“Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, who is enthroned among the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
Parallel Translations
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“Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, who is enthroned among the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
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O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: thou hast made heaven and earth.
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'O LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, that sittest upon the cherubim, Thou art the God, even Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; Thou hast made heaven and earth.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (28)
Passages linked to Isaiah 37:16 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 25:22 There I will meet with you, and I will tell you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the covenant, all that I command you for the children of Israel.
- Psalms 99:1 Yahweh reigns! Let the peoples tremble. He sits enthroned among the cherubim. Let the earth be moved.
- Psalms 86:10 For you are great, and do wondrous things. You are God alone.
- 1 Samuel 4:4 So the people sent to Shiloh, and they brought from there the ark of the covenant of Yahweh of Armies, who sits above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
- Psalms 80:1 Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock, you who sit above the cherubim, shine out.
- Isaiah 44:24 Yahweh, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb says: “I am Yahweh, who makes all things; who alone stretches out the heavens; who spreads out the earth by myself;
- John 1:3 All things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made that has been made.
- Colossians 1:16 For by him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible things and invisible things, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things have been created through him and for him.
- Hebrews 4:16 Let’s therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace for help in time of need.
- Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
- Deuteronomy 10:17 For Yahweh your God, he is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the awesome, who doesn’t respect persons or take bribes.
- 2 Samuel 7:26 Let your name be magnified forever, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies is God over Israel; and the house of your servant David will be established before you.’
- 1 Kings 18:32 With the stones he built an altar in Yahweh’s name. He made a trench around the altar, large enough to contain two seahs of seed.
- 2 Kings 5:15 He returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him; and he said, “See now, I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. Now therefore, please take a gift from your servant.”
- Psalms 46:7 Yahweh of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.
- Psalms 46:11 Yahweh of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.
- Psalms 136:2-3 Give thanks to the God of gods; for his loving kindness endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords; for his loving kindness endures forever:
- Psalms 146:6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps truth forever;
- Isaiah 6:3 One called to another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!”
- Isaiah 8:13 Yahweh of Armies is who you must respect as holy. He is the one you must fear. He is the one you must dread.
- Isaiah 37:20 Now therefore, Yahweh our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are Yahweh, even you only.”
- Isaiah 40:28 Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint. He isn’t weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
- Isaiah 43:10-11 “You are my witnesses,” says Yahweh, “With my servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, neither will there be after me. I myself am Yahweh. Besides me, there is no savior.
- Isaiah 44:6 This is what Yahweh, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies, says: “I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.
- Isaiah 45:22 “Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.
- Isaiah 54:5 For your Maker is your husband; Yahweh of Armies is his name. The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. He will be called the God of the whole earth.
- Jeremiah 10:10-12 But Yahweh is the true God. He is the living God, and an everlasting King. At his wrath, the earth trembles. The nations aren’t able to withstand his indignation. “You shall say this to them: ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.’ ” God has made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens.
- Revelation 11:15-17 The seventh angel sounded, and great voices in heaven followed, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ. He will reign forever and ever!” The twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God’s throne, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: “We give you thanks, Lord God, the Almighty, the one who is and who was; because you have taken your great power and reigned.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (8 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He groundeth his prayer on God’s promise, who promised…
He groundeth his prayer on God’s promise, who promised to hear them from between the Cherubims.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Of a truth Lord,.... This is a truth and…
Of a truth Lord,.... This is a truth and will be readily owned what the king of Assyria has said that his ancestors have destroyed all lands, or at least have endeavoured to do it, and have had it in their hearts to do it:
the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries: or "all the lands and their land" (m); the Targum is,
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"all provinces and their lands;''
the countries and town and villages in them, or the chief cities and villages round about them.
(m) "omnes terras, et terram eorum", Pagninus, Montanus; "vel terram inquam eorum", Vatablus.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain O Lord of hosts - (See the note at…
O Lord of hosts - (See the note at Isa 1:9).
That dwellest between the cherubims - On the cherubim, see the note at Isa 14:13. The reference here is doubtless to the fact that the symbol of the divine presence in the temple the Shechinah (from שׁכן shâkan, to dwell, to inhabit; so called because it was the symbol of God’s dwelling with his people or inhabiting the temple) - rested on the cover of the ark in the temple. Hence, God is frequently represented as dwelling between the cherubim Exo 25:22; Psa 80:1; Psa 99:1. On the whole subject of the cherubim, the reader may consult an article in the Quarterly Christian Spectator for September 1836.
