Lyrics · Isaiah
I Have Called Thee by Thy Name
Isaiah 44:6-46:13
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This song belongs to the Isaiah collection. One recording is available to play here, with the complete lyrics below.
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Named in this songCyrus
About the passage
Isaiah 44: The same log cooks supper and becomes a god
Isaiah 44 moves from promised renewal to one of the book's most sustained exposures of idolatry, then closes by naming the ruler who will help rebuild Jerusalem. Israel's descendants are pictured receiving the Spirit like dry ground receiving water and publicly identifying themselves with the LORD. Against that living claim, Isaiah follows a manufactured god through the entire production line. A smith grows hungry, a carpenter measures timber, rain nourishes the tree, and the same log becomes both cooking fuel and an object asked for deliverance. The humor turns serious when the worshipper can no longer recognize the contradiction in his own hand. The Book of Isaiah answers that blindness by returning to the Maker who formed Israel, blots out sin, and does not forget his servant. Creation is summoned to praise before the chapter becomes startlingly specific: Cyrus is named as the shepherd appointed to perform work concerning Jerusalem and the temple foundation. The Creator does not need to be manufactured; he names the human instrument he intends to use.
Study Isaiah 44 in depthIsaiah 45: Cyrus is called, and the ends of the earth are invited
Isaiah 45 takes the astonishing name introduced at the end of chapter 44 and addresses Cyrus directly as the LORD's anointed. The title marks appointment, not prior religious knowledge, because the chapter twice says Cyrus has not known the God who calls him. Gates, bars, treasures, and kings fall within a commission ultimately explained "for Jacob my servant's sake." From there the chapter expands the theological claim: light and darkness, peace and calamity do not belong to rival divine realms, and the Maker is not answerable to the clay for using an unexpected instrument. The Book of Isaiah refuses to leave the argument at Cyrus. Nations are summoned, idol makers exposed, and the Creator who made the earth to be inhabited says that seeking him was never an empty invitation. The chapter ends at the ends of the earth, where salvation is openly offered and universal homage is announced. Cyrus matters because he serves a purpose much larger than Cyrus.
Study Isaiah 45 in depthIsaiah 46: The gods are carried away; the LORD carries his people
Isaiah 46 makes its argument through the simple question of who carries whom. Babylon's gods, Bel and Nebo, become freight loaded onto exhausted animals and carried into captivity. They cannot rescue the burden because they are part of it. The LORD answers by telling Jacob that the direction has always been opposite: Israel has been borne from the womb and will still be carried into old age and gray hair. The chapter then revisits expensive image making, showing that lavish materials do not solve the basic problem. A god placed carefully in position still cannot move, answer, or save. The Book of Isaiah sets that immobility against a divine purpose announced from the beginning and brought to completion through an agent called from afar. Speech becomes action because the speaker can perform what he declares. The final promise is especially sharp: people described as far from righteousness are told that God's righteousness is coming near. Rescue depends on the approaching Savior, not on the captive learning to carry itself.
Study Isaiah 46 in depth