Isaiah 44:25
in Isaiah 44who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who confounds the wise and turns their knowledge into nonsense,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
that frustrateth the signs of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;
KJV
That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;
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This verse in Isaiah 44
Commentary
11 notes on this verse(Verse 25) Making the signs of the diviners void, and driving the soothsayers mad; turning the wise men backward, and making their knowledge foolish. LXX: Who else has dispersed the signs of the pythons, and the divinations from the heart? Who turns wise men backward, and makes their counsel foolish.
This site's exposition
who alone stretched out the heavens
on Isaiah 44:24-26
I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens renews the creation claim. Verse 25 turns the same power on false prediction. Verse 26 confirms the message of His servant and says of Jerusalem, She will be inhabited, while the city still stood.
This site's exposition
foils the signs of false prophets
Barnes notes that the word for signs, othoth, is the one usually used for miracles. The LORD breaks the signs diviners offer as proof. Matthew Henry carries the verse forward to the gospel, where those who come to know Christ count their former learning as foolishness beside him.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Remember that the "heart of humanity is ashes," according to the estimate of God, and that "the very wisdom of the world is foolishness." … Then, if the heretic seeks refuge in the depraved thoughts of the vulgar or the imaginations of the world, I must say to him, "Part company with the heathen, O heretic!" For although you are all agreed in imagining a God, yet while you do so in the name of Christ, so long as you deem yourself a Christian, you are a different person from a heathen. So give the nonbeliever back his own view of things, since he does not himself learn from yours. Why lean on a blind guide, if you have eyes of your own? Why be clothed by one who is naked, if you have put on Christ?
The Medieval Church1 voice
As to the wise, whom has made fools, some of whom professed to know divine things: that make void the tokens of diviners: a sword upon her diviners, and they shall be foolish (Jer 50:36); some of whom professed to know things of the world: …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Two great truths are abundantly made out in these verses:-- I. That the people of God are a happy people, especially upon account of the covenant that is between them and God. The people of Israel were so as a figure of the gospel Israel.
Finding they cannot go on with their projects, they are forced to quit them; and so he makes the judges fools, and makes their knowledge foolish. Those that are made acquainted with Christ see all the knowledge they had before to be foolishness in comparison with the knowledge of him.
That frustrateth the tokens of the liars,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
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.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
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;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Conjurers; or, astrologers; men leading a retired contemplative life in order to study divination by the signs of the stars [VITRINGA]. backward--with shame at their predictions not being verified. "To turn away the face" is to frustrate defeat (Isa 36:9; The "wise men" are the diviners who, when Babylon was attacked by Cyrus, predicted his overthrow.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מֵפֵר֙ | mefer | [who] frustrates | H6565 → | 50 times |
| אֹת֣וֹת | ʾotot | [the] signs of | H226 → | 80 times |
| בַּדִּ֔ים | badim | empty talkers | H907 → | |
| וְקֹסְמִ֖ים | vekosemim | and diviners | H7080 → | |
| יְהוֹלֵ֑ל | yeholel | he makes look foolish | H1984 → | 165 times |
| מֵשִׁ֧יב | meshiv | [who] turns back | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| חֲכָמִ֛ים | chakhamim | wise [people] | H2450 → | 138 times |
| אָח֖וֹר | ʾachor | backwards | H268 → | 41 times |
| וְדַעְתָּ֥ם | veda'tam | and knowledge their | H1847 → | 92 times |
| יְשַׂכֵּֽל׃ | yesakel | he makes foolish | H5528 → |
מֵפֵר֙[who] frustrates
meferH6565 →50 times
אֹת֣וֹת[the] signs of
ʾototH226 →80 times
בַּדִּ֔יםempty talkers
badimH907 →
וְקֹסְמִ֖יםand diviners
vekosemimH7080 →
יְהוֹלֵ֑לhe makes look foolish
yeholelH1984 →165 times
מֵשִׁ֧יב[who] turns back
meshivH7725 →1056 times
חֲכָמִ֛יםwise [people]
chakhamimH2450 →138 times
אָח֖וֹרbackwards
ʾachorH268 →41 times
וְדַעְתָּ֥םand knowledge their
veda'tamH1847 →92 times
יְשַׂכֵּֽל׃he makes foolish
yesakelH5528 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 33:10The LORD frustrates the plans of the nations; He thwarts the devices of the peoples.
it leads to
- Psalms 21:11
Though they intend You harm, the schemes they devise will not prevail.
- Job 5:12–13
He thwarts the schemes of the crafty, so that their hands find no success.
- Proverbs 21:30
There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the LORD.
- 2 Samuel 15:31
Now someone told David: “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David pleaded, “O LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness!”
- Isaiah 8:9–10
Huddle together, O peoples, and be shattered; pay attention, all you distant lands; prepare for battle, and be shattered; prepare for battle, and be shattered!
- Psalms 21:11
Through
2 Samuel 15:31Now someone told David: “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David pleaded, “O LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness!”
it leads to
- 2 Samuel 17:14
Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than that of Ahithophel.” For the LORD had purposed to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel in…
- 2 Samuel 17:23
When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his affairs in order and hanged himself. So he…
- Psalms 41:9
Even my close friend whom I trusted, the one who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.
- 2 Samuel 17:14
Where this verse is studied
About Isaiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Tertullian, ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 3 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.