New Living Translation
Isaiah 44:27
27When I speak to the rivers and say, ‘Dry up!’ they will be dry.
Isaiah 44:27 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:
- New International Version (NIV)who says to the watery deep, ‘Be dry, and I will dry up your streams,’
- English Standard Version (ESV)who says to the deep, 'Be dry; I will dry up your rivers';
- New King James Version (NKJV)Who says to the deep, ‘Be dry! And I will dry up your rivers’;
Context of Isaiah 44:27
25I expose the false prophets as liars and make fools of fortune-tellers. I cause the wise to give bad advice, thus proving them to be fools. 26But I carry out the predictions of my prophets! By them I say to Jerusalem, ‘People will live here again,’ and to the towns of Judah, ‘You will be rebuilt; I will restore all your ruins!’ When I speak to the rivers and say, ‘Dry up!’ they will be dry. 28When I say of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd,’ he will certainly do as I say. He will command, ‘Rebuild Jerusalem’; he will say, ‘Restore the Temple.’”
Read all of Isaiah 44Isaiah 44:27 word by word
הָאֹמֵ֥ר לַצּוּלָ֖ה חֳרָ֑בִי וְנַהֲרֹתַ֖יִךְ אוֹבִֽישׁ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Isaiah 44:27
- Isaiah 11:15The Lord will make a dry path through the gulf of the Red Sea. He will wave his hand over the Euphrates River, sending a mighty wind to divide it into seven streams so it can easily be crossed on foot.
- Isaiah 42:15I will level the mountains and hills and blight all their greenery. I will turn the rivers into dry land and will dry up all the pools.
- Isaiah 43:16I am the Lord, who opened a way through the waters, making a dry path through the sea.
- Isaiah 51:15For I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea, causing its waves to roar. My name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
- Psalms 74:15You caused the springs and streams to gush forth, and you dried up rivers that never run dry.
- Jeremiah 50:38A drought will strike her water supply, causing it to dry up. And why? Because the whole land is filled with idols, and the people are madly in love with them.
- Jeremiah 51:32All the escape routes are blocked. The marshes have been set aflame, and the army is in a panic.
- Revelation 16:12Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great Euphrates River, and it dried up so that the kings from the east could march their armies toward the west without hindrance.
Commentaries on Isaiah 44:27
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 27That saith to the deep, Be dry "Who saith to the deep, Be thou wasted" - Cyrus took Babylon by laying the bed of the Euphrates dry, and leading his army into the city by night through the empty channel of the river. This remarkable circumstance, in which the event so exactly corresponded with the prophecy, was also noted by Jeremiah, Jeremiah 50:38; Jeremiah 51:36. "A drought shall be upon her waters, and they shall be dried up: - I will lay her sea dry…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 27That saith to the deep, Be dry - Lowth supposes, that this refers to the fact that Cyrus took Babylon by diverting from their course the waters of the river Euphrates, and thus leaving the bed of the river dry, so that he could march his army under the walls of the city (see the notes at Isaiah 43:16-17. The most obvious interpretation is that of Lowth, Vitringa, etc., by which it is supposed that it refers to the drying up of the Euphrates and the…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 21-28Verses 21-28 Return unto me. It is the great concern of those who have backslidden from God, like the Jews of old, to hasten their return to him. The work of redemption wrought for us by Christ, encourages to hope for all blessings from him. Our transgressions and our sins are as a thick cloud between heaven and earth: sins separate between us and God; they threaten a storm of wrath. When God pardons sin, he blots out, he dispels this cloud, this thick…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 27The sudden loss of natural resources sometimes shows divine judgment (see Isaiah 42:15; compare 43:20). Here, however, God's ability to dry up streams with only a word shows his power to fulfill his promises through Cyrus of Persia.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 24-2824-28. Confirmation of His promises to the Church and Israel, by various instances of His omnipotence; among these the restoration of the Jews by Cyrus. alone--literally, "Who was with Me?" namely, when I did it; answering to "by Myself," in the parallel clause (compare similar phrases, Ho 8:4; Joh 5:30) [Maurer].Read the comment
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Isaiah 44
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
New Living Translation — © 1996, 2004, 2015 Tyndale House Foundation
Commentaries