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Thou art the God - The only God Isa 43:10-11.
Even thou alone - There is none besides thee - a truth which is often affirmed in the Scriptures Deu 32:39; Psa 86:10; 1Co 8:4.
Thou hast made heaven and earth - It was on the ground of this power and universal dominion that Hezekiah pleaded that God would interpose.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain dwellest--the Shekinah, or fiery symbol of God's presence, dwelling…
dwellest--the Shekinah, or fiery symbol of God's presence, dwelling in the temple with His people, is from shachan, "to dwell" (Exo 25:22; Psa 80:1; Psa 99:1).
cherubim--derived by transposition from either a Hebrew root, rachab, to "ride"; or rather, barach, to "bless." They were formed out of the same mass of pure gold as the mercy seat itself (Exo 25:19, Margin). The phrase, "dwellest between the cherubim," arose from their position at each end of the mercy seat, while the Shekinah, and the awful name, JEHOVAH, in written letters, were in the intervening space. They are so inseparably associated with the manifestation of God's glory, that whether the Lord is at rest or in motion, they always are mentioned with Him (Num 7:89; Psa 18:10). (1) They are first mentioned (Gen 3:24) "on the edge of" (as "on the east" may be translated) Eden; the Hebrew for "placed" is properly to "place in a tabernacle," which implies that this was a local tabernacle in which the symbols of God's presence were manifested suitably to the altered circumstances in which man, after the fall, came before God. It was here that Cain and Abel, and the patriarchs down to the flood, presented their offerings: and it is called "the presence of the Lord" (Gen 4:16). When those symbols were removed at the close of that early patriarchal dispensation, small models of them were made for domestic use, called, in Chaldee, "seraphim" or "teraphim." (2) The cherubim, in the Mosaic tabernacle and Solomon's temple, were the same in form as those at the outskirts of Eden: compound figures, combining the distinguishing properties of several creatures: the ox, chief among the tame and useful animals; the lion among the wild ones; the eagle among birds; and man, the head of all (the original headship of man over the animal kingdom, about to be restored in Jesus Christ, Psa 8:4-8, is also implied in this combination). They are, throughout Scripture, represented as distinct from God; they could not be likenesses of Him which He forbade in any shape. (3) They are introduced in the third or gospel dispensation (Rev 4:6) as "living creatures" (not so well translated "beasts" in English Version), not angels, but beings closely connected with the redeemed Church. So also in Eze. 1:5-25; 10:1-22. Thus, throughout the three dispensations, they seem to be symbols of those who in every age should officially study and proclaim the manifold wisdom of God.
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thou alone--literally, "Thou art He who alone art God of all the kingdoms"; whereas Sennacherib had classed Jehovah with the heathen gods, he asserts the nothingness of the latter and the sole lordship of the former.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 16. The prayer opens with a solemn invocation of…
16. The prayer opens with a solemn invocation of Jehovah, first as God of Israel, and second as the only true God and Creator of all things.
that dwellest between (or, art enthroned upon) the cherubims] Cf. 1Sa_4:4; 2Sa_6:2; Psa_80:1. The Cherubim may have been originally symbolic representations of the storm-cloud (see Psa_18:10) and hence bearers of the Divine Presence (Ezekiel 1); but the reference here is undoubtedly to the two figures over the ark in the Temple; Jehovah, therefore, is addressed as the God of the Temple.
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thou art the God … alone] Thou art (He that is) God alone. The sole divinity of Jehovah is here presented as a theological consequence of the doctrine of creation, a fundamental idea in the teaching of ch. 40 ff. Although the doctrine of creation was held in Israel from the earliest times, it seems to have been by slow degrees that its full religious significance was apprehended.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (16) That dwellest between the cherubims.—A like phrase in…
(16) That dwellest between the cherubims.—A like phrase in Psa_18:10 refers, apparently, to the dark thunder-clouds of heaven. Here, probably, the reference is to the glory-cloud which was the symbol of the Divine presence, and which rested, when it manifested itself, between the cherubim of the ark (Num_7:89), those figures also symbolising the elemental forces of the heavens. (Comp. Psa_68:33.)
