God’s Word Translation
Isaiah 48:19
19Your descendants would be like sand. Your children would be like its grains. Their names would not be cut off or wiped out in my presence.
Isaiah 48:19 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.
- New International Version (NIV)Your descendants would have been like the sand, your children like its numberless grains; their name would never be blotted out nor destroyed from before me.”
- English Standard Version (ESV)your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me."
- New King James Version (NKJV)Your descendants also would have been like the sand, And the offspring of your body like the grains of sand; His name would not have been cut off Nor destroyed from before Me.”
Context of Isaiah 48:19
17This is what the Lord, your Defender, the Holy One of Israel, says: I am the Lord your God. I teach you what is best for you. I lead you where you should go. 18If only you had listened to my commands! Your peace would be like a river ⌞that never runs dry⌟. Your righteousness would be like waves on the sea. Your descendants would be like sand. Your children would be like its grains. Their names would not be cut off or wiped out in my presence. 20Leave Babylon; flee from the Babylonians! Shout for joy as you tell it and announce it. Shout it out to the ends of the earth. Say that the Lord has reclaimed his servant Jacob. 21They weren’t thirsty when he led them through the deserts. He made water flow from a rock for them. He split a rock, and water gushed out.
Read all of Isaiah 48Isaiah 48:19 word by word
וַיְהִ֤י כַחוֹל֙ זַרְעֶ֔ךָ וְצֶאֱצָאֵ֥י מֵעֶ֖יךָ כִּמְעֹתָ֑יו לֹֽא־יִכָּרֵ֧ת וְֽלֹא־יִשָּׁמֵ֛ד שְׁמ֖וֹ מִלְּפָנָֽי׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Thy seedזֶ֫רַעzera‛ · seed: childrenH2233
- also had been as the sandחוֹלchôl · sandH2344
- and the offspringצֶאֱצָאtse'ĕtsâ' · offspringH6631
- of thy bowelsמֵעֶהmê‛eh · bellyH4578
- like the gravelמָעָהmê‛âh · grainH4579
- thereof; his nameשֵׁםshêm · nameH8034
- should not have been cut offכָּרַתkârath · to cut: eliminateH3772
- nor destroyedשָׁמַדshâmad · to destroyH8045
- from beforeפָּנֶהpânîym · face: beforeH6440
Cross-references for Isaiah 48:19
- Isaiah 10:22Although your people Israel may be as ⌞numerous as⌟ the grains of sand on the seashore, only a few will return. Destruction will be complete and fair.
- Genesis 13:16I will also give you as many descendants as the dust of the earth. If anyone could count the dust of the earth, then he could also count your descendants.
- Genesis 22:17I will certainly bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of their enemies’ cities.
- Jeremiah 33:22I will multiply the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who serve me like the stars of heaven that cannot be counted and the sand on the seashore that cannot be measured.”
- Hosea 1:10“Yet, the Israelites will become as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore. No one will be able to measure them or count them. Wherever they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be told, ‘You are the children of the living God.’
- Romans 9:27Isaiah also says about Israel: “Although the descendants of Israel are as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore, only a few will be saved.
- Isaiah 48:9For my name’s sake I’ll be patient. For my glory’s sake I’ll hold my anger back from you, rather than destroy you.
- Isaiah 9:14So in one day the Lord will cut off from Israel both head and tail, both palm branches and cattails.
- Isaiah 14:22“I’ll rise up against them,” declares the Lord of Armies. “I’ll cut off the name of the survivors from Babylon, its offspring and descendants,” declares the Lord.
- Joshua 7:9When the Canaanites and everyone who lives in the land hears about it, they will surround us and remove every memory of us from the earth. What will you do then so that your great name ⌞will be remembered⌟?”
- Ruth 4:10In addition, I have bought as my wife the Moabite Ruth, Mahlon’s widow, to keep the inheritance in the dead man’s name. In this way the dead man’s name will not be cut off from his relatives or from the public records. Today you are witnesses.”
- 1 Kings 9:7then I will cut Israel out of the land I gave them. I will reject this temple that I declared holy for my name. Israel will be an example and an object of ridicule for all the people of the world.
- Psalms 9:5You condemned nations. You destroyed wicked people. You wiped out their names forever and ever.
- Psalms 109:13Let his descendants be cut off and their family name be wiped out by the next generation.
- Zephaniah 1:4“I will use my power against Judah and against those who live in Jerusalem. I will remove the faithful few of Baal from this place and the names of the pagan priests along with my priests.
Commentaries on Isaiah 48:19
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 19Like the gravel thereof "Like that of the bowels thereof" - הדגים והם הים מעי בצאצאי betseetsaey meey haiyam vehem haddagim ; "As the issue of the bowels of the sea; that is, fishes." - Salom. ben Melec. And so likewise Aben Ezra, Jarchi Kimchi, etc. His name "Thy name" - For שמו shemo, "his name," the Septuagint had in the copy from which they translated שמך shimcha, "thy name."Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 19Thy seed also - Instead of being reduced to a small number by the calamities incident to war, and being comparatively a small and powerless people sighing in captivity, you would have been a numerous and mighty nation. This is another of the blessings which would have followed from obedience to the commands of God; and it proves that a people who are virtuous and pious will become numerous and mighty. Vice, and the diseases, the wars, and the divine…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 16-22Verses 16-22 The Holy Spirit qualifies for service; and those may speak boldly, whom God and his Spirit send. This is to be applied to Christ. He was sent, and he had the Spirit without measure. Whom God redeems, he teaches; he teaches to profit by affliction, and then makes them partakers of his holiness. Also, by his grace he leads them in the way of duty; and by his providence he leads in the way of deliverance. God did not afflict them willingly. If…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 19Your descendants … as the sand: This fulfills God's promise to Abraham (see Genesis 22:17). In contrast, the Israelites were almost destroyed during the exile in Babylon (see Isaiah 44:26).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1919. sand--retaining the metaphor of "the sea" (Is 48:18). like the gravel thereof--rather, as the Hebrew, "like that (the offspring) of its (the sea's) bowels"; referring to the countless living creatures, fishes, &c., of the sea, rather than the gravel [Maurer]. Jerome, Chaldee, and Syriac support English Version. his name ... cut off--transition from the second person, "thy," to the third "his." Israel's name was cut off "as a nation" during the…Read the comment
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Isaiah 48
- 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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
Commentaries