New King James Version
Isaiah 8:20
20To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in 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 Living Translation (NLT)Look to God’s instructions and teachings! People who contradict his word are completely in the dark.
Context of Isaiah 8:20
18Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me! We are for signs and wonders in Israel From the Lord of hosts, Who dwells in Mount Zion. 19And when they say to you, “Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? 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. 21They will pass through it hard-pressed and hungry; and it shall happen, when they are hungry, that they will be enraged and curse their king and their God, and look upward. 22Then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into 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 the law among my disciples.
- Luke 10:26He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”
- Luke 16:29Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’
- John 5:39You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.
- Acts 17:11These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.
- Galatians 3:8And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”
- Galatians 4:21Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?
- 2 Timothy 3:15and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
- 2 Peter 1:19And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;
- Isaiah 30:8Now go, write it before them on a tablet, And note it on a scroll, That it may be for time to come, Forever and ever:
- Psalms 19:7The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
- Psalms 119:130The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.
- Jeremiah 8:9The wise men are ashamed, They are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord; So what wisdom do they have?
- Micah 3:6“Therefore you shall have night without vision, And you shall have darkness without divination; The sun shall go down on the prophets, And the day shall be dark for them.
- Matthew 6:23But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
- Matthew 22:29Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor 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
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries