Isaiah 44:25

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who confounds the wise and turns their knowledge into nonsense,

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
who destroys the omens of the false prophetsand makes fools of diviners;who confounds the wiseand makes their knowledge foolishness;

Hebrew Names Version
who frustrates the signs of the liars, and makes diviners mad; who turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish;

King James Version
That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;

English Standard Version
who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish,

New American Standard Bible
Causing the omens of diviners to fail, Making fools of fortune-tellers; Causing wise men to turn back And making their knowledge ridiculous,

New Century Version
I show that the signs of the lying prophets are false; I make fools of those who do magic. I confuse even the wise; they think they know much, but I make them look foolish.

Amplified Bible
Frustrating the signs and confounding the omens of boasters (false prophets), Making fools out of fortune-tellers, Counteracting the wise And making their knowledge ridiculous,

World English Bible
who frustrates the signs of the liars, and makes diviners mad; who turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish;

Geneva Bible (1587)
I destroy the tokens of ye southsayers, and make them that coniecture, fooles, and turne the wise men backwarde, and make their knowledge foolishnesse.

Legacy Standard Bible
Causing the omens of boasters to be annulled,And making fools out of diviners,Causing wise men to turn back,And making foolishness out of their knowledge,

Contemporary English Version
I make liars of false prophets and fools of fortunetellers. I take human wisdom and turn it into nonsense.

Complete Jewish Bible
I frustrate false prophets and their omens, I make fools of diviners, I drive back the sages and make their wisdom look silly.

Darby Translation
—he that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;

Easy-to-Read Version
False prophets tell lies, but the Lord shows that their lies are false. He makes fools of those who do magic. He confuses even the wise. They think they know a lot, but he makes them look foolish.

George Lamsa Translation
Who makes void the signs of the diviners and despises their divinations; who turns wise men backward and makes their knowledge foolish;

Good News Translation
I make fools of fortunetellers and frustrate the predictions of astrologers. The words of the wise I refute and show that their wisdom is foolishness.

Lexham English Bible
who frustrates the signs of oracle priests and makes a fool of diviners, who drives the wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish,

Literal Translation
frustrating the signs of liars; yea, He makes divining ones mad, turning wise ones backward, and making their knowledge foolish.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
I destroye the tokens of witches, and make the Sothsayers go wronge. As for the wise, I turne them bacward, and make their conninge folishnesse.

American Standard Version
that frustrateth the signs of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;

Bible in Basic English
Who makes the signs of those who give word of the future come to nothing, so that those who have knowledge of secret arts go off their heads; turning the wise men back, and making their knowledge foolish:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
That frustrateth the tokens of the imposters, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;

King James Version (1611)
That frustrateth the tokens of the lyers, and maketh diuiners mad, that turneth wisemen backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
I destroy the tokens of witches, and make the soothsayers fooles: As for the wise I turne them backwarde, and make their cunning foolishnesse.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Who else will frustrate the tokens of those that have divining spirits, and prophecies from the heart of man? turning the wise back, and making their counsel foolishness;

English Revised Version
that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and Y make voide the signes of false dyuynours, and Y turne in to woodnesse dyuynours, that dyuynen by sacrifices offrid to feendis; and Y turne wise men bacward, and Y make her science fonned.

Update Bible Version
that frustrates the signs of the liars, and makes fortune-tellers insane; that turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish;

Webster's Bible Translation
That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise [men] backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;

New English Translation
who frustrates the omens of the empty talkers and humiliates the omen readers, who overturns the counsel of the wise men and makes their advice seem foolish,

New King James Version
Who frustrates the signs of the babblers, And drives diviners mad; Who turns wise men backward, And makes their knowledge foolishness;

New Living Translation
I 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.

New Life Bible
I allow trouble to come on the special things done by men who lie and speak in pride. I make fools out of those who tell the future using their secret ways. I turn back wise men, and make their learning foolish.

New Revised Standard
who frustrates the omens of liars, and makes fools of diviners; who turns back the wise, and makes their knowledge foolish;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Frustrating the signs of praters, And, diviners, he confoundeth, - Turning wise men backwards, And their knowledge, he maketh folly;

Douay-Rheims Bible
That make void the tokens of diviners, and make the soothsayers mad. That turn the wise backward, and that make their knowledge foolish.

Revised Standard Version
who frustrates the omens of liars, and makes fools of diviners; who turns wise men back, and makes their knowledge foolish;

Young's Literal Translation
Making void the tokens of devisers, And diviners it maketh mad, Turning the wise backward, And their knowledge it maketh foolish.