Thou art the God, even thou alone.—The absolute monotheism of the faith of Israel is placed in strong antithesis to the polytheism of Rabshakeh (Isa_37:12). (Comp. Jer_10:11, and Isaiah 40-42)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain O Lord... that dwellest between the cherubims; literally, that…
O Lord... that dwellest between the cherubims; literally, that sittest upon the cherubim. The allusion is scarcely to the poetic imagery of God riding on the cherubim in the heavens, (Psa_18:10) as Mr. Cheyne suggests; but rather to his dwelling between the two cherubic forms in the holy of holies, and there manifesting himself. (comp. Num_7:89 1Sa_4:4 2Sa_6:2 Psa_80:1 Psa_99:1) Thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. It has been questioned whether Hezekiah was really as pronounced a monotheist as these expressions would imply, and suggested that his actual words received "a colouring" from a later writer. Hezekiah"s contemporaries, it is said, Isaiah and Micah, make no such strong statements of their belief in one only God as this (Kuenen, Cheyne). But it is difficult to see what can be a clearer revelation of monotheism Isa_6:1-5, or what truth more absolutely underlies the whole of Isaiah"s teaching than the unity of the Supreme Being. The same undercurrent is observable in Micah. (Mic_1:2, 3 4:5 6:6-9 7:17, 18) Sennacherib"s belief, that each country has its own god, (Isa_36:18-20) is not shared by the religious Jews of his time. They are well aware that the heathen gods are "vanity" (Isa_46:3 Hos_4:15; Amos Jon_2:8), "wind" and "confusion". (Isa_41:29, etc.) Thou hast made heaven and earth. (comp. Gen_1:1 Psa_102:25 Isa_40:26-28 Isa_42:5, etc.)
The God of all kingdoms.
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This expression indicates Hezekiah"s conviction of the uniqueness of God. He is the one great Over-Lord. He cannot be classed with other gods or other kings. But Hezekiah surely went beyond himself in this hour of pressure and anxiety. The Jewish idea of the supremacy of Jehovah included the speciality of his relation to the Abrahamic race, and the Jew was in danger of making God to be a mere local deity. And we, in these latter days, find it difficult to admit that God"s rule over all kingdoms involves the moral training arid even the redemption of all the races. We limit all the best of God to ourselves, in just the spirit of exclusive Jews. Only our great thought-leaders seem able to see what is involved in recognizing God as the God of all the kingdoms of the earth.
I IF GOD IS GOD OF ALL KINGDOMS, HE HAS SUPREME CLAIMS ON US. Most distressing to men who can create an ideal, and want to put trust in one who is absolutely good, must be the division of their confidences among gods many and lords many. The unrest of pagan intellect and heart was unspeakably painful. With gods in every street, Athenians pined for something more, and more satisfying; so raised an altar to the "Unknown God." Here is rest from all rival claims we yield to one will; all who would command us must express that will.
II IF GOD IS GOD OF ALL KINGDOMS, HE MUST REVEAL HIMSELF TO ALL. To be unrevealed, in adapted relations to each kingdom, is not to be so far as each kingdom is concerned. St. Paul is firm in declaring God has revealed himself to all, at least in "rain from heaven and fruitful seasons." And we have yet to recognize that he has spoken in gracious adaptations, differing, it may be, from the voices that we have heard, in every age and every clime. Very probably on this point there is "yet more light and truth to break forth from his Word.
III IF GOD IS GOD OF ALL KINGDOMS, HE OVERRULES THEM. Their magistracies, and their so-called divinities, when they do not rival him, are his agencies, everywhere they are the "powers that be ordained of God under-rulers practically carrying out the will of the great Over-Ruler, who fits in together man"s obediences and wilfulnesses, guiding all towards the fulfilment of his gracious ends for the whole race.
IV IF GOD IS GOD OF ALL KINGDOMS, HE]PRESIDES OVER THE RELATIONS OF THE NATIONS TO EACH OTHER. This brings us to the case of Hezekiah. If God is the God of Assyria, he knows all the schemings and the ambitions of that nation. Assyria is not acting in any self-strength, or in the inspirations of any rival god. Jehovah presides over the relations between Israel and Assyria. For nations, as for individuals, it is true, but it is most perplexing truth, difficult to grasp; our God is working alike in what we call evil and what we call good. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 37:16 God of Israel: Hezekiah was not taken in…
37:16 God of Israel: Hezekiah was not taken in by the false claims of Sennacherib that the Lord was powerless. In his prayer, Hezekiah acknowledged that, because the Lord is the Creator, he is God of all the kingdoms of the earth. The Lord is sovereign over all kingdoms. • The mighty cherubim were located in the Temple atop the Ark of the Covenant, which was God’s throne in his Temple (see study note on Lev 16:2; see also Pss 80:1; 99:1).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.