר'a.Chor
H268
the hinder part · noun, common masculine singular absolute
knowledge
וְדַעְתָּ֥םve.da'.Tam
H1847
knowledge · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
foolish
יְשַׂכֵּֽלye.sa.Kel
H5528
to be silly · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 33:10 The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.
Job 5:12-14 He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
2 Samuel 15:31 And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O LORD, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahit…
Jeremiah 50:36 A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.
Isaiah 47:12-14 Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt b…
Jeremiah 51:57 And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual slee…
1 Corinthians 1:20-27 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
Isaiah 29:14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wi…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 44:21–end
In these verses we have,
I. The duty which Jacob and Israel, now in captivity, were called to, that they might be qualified and prepared for the deliverance designed them. Our first care must be to get good by our afflictions, and then we may hope to get out of them. The duty is expressed in two words: Remember and return, as in the counsel to Ephesus, Rev 2:4, Rev 2:5. 1. "Remember these, O Jacob! Remember what thou hast been told of the folly of idolatry, and let the convictions thou art now under be ready to thee whenever thou art tempted to that sin. Remember that thou art my servant, and therefore must not serve other masters." 2. Return unto me, Isa 44:22. It is the great concern of th…
tokens--prognostics; the pretended miracles whiten they gave as proofs of their supernatural powers.
liars-- (Jer 50:36). Conjurers; or, astrologers; men leading a retired contemplative life in order to study divination by the signs of the stars [VITRINGA].
backward--with shame at their predictions not being verified. "To turn away the face" is to frustrate defeat (Isa 36:9; Kg1 2:15). The "wise men" are the diviners who, when Babylon was attacked by Cyrus, predicted his overthrow.
John Gill on Isaiah 44:25
That frustrateth the tokens of the liars,.... Struck dumb the oracles of the Heathens, disappointed their lying priests, and made void all the signs and tokens they gave the people, that such and such things would come to pass, which did not, and which proved them to be liars:
and maketh diviners mad; soothsayers, astrologers, and such sort of persons, who pretended to foretell future events; but these not answering to their predictions, they became mad, because their credit was ruined, and they lost their reward:
that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolishness; the wise philosophers among the Gentiles, and their schemes of philosophy, which were confounded and destr…
Remember that the "heart of humanity is ashes," according to the estimate of God, and that "the very wisdom of the world is foolishness." … Then, if the heretic seeks refuge in the depraved thoughts of the vulgar or the imaginations of the world, I must say to him, "Part company with the heathen, O heretic!" For although you are all agreed in imagining a God, yet while you do so in the name of Christ, so long as you deem yourself a Christian, you are a different person from a heathen. So give the nonbeliever back his own view of things, since he does not himself learn from yours. Why lean on a blind guide, if you have eyes of your own? Why be clothed by one who is naked, if you have put on Christ?
(Verse 25) Making the signs of the diviners void, and driving the soothsayers mad; turning the wise men backward, and making their knowledge foolish. LXX: Who else has dispersed the signs of the pythons, and the divinations from the heart? Who turns wise men backward, and makes their counsel foolish. Therefore, when the appointed time of the predetermined mystery arrives, so that all idols are destroyed and the knowledge of the one true God is preached in the world, he will destroy and overthrow all the prophecies of the divine, the pythonesses, and the soothsayers, along with the signs and wonders by which they have deceived the human race. And he will show that the wisdom of the philosophers, which is itself the greatest part of error, is foolish, since by no means can human thoughts comprehend the wisdom of God.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Divination · Frustrated by God — Frustrated by God
Sorcery · Vainness of — Vainness of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
on Isaiah 44:25
Frustrating the signs. The Prophet expressly added this, because Babylon surpassed other nations not only in the force of arms, and in troops and resources, but likewise in some remarkable sagacity, by which she appeared to penetrate even to heaven. What injury could befall those who foresaw at a distance future events, and could easily, as was commonly supposed, ward off imminent dangers? The astrologers, who were celebrated among them, foretold all events; and from them sprung that bastard Astrology which is called Judicial, by which even now many persons of great abilities are led astray. They assumed the name of Mathematicians, in order to recommend themselves more to the approbation of…
The promise takes a new turn here, acquiring greater and greater speciality. It is introduced as the word of Jehovah, who first gave existence to Israel, and has not let it go to ruin. "Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, and He that formed thee from the womb, I Jehovah am He that accomplisheth all; who stretched out the heavens alone, spread out the earth by Himself; who bringeth to nought the signs of the prophets of lies, and exposeth the soothsayers as raging mad; who turneth back the wise men, and maketh their science folly; who realizeth the word of His servant, and accomplisheth the prediction of His messengers; who saith to Jerusalem, She shall be inhabited! and to the cities of Judah,…
False prophets and fortune-tellers used forbidden forms of divination to try to predict the future. Eventually God would expose them as deluded liars (see 3:2; 9:15; 47:13; Deut 18:10-11).
Rashi on Isaiah 44:25
Who stretched forth the heavens alone...Who frustrates the signs of imposters Since I stretched forth the heavens, I can, therefore, frustrate their signs.
imposters Heb. בַּדִּים. They are stargazers, who predict the future through signs of the heavens, and since many times they lie, they are called בַּדִּים, imposters, for I change the heavenly princes, and these who ask of them err, and since the astrologers of Babylon were stargazers, as Scripture states (infra 47:13), “Let them stand now, and let the gazers into the heavens save you.” He, therefore, states that He will frustrate the signs of their imposters, for I am He Who frustrated the signs of the imposters of Egypt.
