Isaiah 44:26 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 44:26
That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; 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:
to rise (in various applications · verb, hiphil active participle, masculine singular absolute
word
דְּבַ֣רde.Var
H1697
a word · noun, common masculine singular construct
servant
עַבְדּ֔וֹav.Do
H5650
a servant · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
performeth
יַשְׁלִ֑יםyash.Lim
H7999
to be safe (in mind · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
counsel
וַעֲצַ֥תva.'a.Tzat
H6098
advice · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct
messengers
מַלְאָכָ֖יוmal.'a.Khav
H4397
a messenger · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
saith
הָאֹמֵ֨רha.'o.Mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
Jerusalem
לִירוּשָׁלִַ֜םli.ru.sha.Lim
H3389
Jerushalaim or Jerushalem · preposition + proper noun, a place name
inhabited
תּוּשָׁ֗בtu.Shav
H3427
properly · verb, hophal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
cities
וּלְעָרֵ֤יu.le.'a.Rei
H5892
a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
Judah
יְהוּדָה֙ye.hu.Dah
H3063
Jehudah (or Judah) · proper noun, a place name
built
תִּבָּנֶ֔ינָהti.ba.Nei.nah
H1129
to build (literally and figuratively) · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person feminine plural
up
אֲקוֹמֵֽם'a.ko.Mem
H6965
to rise (in various applications · verb, piel imperfect, 1st person common singular
places
וְחָרְבוֹתֶ֖יהָve.cha.re.vo.Tei.ha
H2723
properly · conjunction + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine 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
1 Kings 18:36-38 And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham,…
Isaiah 42:9 Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.
Acts 2:25-28 For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
2 Peter 1:19-21 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the d…
Nehemiah 1:3 And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Je…
Isaiah 60:10 And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour…
Jeremiah 30:18 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwellingplaces; and the city shall be…
Jeremiah 33:7 And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.
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…
servant--in a collective sense, for the prophets in general, who foretold the return from Babylon; answering to "His messengers" (plural, in the parallel clause) [MAURER]. Antitypically, and ultimately, Messiah, who is the consummating embodiment of all the prophets and messengers of God (Mal 3:1; Mat 21:34, Mat 21:36-37; Joh 10:36); hence the singular, "His servant."
counsel--predictions; prophets' counsels concern the future (compare "counsellor," Isa 41:28).
Jerusalem--regarded prophetically, as lying in ruins.
John Gill on 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; an…
Here he calls "servant" the very prophet who is exercising the ministry of these words. "And verifying the counsel of his messengers." Not only of this messenger, he says, but also that of all the others who transmit the divine word. Thus, it is not without forethought that he has made this declaration here but to give force to what is going to be said, for he prophesies in the next passage the royalty of Cyrus, who was the first to reign over the Persians, and the return of the people, the reconstruction of Jerusalem and the total defeat of Babylon. This is why he has prefaced it with "And confirming the word of his servant." "Who says to Jerusalem, you shall be inhabited; and to the cities of Judea, you shall be built, and its desert places shall spring forth." The text has shown the tremendous power of the Creator: I only have to speak, he says, and my will is accomplished; for it is by a word that I likewise effected the creation.
(Verse 26) Fulfilling the word of my servant, and performing the counsel of my messengers. I say to Jerusalem: you shall be inhabited, and to the cities of Judah: you shall be rebuilt, and its desolate places I will restore. LXX: And I establish the word of my son, and I approve the true counsel of the Angels. I say to Jerusalem, you will be inhabited: and to the cities of Judah: you will be built, and its desolate places will be restored. And furthermore, the word of the boy, or his servant, about whom we spoke earlier, and the advice of his messengers, will accomplish these things: namely, the Apostles and all the teachers, who will proclaim the will of their master to the nations. Therefore, he himself, who will accomplish such great things, whose power I have described in a few words, also says to Jerusalem, which will be destroyed by the Babylonians, before it is destroyed, that it will be inhabited again by the people, and to the cities of Judea, that they will be restored, and he will raise up its desolations, so that all may be filled with cultivators.
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
Jerusalem · Prophecies respecting: To be rebuilt by Cyrus — Prophecies respecting: To be rebuilt by Cyrus
Prophecy · God accomplishes — God accomplishes
Prophets · The messengers of God — The messengers of God
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).
John Calvin on Isaiah 44:26
Confirming the word. The Prophet now applies to his purpose what he had formerly said; for, although he spoke in general terms, still he had a specific object in view, to adapt to the circumstances of the present occasion all that he said, that the people might not be alarmed at that pretended wisdom of the Chaldeans, or doubt that God would one day deliver them. With their unfounded predictions, therefore, he contrasts the promises of God, that they might not imagine that that monarchy was free from all danger.
The promise was this,
"Babylon shall fall, but my people shall be restored to liberty." (Isaiah 21:9.)
The Babylonians laughed at these promises, "As if we could not foresee by me…
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 44:26
He fulfills the word of His servant Moses.
and the counsel of His messengers One angel said to Jacob (Gen. 32:27), “Israel shall be your name,” and I fulfilled his words. Here too, I will fulfill the counsel of My prophets who say concerning Jerusalem, “It shall be settled.”
