44.17
The Book of Isaiah 44.17 · Save me, for you are my god!44.17Save me, for you are my god!
And the other half, the leftover, becomes the god he prays to. He asks his own scrap of wood to rescue him.
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וּשְׁאֵרִיתוֹ1
û-šəʾērîṯô
And the rest of itand remainder
לְאֵל2
lə-ʾēl
into a godfor god
עָשָׂה3
ʿāśâ
he makeshe made
, לְפִסְלוֹ4
lə-p̄islô
his idolfor his idol
; יסגוד־5
yisgāḏ-
he bows downhe worships
לוֹ6
lô
to itto him
וְיִשְׁתַּחוּ7
wə-yištaḥû
and prostrates himselfand he bows down
וְיִתְפַּלֵּל8
wə-yiṯpallēl
and praysand he prays
אֵלָיו9
ʾēlāyw
to itto him
, וְיֹאמַר10
wə-yōʾmar
and saysand he says
, הַצִּילֵנִי11
haṣṣîlēnî
save merescue me
, כִּי12
kî
forbecause
אָתָּה׃13
ʾāttâ
you
are
אֵלִי14
ʾēlî
my god
And the rest of it he makes into a god, as his idol; he bows down to it and prostrates himself and prays to it, and says, “Save me, for you are my god!”
And the rest of it he makes into a god, as his idol; he bows down to it and prostrates himself and prays to it, and says, “Save me, for you are my god!”
44.18
The Book of Isaiah 44.18 · They do not know, they do not understand44.18They do not know, they do not understand
The prophet steps back to say why this happens: their eyes and hearts have been plastered over.
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They do not know and do not understand, for he has smeared over their eyes so they cannot see, their hearts so they cannot grasp.
And the leftover becomes his god. He bows, prostrates himself, prays, and says “Save me, for you are my god”, ʾēlî ʾāttâ. These are the words of the Psalms, addressed to a piece of the woodpile. The verb “bows down” is written one way in the manuscript (yisgôḏ) and read another (yisgāḏ); the scribes kept the written form and noted the reading in the margin, as they always do.