Isaiah 44 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 44
The chosen people and the futility of images
Verse 44:1 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:1 “But now listen, Jacob My servant, Israel whom I chose.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:1 “But now listen, My servant Jacob, and Israel whom I chose.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The summons, servant designation, and choice agree.
Verse 44:2 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:2 Thus says YHWH, who made you and formed you from the womb, who helps you: Do not fear, Jacob My servant, Jeshurun whom I chose.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:2 Thus says the Lord God who made you and formed you from the womb: You will yet be helped. Do not fear, My servant Jacob and beloved Israel whom I chose.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew Jeshurun, an honorific name, becomes Greek beloved Israel. Greek separates the help into an explicit future promise and expands the divine designation; formation and choice agree.
Verse 44:3 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:3 For I will pour water upon the thirsty and streams upon dry ground. I will pour My spirit upon your offspring and My blessing upon your descendants.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:3 For I will give water in thirst to those traveling through waterless land. I will place My spirit upon your offspring and My blessings upon your children,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek explicitly gives water to travelers, lacking a separate streams clause. Hebrew repeated pouring becomes giving and placing, and singular blessing becomes plural blessings. The gift of spirit to the offspring agrees.
Verse 44:4 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:4 They will spring up among the grass, like willows beside watercourses.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:4 and they will spring up like grass amid water and like a willow beside flowing water.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew growth among grass becomes Greek growth like grass amid water. The willow image agrees, with Greek a single tree and Hebrew plural trees.
Verse 44:5 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:5 One will say, ‘I belong to YHWH’; another will call himself by Jacob's name; another will write with his hand, ‘For YHWH,’ and take Israel's name.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:5 One will say, ‘I belong to God’; another will cry out in Jacob's name; another will inscribe, ‘I belong to God,’ in Israel's name.”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek lacks the hand and the separate act of adopting Israel's name, attaching that name to the inscription. Hebrew writing with the hand follows the Rashi presentation; writing upon the hand is another construal [RASHI44]. God replaces YHWH in the declarations.
Verse 44:6 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:6 Thus says YHWH, Israel's King and his Redeemer, YHWH of hosts: “I am first and I am last; apart from Me there is no God.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:6 Thus says God, Israel's King, who rescued him, God Sabaoth: “I am first, and I am after these things; apart from Me there is no God.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The royal and redeeming identity and exclusive divinity agree. Hebrew last becomes Greek after these things, while YHWH is represented by God and the army title by Sabaoth.
Verse 44:7 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:7 Who like Me can proclaim it? Let him declare it and set it in order before Me, since I established the ancient people. Let them tell them the things approaching and those still to come.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:7 Who is like Me? Let him stand, call out, and prepare for Me, from when I made humankind for eternity. Let them announce to you the coming things before they arrive.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek adds standing, makes the created object humankind, and relates eternity to its making rather than describing an ancient people. Hebrew tell them becomes Greek tell you, and Greek explicitly demands prediction before arrival.
Verse 44:8 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:8 Do not fear or be dismayed. Did I not let you hear and declare it long ago? You are My witnesses. Is there a God apart from Me? There is no rock I do not know.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:8 Do not cover yourselves. Did you not hear from the beginning, and did I not announce it to you? You are witnesses whether there is a God apart from Me; there were none then.”
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek covering replaces fear and dismay, and it lacks the rock image and divine knowing. Hebrew's continuous rock clause follows Rashi; there is no other Rock, I know none is another punctuation and construal [RASHI44]. Greek ends with a plural denial referring back to possible gods.
Verse 44:9 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:9 All who form carved images are emptiness; their treasured things cannot help. They themselves are their witnesses: they neither see nor know, so that they are put to shame.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:9 All who fashion and carve are futile, making what pleases them, things that will not help them. But they will be ashamed—
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek omits the entire witness, sight, and knowledge clause and supplies the makers' pleasure in their products. Its shame statement receives its subject in ten. Hebrew retains they despite the dots displayed over that word in the primary text; no apparatus judgment is claimed.
Verse 44:10 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:10 Who forms a god and casts an image that brings no benefit?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:10 all who fashion a god and carve useless things,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew a question about a maker becomes Greek the subject of nine's promised shame. Greek uses carving rather than casting and plural useless products.
