Isaiah 40:21

Isaiah 40:21 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
• New International Version (NIV)Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
• English Standard Version (ESV)Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
• New King James Version (NKJV)Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

Context of Isaiah 40:21

19A worker may use special skill to make an idol. Another worker may cover it with gold. He may use silver chains to make it beautiful. 20A poor person may choose special wood for his idol. He chooses wood that will not quickly become spoiled. Then he finds a worker to make an idol for him. He makes it so that it will not fall over! You must surely know what is true! You must have heard about it. Somebody must have told you these things from the beginning. You should have understood it all since the time that God made the earth. 22God sits high above on his throne where the earth and the sky meet. The people on the earth seem like grasshoppers to him. He hangs out the sky like a curtain. He makes it like a tent for him to live in. 23He takes away the power of kings. He causes the rulers of the world to be useless.

Isaiah 40:21 word by word

הֲל֤וֹא תֵֽדְעוּ֙ הֲל֣וֹא תִשְׁמָ֔עוּ הֲל֛וֹא הֻגַּ֥ד מֵרֹ֖אשׁ לָכֶ֑ם הֲלוֹא֙ הֲבִ֣ינֹתֶ֔ם מוֹסְד֖וֹת הָאָֽרֶץ׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Have ye not knownיָדַעyâda‛ · to knowH3045
• have ye not heardשָׁמַעshâma‛ · to hear: hearH8085
• hath it not been toldנָגַדnâgad · to tellH5046
• you from the beginningרֹאשׁrô'sh · head: firstH7218
• have ye not understoodבִּיןbîyn · to understandH995
• from the foundationsמוֹסָדָהmôsâdâh môsâdâh · foundationH4146
• of the earthאֶ֫רֶץ'erets · land: country/planetH776

Cross-references for Isaiah 40:21

• Isaiah 27:11When the branches become dry, they break off the tree. Women will take the sticks and they will make fires with them. That is what these people are like. They do not understand anything. So their Maker will not help them or be kind to them.
• Isaiah 44:20Someone like that is stupid enough to eat ashes. His mind has deceived him. He cannot save himself from his lies. He will not say to himself, ‘This thing that I hold in my right hand is completely false!’
• Isaiah 46:8Remember this, you people who do not obey me. Think about it carefully.
• Psalms 19:1The heavens show us how great God is. The sky above shows his good work.
• Psalms 115:8The people that make those idols will become useless like them. The same is true for everyone who trusts their idols to help them.
• Jeremiah 10:8The people of those nations are stupid and foolish. They think that wooden idols can teach them something!
• Acts 14:17But God has showed everybody very clearly what he is like. He has showed you that he is kind. He causes the rain to fall from the sky. He causes the plants to give you food at the right time each year. He gives you plenty of food to eat. In these ways he makes you very happy.’
• Romans 1:19They should understand what God is like, because God himself has shown it to them clearly.
• Romans 3:1So someone may ask, ‘Does it help a person if they are a Jew, rather than a Gentile? Does it help a person if someone has circumcised them?’

Commentaries on Isaiah 40:21

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 21Have ye not known - On this verse Kimchi has a very interesting comment, an extract of which I subjoin. "The whole world may be considered as a house built up; heaven its roof; the stars its lamps; and the fruits of the earth its table spread. The Master of the house is God, blessed for ever; and man is the steward into whose hand all the business of the house is given. If he always consider in his heart that the Master of the house is continually over…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 21Have ye not known? - This is evidently an address to the worshippers of idols, and either designed to be addressed to the Jews themselves in the times of Manasseh, when idolatry abounded, or to all idolaters. The prophet had in the previous verses shown the manner in which the idols were made, and the folly of regarding them as objects of worship. He now turns and addresses the worshippers of these idols, as being without excuse. They might have known…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 18-26Verses 18-26 Whatever we esteem or love, fear or hope in, more than God, that creature we make equal with God, though we do not make images or worship them. He that is so poor, that he has scarcely a sacrifice to offer, yet will not be without a god of his own. They spared no cost upon their idols; we grudge what is spent in the service of our God. To prove the greatness of God, the prophet appeals to all ages and nations. Those who are ignorant of this…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 21Idol worshipers do not recognize God or respond wisely to him. The faithful in Israel understand and see God's role in the story of redemption, which includes both exile and restoration (Isaiah 41:20).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2121. ye--who worship idols. The question emphatically implies, they had known. from the beginning--(Is 41:4, 26; 48:16). God is the beginning (Re 1:8). The tradition handed down from the very first, of the creation of all things by God at the beginning, ought to convince you of His omnipotence and of the folly of idolatry.Read the comment

Topics related to Isaiah 40:21

• Blindness
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• Idolatry
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In the dictionaries

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• Isaiah
• Jeremiah (2)
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• Leviticus
• Philosophy

Commentaries on Isaiah 40

• 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