Christian Standard Bible
Isaiah 8:20
20Go to God’s instruction and testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them.
Isaiah 8:20 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
- New International Version (NIV)Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.
- English Standard Version (ESV)To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.
- New King James Version (NKJV)To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
Context of Isaiah 8:20
18Here I am with the children the Lord has given me to be signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of Armies who dwells on Mount Zion. 19When they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,” shouldn’t a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? Go to God’s instruction and testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them. 21They will wander through the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged, and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. 22They will look toward the earth and see only distress, darkness, and the gloom of affliction, and they will be driven into thick darkness.
Read all of Isaiah 8Isaiah 8:20 word by word
לְתוֹרָ֖ה וְלִתְעוּדָ֑ה אִם־לֹ֤א יֹֽאמְרוּ֙ כַּדָּבָ֣ר הַזֶּ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר אֵֽין־ל֖וֹ שָֽׁחַר׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Isaiah 8:20
- Isaiah 8:16Bind up the testimony. Seal up the instruction among my disciples.
- Luke 10:26“What is written in the law?” he asked him. “How do you read it?”
- Luke 16:29“But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’
- John 5:39You pore over the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me.
- Acts 17:11The people here were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, since they received the word with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
- Galatians 3:8Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you.
- Galatians 4:21Tell me, you who want to be under the law, don’t you hear the law?
- 2 Timothy 3:15and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
- 2 Peter 1:19We also have the prophetic word strongly confirmed, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
- Isaiah 30:8Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the future, forever and ever.
- Psalms 19:7The instruction of the Lord is perfect, renewing one’s life; the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy, making the inexperienced wise.
- Psalms 119:130The revelation of your words brings light and gives understanding to the inexperienced.
- Jeremiah 8:9The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and snared. They have rejected the word of the Lord, so what wisdom do they really have?
- Micah 3:6Therefore, it will be night for you — without visions; it will grow dark for you — without divination. The sun will set on these prophets, and the daylight will turn black over them.
- Matthew 6:23But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness!
- Matthew 22:29Jesus answered them, “You are mistaken, because you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God.
Commentaries on Isaiah 8:20
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 20To the law and to the testimony "Unto the command, and unto the testimony" - "Is not תעודה teudah here the attested prophecy, Isaiah 8:1-4;? and perhaps תורה torah the command, Isaiah 8:11-15;? for it means sometimes a particular, and even a human, command; see Proverbs 6:20, and Proverbs 7:1, Proverbs 7:2, where it is ordered to be hid, that is, secretly kept." - Abp. Secker. So Deschamps, in his translation, or rather paraphrase, understands it: "Tenons…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 20To the law - To the revelation which God has given. This is a solemn call of the prophet to try everything by the revealed will of God; see Isaiah 8:16. If they speak not - If the necromancers - those that pretended to have contact with the dead. According to this word - According to what God has revealed. By this standard all their pretended revelations were to be tried. By this standard all doctrines are still to be tried. It is because - There has…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 17-22Verses 17-22 The prophet foresaw that the Lord would hide his face; but he would look for his return in favour to them again. Though not miraculous signs, the children's names were memorials from God, suited to excite attention. The unbelieving Jews were prone to seek counsel in difficulties, from diviners of different descriptions, whose foolish and sinful ceremonies are alluded to. Would we know how we may seek to our God, and come to the knowledge of…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 20God gave instructions and teachings through the law and through his prophets, such as Isaiah (see Isaiah 8:16).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2020. To the law, &c.--the revelation of God by His prophet (Is 8:16), to which he directs them to refer those who would advise necromancy. if they speak not ... it is because--English Version understands "they" as the necromancers. But the Hebrew rendered "because" is not this but "who"; and "if not," ought rather to be "shall they not"; or, truly they shall speak according to this word, who have no morning light (so the Hebrew, that is, prosperity after…Read the comment
Topics related to Isaiah 8:20
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Isaiah 8
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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