Verse 44:11 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:11 Look, all his companions will be ashamed, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble and take their stand; let them fear and be ashamed together.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:11 and all from whom they came have dried up. Let the deaf from among humankind all assemble and stand together; let them be abashed and ashamed together.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek origins drying up replaces the companions' shame and explicitly has deaf people rather than craftsmen. The concluding assembly and shared humiliation agree; the Greek origin clause remains compressed.
Verse 44:12 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:12 The ironsmith works with an adze and coals, shapes it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. He grows hungry and loses strength; he drinks no water and faints.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:12 For a craftsman sharpened iron, worked it with an adze, bored it with a drill, and worked it with his strong arm. He will hunger and grow weak and certainly not drink water. Having selected
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek sharpening and drilling replace Hebrew coal and hammer work; Greek lacks the final fainting after thirst. Both stress the worker's limited bodily strength. Greek ends with a participle continued in thirteen's wood selection.
Verse 44:13 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:13 The carpenter stretches a line, shapes it with a cutting tool, works it with planes, and outlines it with a compass. He makes it in a man's form, with human beauty, to dwell in a house.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:13 wood, a craftsman set it by measure and arranged it with glue. He made it like a man's form and human beauty, to set it in a house.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew cutting, planes, and compass become Greek measuring and glue. Cutting tool follows Rashi on sered; a marking stylus is another interpretation [RASHI44]. Both expose the human likeness and domestic placement of the artifact.
Verse 44:14 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:14 He cuts cedars for himself, takes a holm oak and an oak, and reinforces it with forest timber. He plants a sapling, and rain makes it grow.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:14 The wood he cut from the woodland was what the Lord planted and rain made grow,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek removes the named tree list and gives planting to the Lord rather than the human worker. Hebrew reinforcement and sapling follow Rashi; tending a tree and identifying oren as a pine are alternatives [RASHI44]. The tirzah rendered holm oak remains botanically uncertain.
Verse 44:15 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:15 It serves people as fuel. He takes some and warms himself; he kindles it and bakes bread. He also makes a god and worships; he makes it a carved image and bows to them.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:15 so that it might serve people for burning. Taking some, he warmed himself; after burning it they baked loaves over the pieces. They worked the rest into gods and worship them.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek explicitly reserves the remainder for plural gods and shifts from one worker to several. Hebrew likewise ends with an unexpected plural them after singular god and image, retained here.
Verse 44:16 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:16 Half of it he burns in the fire; over half of it he eats meat, roasts a roast, and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, ‘Ah, I am warm; I have seen fire!’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:16 Half of it they burned in fire, and after burning it they baked loaves over the pieces. Over it he roasted meat, ate, and was satisfied. Warmed, he said, ‘It is pleasant for me, for I am warm and have seen fire!’
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek adds bread baking again and moves between plural burners and one eater. Hebrew repeats half for the cooking portion. The satisfaction, warmth, and delighted speech agree.
Verse 44:17 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:17 Its remainder he makes into a god, his carved image. He bows to it, worships, and prays to it, saying, ‘Rescue me, for you are my god.’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:17 He made the rest into a carved god and worships it and prays, saying, ‘Rescue me, for you are my god.’
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The leftover wood's manufacture into a worshiped god and the prayer for rescue agree. Hebrew has two bodily worship verbs where Greek has one.
Verse 44:18 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:18 They neither know nor understand, for their eyes are smeared shut against seeing and their hearts against insight.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:18 They did not know enough to understand, because they were darkened from seeing with their eyes and comprehending with their heart.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both explain the failure through obstructed sight and thought. Hebrew uses smearing shut; Greek uses darkening and makes the people themselves the passive subjects.
Verse 44:19 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:19 He does not take it to heart, and has neither knowledge nor understanding to say, ‘Half of it I burned in fire; I baked bread over its coals, roasted meat, and ate. Shall I make the rest an abomination? Shall I bow to decayed wood?’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:19 He did not reckon it in his heart, consider it in his soul, or know by understanding that he burned half in fire, baked loaves over its coals, roasted meat and ate, and made its remainder an abomination; and they worship it.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew hypothetical self-questioning becomes Greek a third-person report, ending with plural worshipers. Decayed wood follows Rashi; a block of wood is another lexical reading [RASHI44]. Greek lacks that final wood phrase and adds the soul's deliberation.