THE MESSAGE
He makes the magicians look ridiculous and turns fortunetellers into jokes. He makes the experts look trivial and their latest knowledge look silly. But he backs the word of his servant and confirms the counsel of his messengers. He says to Jerusalem, "Be inhabited," and to the cities of Judah, "Be rebuilt," and to the ruins, "I raise you up." He says to Ocean, "Dry up. I'm drying up your rivers." He says to Cyrus, "My shepherd— everything I want, you'll do it." He says to Jerusalem, "Be built," and to the Temple, "Be established."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Causing the omens of boasters to fail, Making fools out of diviners, Causing wise men to draw back And turning their knowledge into foolishness,

Contextual Overview

²¹Remember these things, O Jacob, for you are My servant, O Israel. I have made you; you are My servant; O Israel, I will never forget you. ²²I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you. ²³Sing for joy, O heavens, for the LORD has done this; shout aloud, O depths of the earth. Break out into singing, O mountains, you forests and all your trees. For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and revealed His glory in Israel. ²⁴Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer who formed you from the womb: "I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who by Myself spread out the earth, ²⁵who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who confounds the wise and turns their knowledge into nonsense,²⁶who confirms the message of His servant and fulfills the counsel of His messengers, who says of Jerusalem, 'She will be inhabited,' and of the cities of Judah, 'They will be rebuilt, and I will restore their ruins,' ²⁷who says to the depths of the sea, 'Be dry, and I will dry up your currents,' ²⁸who says of Cyrus, 'My shepherd will fulfill all that I desire,' who says of Jerusalem, 'She will be rebuilt,' and of the temple, 'Let its foundation be laid.'"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

frustrateth: Isaiah 47:12-14, 1 Kings 22:11, 1 Kings 22:12, 1 Kings 22:22-25, 1 Kings 22:37, 2 Chronicles 18:11, 2 Chronicles 18:34, Jeremiah 27:9, Jeremiah 27:10, Jeremiah 28:9-17, Jeremiah 50:36

maketh: Exodus 9:11, Daniel 1:20, Daniel 2:10-12, Daniel 4:7, Daniel 5:6-8

turneth: Isaiah 19:11-14, Isaiah 29:14, 2 Samuel 15:31, 2 Samuel 16:23, 2 Samuel 17:23, Job 5:12-14, Psalms 33:10, Jeremiah 49:7, Jeremiah 51:57, 1 Corinthians 1:20-27, 1 Corinthians 3:19, 1 Corinthians 3:20

Reciprocal: Genesis 2:9 - tree of knowledge Numbers 22:38 - have I Numbers 23:8 - General 1 Kings 22:38 - and the dogs Nehemiah 4:15 - God Isaiah 16:6 - but Isaiah 19:3 - and they Isaiah 47:13 - Let now Jeremiah 28:17 - Hananiah Jeremiah 50:35 - her wise men Jeremiah 50:38 - mad Ezekiel 21:29 - they see Daniel 2:4 - tell Daniel 2:9 - for Daniel 2:27 - cannot Daniel 5:7 - to bring Micah 3:7 - the seers Acts 8:11 - he had

Cross-References

Genesis 43:2
So when Jacob's sons had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, "Go back and buy a little more food for us."

Genesis 43:5
But if you will not send him, we will not go; for the man told us, 'You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.'"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

That frustrateth the tokens of the liars,.... Struck dumb the oracles of the Heathens, disappointed their lying priests, and made void all the signs and tokens they gave the people, that such and such things would come to pass, which did not, and which proved them to be liars:

and maketh diviners mad; soothsayers, astrologers, and such sort of persons, who pretended to foretell future events; but these not answering to their predictions, they became mad, because their credit was ruined, and they lost their reward:

that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolishness; the wise philosophers among the Gentiles, and their schemes of philosophy, which were confounded and destroyed, and proved foolish, through the ministration of the Gospel, 1 Corinthians 1:20.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

That frustrateth - Hebrew, ‘Breaking:’ that is, destroying, rendering vain. The idea is, that that which necromancers and diviners relied on as certain demonstration that what they predicted would be fulfilled, God makes vain and inefficacious. The event which they predicted did not follow, and all their alleged proofs that they were endowed with divine or miraculous power he rendered vain.

The tokens - Hebrew, אתות 'othôth - ‘Signs.’ This word is usually applied to miracles, or to signs of the divine interposition and presence. Here it means the things on which diviners and soothsayers relied; the tricks of cunning and sleight-of-hand which they adduced as miracles, or as demonstrations that they were under a divine influence. See the word more fully explained in the notes at Isaiah 7:2.

The liars - Deceivers, boasters - meaning conjurers, or false prophets (compare Jeremiah 50:36; see also the note at Isaiah 16:6).

And maketh diviners mad - That is, makes them foolish, or deprives them of wisdom. They pretend to foretell future events, but the event does not correspond with the prediction. God orders it otherwise, and thus they are shown to be foolish, or unwise.

That turneth wise men backward - Lowth renders this, ‘Who reverseth the devices of the sages.’ The sense is, he puts them to shame. The idea seems to be derived from the fact that when one is ashamed, or disappointed, or fails of performing what he promised, he turns away his face (see 1 Kings 2:16, margin) The ‘wise men,’ here denote the sages; the diviners, the soothsayers; and the sense is, that they were not able to predict future events, and that when their prediction failed, they would be suffused with shame.

And maketh their knowledge foolish - He makes them appear to be fools. It is well known that soothsayers and diviners abounded in the East; and it is not improbable that the prophet here means that when Babylon was attacked by Cyrus, the diviners and soothsayers would predict his defeat, and the overthrow of his army, but that the result would show that they were utterly incapable of predicting a future event. The whole passage here has reference to the taking of Babylon by Cyrus, and should be interpreted accordingly.