Isaiah 44:5

One shall say, I am the LORD's; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel.

One shall say, I (am) the Lord's; and another shall call (himself) by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe (with) his hand unto the Lord, and surname (himself) by the name of Israel. The third clause answers in parallelism to the first, the fourth to the second.

I am the Lord's - literally, 'for Yahweh (am) I' (; 1 Corinthians 6:19; ).

Call himself by the name of Jacob. The Gentiles (as the result of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Israel, the Lord's "seed," first) shall join themselves to the children of Jacob, in order to worship their God. This is the force of the phrase, "call himself by the name of Jacob" (cf. ; ): another shall attach himself to Jacob's nation and religion (cf. ). Or, as the Chaldaic and Syriac, the Septuagint and Vulgate, omit "himself," which is not in the Hebrew, 'shall call in prayer by the name of Jacob' - i:e., in the profession of a son of a Jacob: shall invoke God as an Israelite. Cf the parallel fourth clause. Maurer, 'celebrates the name of Jacob.'

Subscribe (with) his hand unto the Lord - in solemn and public covenant, pledging himself to God's service (cf. ), before "witnesses" (), after the manner of a civil contract (; ; ). So the Christian in the sacraments. Hebrew, yiktob. Literally, 'shall fill his hand with letters (; ) in honour of Yahweh;' or 'shall write upon his hand I am Yahweh's (cf. ; ); alluding to the punctures with ink on the hand, whereby a soldier marked himself as bound to his commander; and whereby the Christians used to mark themselves with the name of Christ (Lowth). The former view is simpler.

Surname (himself) by the name of Israel. Maurer and Gesenius interpret this as the Hebrew [wªkaneh] sanctions, answering to their rendering of the parallel second clause, 'calls blandly (speaks in honourable terms of) the name of Israel.' Retaining the English version, we must, from the Hebrew, understand it thus, 'surname himself by the honourable name of Israel' ().