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Geneva Study Bible Commentary

Isaiah 44:20

He feedeth (z) on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, [Is there] not a lie in my right hand?

(z) He is abused as one that would eat ashes, thinking to satisfy his hunger.

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See also Isaiah 44:20 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Isaiah 44:20. _HE FEEDETH ON ASHES_] He feedeth on that which affordeth no nourishment; a proverbial expression for using ineffectual means, and bestowing labour to no purpose. In the same sense...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    HE FEEDETH ON ASHES - There have been various interpretations of this. Jerome renders it, ‘A part of it is ashes;’ the Chaldee, ‘Lo! half of the god is reduced to ashes;’ the Septuagint, ‘Know thou th...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 44 Jehovah Continues to Speak 1. _Spiritual blessings promised by the gift of the Spirit (Isaiah 44:1)_ 2. _Jehovah the First and the Last (Isaiah 44:6)_ 3. _Idolatry rebuked (Isaiah 44:9)_ 4...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    ISAIAH 44:6; ISAIAH 44:21. THE INCOMPARABLENESS OF YAHWEH, WHO REDEEMS ISRAEL. Yahweh of (the heavenly) Hosts (Genesis 2:1 *, 1 Samuel 1:3 *) asserts Hi

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    SOUL. Hebrew. _nephesh._ App-13. A LIE: i.e. the maker's vain fancy....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Isaiah 44:6-23. The Reality of Jehovah's Godhead, evinced by His Predictions, and contrasted with the manifold absurdities of Idolatry The passage, which is merely a restatement of ideas already expr...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    now meditated were actually taken....

  • Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae

    DISCOURSE: 936 THE FOLLY OF SPIRITUAL IDOLATRY Isaiah 44:20. _He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right han...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    b. SHOWS THE FRAUDULENCE OF FALSE GODS TEXT: Isaiah 44:9-20 9 They that fashion a graven image are all of them vanity; and the things that they delight in shall not profit; and their own witnesses...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? HE FEEDETH ON ASHES - figurative, because the idolater de...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    THE IMPOTENCE OF IDOLS 1-23. The reproach of God's people shall be entirely removed. Jehovah the Eternal, who rules the events of history, contrasted with the futile gods of the heathen. 24-28. This...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    ISAIAH: GOD CONTROLS THE NATIONS GOD PROMISES COMFORT TO HIS PEOPLE ISAIAH CHAPTER S 40 TO 48 _NORMAN HILLYER_ CHAPTER 44 The connection between Chapter s 43 and 44 is similar to the connection...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    His sense of reality has vanished. ISRAEL IS THE *LORD’S SERVANT V21 The *Lord speaks to the people in Israel: ‘Always remember that I shaped you as a nation to be my special servant. Therefore, Is...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    HE FEEDETH ON ASHES. — The verb passes readily through the meanings “feeding,” “pasturing,” “following after,” and the last is commonly accepted. The first, however, has the merit of greater vividness...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    רֹעֶ֣ה אֵ֔פֶר לֵ֥ב הוּתַ֖ל הִטָּ֑הוּ וְ לֹֽא

