New Living Translation
Isaiah 48:19
19Your descendants would have been like the sands along the seashore— too many to count! There would have been no need for your destruction, or for cutting off your family name.”
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 says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow. 18Oh, that you had listened to my commands! Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea. Your descendants would have been like the sands along the seashore— too many to count! There would have been no need for your destruction, or for cutting off your family name.” 20Yet even now, be free from your captivity! Leave Babylon and the Babylonians. Sing out this message! Shout it to the ends of the earth! The Lord has redeemed his servants, the people of Israel. 21They were not thirsty when he led them through the desert. He divided the rock, and water gushed out for them to drink.
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 10:22But though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant of them will return. The Lord has rightly decided to destroy his people.
- Genesis 13:16And I will give you so many descendants that, like the dust of the earth, they cannot be counted!
- Genesis 22:17I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies.
- Jeremiah 33:22And as the stars of the sky cannot be counted and the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of my servant David and the Levites who minister before me.”
- Hosea 1:10“Yet the time will come when Israel’s people will be like the sands of the seashore—too many to count! Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God.’
- Romans 9:27And concerning Israel, Isaiah the prophet cried out, “Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant will be saved.
- Isaiah 48:9Yet for my own sake and for the honor of my name, I will hold back my anger and not wipe you out.
- Isaiah 9:14Therefore, in a single day the Lord will destroy both the head and the tail, the noble palm branch and the lowly reed.
- Isaiah 14:22This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: “I, myself, have risen against Babylon! I will destroy its children and its children’s children,” says the Lord.
- Joshua 7:9For when the Canaanites and all the other people living in the land hear about it, they will surround us and wipe our name off the face of the earth. And then what will happen to the honor of your great name?”
- Ruth 4:10And with the land I have acquired Ruth, the Moabite widow of Mahlon, to be my wife. This way she can have a son to carry on the family name of her dead husband and to inherit the family property here in his hometown. You are all witnesses today.”
- 1 Kings 9:7then I will uproot Israel from this land that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I have made holy to honor my name. I will make Israel an object of mockery and ridicule among the nations.
- Psalms 9:5You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; you have erased their names forever.
- Psalms 109:13May all his offspring die. May his family name be blotted out in the next generation.
- Zephaniah 1:4“I will crush Judah and Jerusalem with my fist and destroy every last trace of their Baal worship. I will put an end to all the idolatrous priests, so that even the memory of them will disappear.
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
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Commentaries