Verse 44:20 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:20 A deceived heart has turned him toward a shepherd of ashes. He cannot rescue his life or say, ‘Is there not a lie in my right hand?’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:20 Know that their heart is ashes, and they wander, and no one can rescue his soul. See—will you not say, ‘A lie is in my right hand’?
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Hebrew shepherd of ashes follows Rashi; feeding on ashes is another reading [RASHI44]. Greek makes the heart itself ashes and addresses observers with commands and a question, while Hebrew describes the idolater's failure to question his own grasped lie.
Verse 44:21 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:21 “Remember these things, Jacob and Israel, for you are My servant. I formed you; you are My servant. Israel, do not forget Me.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:21 “Remember these things, Jacob and Israel, for you are My servant. I formed you as My servant; and you, Israel, do not forget Me.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The remembrance, formation, and servant relationship agree. Hebrew do not forget Me follows Rashi; you will not be forgotten by Me is another grammatical reading [RASHI44].
Verse 44:22 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:22 I wiped away your transgressions like a thick cloud and your sins like a cloud. Return to Me, for I redeemed you.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:22 For look, I wiped away your lawless acts like a cloud and your sins like dark mist. Turn back to Me, and I will redeem you.”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew redemption is already accomplished and grounds the return; Greek promises future redemption after it. Both compare erased wrongdoing to dispersed cloud, with Greek dark mist in the second image.
Verse 44:23 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:23 Sing, heavens, for YHWH has acted! Shout, depths of the earth! Break into song, mountains, forest, and every tree within it! For YHWH redeemed Jacob and displays His glory in Israel.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:23 Rejoice, heavens, because God had mercy on Israel! Sound trumpets, earth's foundations! Cry out joy, mountains, hills and all their trees! For God redeemed Jacob, and Israel will be glorified.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek specifies mercy on Israel, substitutes foundations for depths and hills for forest, and adds trumpets. Hebrew God glorifies Himself in Israel; Greek Israel is glorified. Cosmic celebration of redemption agrees.
Verse 44:24 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:24 Thus says YHWH, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am YHWH who makes all things, who stretches heaven alone and spreads the earth from Myself,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:24 Thus says the Lord who redeems you and forms you from the womb: “I am the Lord who completes all things. I stretched heaven alone and established the earth. Who else
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew from Myself follows the directly checked read form; the written words can be read who was with Me [RASHI44]. Greek instead begins who else, a question continued through twenty-six. Making and spreading become completing and establishing.
Verse 44:25 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:25 who frustrates the signs of liars and makes diviners foolish, turns wise people backward and makes their knowledge folly,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:25 will scatter the signs of spirit-mediums and divinations from the heart, turning the discerning backward and making their counsel foolish,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek spirit-mediums replaces liars and scattering divinations replaces making diviners foolish. Knowledge becomes counsel. The Greek clause continues the who-else question begun in twenty-four.
Verse 44:26 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:26 who confirms His servant's word and fulfills His messengers' counsel, who says to Jerusalem, ‘You will be inhabited,’ and to Judah's cities, ‘You will be rebuilt, and I will raise her ruins,’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:26 and establish His servant's words and make His messengers' counsel true? He says to Jerusalem, ‘You will be inhabited,’ and to Judea's cities, ‘You will be rebuilt,’ and her deserted places will spring up;
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The confirmed prophetic message and rebuilding agree. Greek ends the rhetorical question before the city promises, pluralizes the servant's words, and makes the deserted places spring up rather than explicitly having God raise ruins.
Verse 44:27 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:27 who says to the deep, ‘Dry up, and I will dry your rivers,’
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:27 He says to the abyss, ‘You will be desolate, and I will dry your rivers’;
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both address the watery deep and promise dried rivers. Greek predicts desolation where Hebrew commands drying.
Verse 44:28 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
44:28 who says of Cyrus, ‘My shepherd; he will fulfill all My desire,’ and says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
44:28 He tells Cyrus to understand, and says, ‘He will do all My wishes.’ He says to Jerusalem, ‘You will be rebuilt, and I will lay the foundation of My holy house.’”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew Cyrus as My shepherd becomes Greek Cyrus instructed to understand. Greek explicitly gives God the temple-founding action and adds My holy; Hebrew has a passive temple address. Both name Cyrus and promise Jerusalem's rebuilding.