Tree of Life Version
Isaiah 8:20
20To Torah and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no light.
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 that Adonai has given me as signs and wonders in Israel, from Adonai-Tzva’ot who dwells on Mount Zion. 19When they say to you: “Consult the mediums and necromancers who chirp and mutter,” shouldn’t a people seek their God? Should a people consult the dead on behalf of the living? To Torah and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no light. 21They will pass this way that are hard-pressed and hungry, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will become enraged and curse their king and their God. Whether they turn their faces upward 22or look to the earth, behold, distress and darkness, the 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 instruction with My disciples.
- Luke 10:26Then Yeshua said to him, “What has been written in the Torah? How do you read it?”
- Luke 16:29“But Abraham says, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets. Let them listen to them.’
- John 5:39You search the Scriptures because you suppose that in them you have eternal life. It is these that testify about Me.
- Acts 17:11Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, because they received the message with goodwill, searching the Scriptures each day to see whether these things were true.
- Galatians 3:8The Scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the Good News to Abraham in advance, saying, “All the nations shall be blessed through you.”
- Galatians 4:21Tell me, you who want to be under Torah, don’t you understand the Torah?
- 2 Timothy 3:15and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to make you wise, leading to salvation through trusting in Messiah Yeshua.
- 2 Peter 1:19Furthermore, we have the reliable prophetic word. You do well by paying 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 30:8Now go, write it on a tablet for them and inscribe it in a scroll, so that it may be as a witness for the last day, forever.
- Psalms 19:7It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other end. Nothing is hidden from its heat.
- Psalms 119:130The unfolding of Your words gives light, giving understanding to the simple.
- Jeremiah 8:9The wise men will be put to shame— shattered, trapped. Look! They have rejected Adonai’s word, so what wisdom do they have?
- Micah 3:6“Therefore you will have night without vision, and darkness without divination. The sun shall set on the prophets, the day shall become dark upon them.”
- Matthew 6:23But if your eye is bad, your body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
- Matthew 22:29But answering, Yeshua said to them, “You’ve gone astray, because you don’t understand 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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