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    Isaiah 44:1; Isaiah 45:1; Isaiah 46:1; Isaiah 47:1; Isaiah 48:1...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CHAPTER I THE DATE OF Isaiah 40:1; Isaiah 41:1; Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 43:1;...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    THE FOLLY OF IDOLATRY Isaiah 44:12-20 We are here conducted to a metal idol factory, Isaiah 44:12. As we enter, we are forewarned that we shall find the workmen vain, and their delectable things unpr...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    The beginning of this chapter (verses Isa 44:1-5) contains the gracious promise of the outpouring of the Spirit of God, and a description of the blessing of refreshment and renewal which will come to...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    _Lie. Can I assert in conscience that it is a god?_...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    What a fine contrast does this view of the dung-hill god of a man's own creating, form with what went before, in which the glory of Jehovah is so sublimely set forth! If there were not facts existing...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    20._He feedeth on ashes. _This verse also confirms the preceding statement. To “feed on ashes” is the same thing as “to be fed with ashes,” just as “to feed on wind” is the same thing as “to be fed wi...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 44 AND 45. Jehovah now reasons with His people whom He had formed from the womb, encourages them, promises them His Spirit. Their children shall spring up as...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    HE FEEDETH OF ASHES,.... That is, the idolater delights in his idol, pleases himself with seeks comfort and satisfaction from it, fills and feeds himself with hopes and expectations of being helped an...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    _He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, [Is there] not a lie in my right hand?_ Ver. 20. _He feedeth on ashes,_] _i.e,_ He seeketh comf...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _They have not known_, &c. They want common discretion, and have not the understanding of a rational being in them. For what an absurdity is it for a man to dress his meat and make his god with the sa...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    THE VANITY OF IDOLATRY OVER AGAINST JEHOVAH...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    He feedeth on ashes; a deceived heart hath turned him aside, or, more emphatically, "He who watcheth over ashes a foolish heart has led him astray," THAT HE CANNOT DELIVER HIS SOUL, his idolatry leads...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    9-20 Image-making is described, to expose the folly of idolaters. Though a man had used part of a log for fuel, he fell down before an image made of the remainder, praying it to deliver him. Man grea...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    HE FEEDETH ON ASHES, which is an unsavoury, unprofitable, and pernicious food, and no less unsatisfying, uncomfortable, and mischievous is the worship of idols. A DECEIVED HEART; a mind corrupted and...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Isaiah 44:20 feeds H7462 (H8802) ashes H665 deceived H2048 (H8795) heart H3820 aside H5186 (H8689) deliver...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    ISAIAH REVEALS THE FOLLY OF IDOLATRY (ISAIAH 44:10). Note the contrast of this passage with what precedes it. Isaiah brings out that while it is Yahweh Who formed Israel, the idol is merely fashioned...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Isaiah 44:20 These two thoughts act and re-act upon each other. The lie in the right hand fetters, hopelessly fetters, the soul, while the enslaved soul, because it is enslaved, cannot discover "the...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Isaiah 44:1. _Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my Servant;...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Isaiah 44:1. _Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant;...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    This evening, we will read two Chapter s from Isaiah's prophecy, the forty-fourth and the fifty-fifth, and a few verses from the twenty-third chapter of the second Book of Samuel. May the Lord bless a...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    In this chapter, God encourages his Church by a promise of the visitation of his Spirit. Oh, that it may be fulfilled to us also! Isaiah 44:1. Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I hav...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: The promise of the Spirit and the coming restoration. The folly of idolatry. CHARACTERS: God, Holy Spirit, Cyrus. CONCLUSION: There is no God besides Jehovah. He is infinite and therefore...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Isaiah 44:5. _Another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord._ This phrase is somewhat obscure; it is not said whether they signed a covenant, or imprinted some mark on their hand. The latter sen...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _He feedeth on ashes_ EARTH USED AS FOOD One of the most extraordinary examples of depraved or perverted appetite is the use of earth for food. This propensity is not an occasional freak, but a comm...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _They that make a graven image_ THE VANITY OF GRAVEN IMAGES Substituting homely prose for glowing poetry we may, after a fashion, reduce the prophet’s thought to propositions like the following-- 1...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    ISAIAH—NOTE ON ISAIAH 44:18 As in v. Isaiah 44:9, God judges idolatrous worship. ABOMINATION. See...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    IDOL-MAKERS Isaiah 44:9. _They that make a graven image, &c._ What have we in this section of this chapter? An effective exposure of the folly of a practice that was almost universal! A fact in itsel...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION ISAIAH 44:1 A PROPHECY OF ISRAEL'S SPIRITUAL RECOVERY AND REGENERATION. This section is closely connected with Isaiah 43:1; of which it ought to form

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesh...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 Kings 22:20; 1 Timothy 4:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:9;...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    Ashes — An unprofitable and pernicious food, and no less unsatisfying and mischievous is the worship of idols. Deceived heart — A mind corrupted and deceived by deep prejudice, gross error, and especi...

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