“ ‘Have you not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it in ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to destroy fortified cities, turning them into ruinous heaps.
Parallel Translations
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“ ‘Have you not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it in ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to destroy fortified cities, turning them into ruinous heaps.
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Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps.
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Hast thou not heard? Long ago I made it, in ancient times I fashioned it; now have I brought it to pass, yea, it is done; that fortified cities should be laid waste into ruinous heaps.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Isaiah 37:26 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Acts 4:27-28 “For truly, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed, to do whatever your hand and your council foreordained to happen.
- Acts 2:23 him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed;
- Isaiah 10:15 Should an ax brag against him who chops with it? Should a saw exalt itself above him who saws with it? As if a rod should lift those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up someone who is not wood.
- Isaiah 46:10-11 I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done. I say: My counsel will stand, and I will do all that I please. I call a ravenous bird from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. Yes, I have spoken. I will also bring it to pass. I have planned. I will also do it.
- 1 Peter 2:8 and, “a stumbling stone and a rock of offense.” For they stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed.
- Isaiah 10:5-6 Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation! I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people who anger me I will give him a command to take the plunder and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
- Genesis 50:20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to save many people alive, as is happening today.
- Amos 3:6 Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city, without the people being afraid? Does evil happen to a city, and Yahweh hasn’t done it?
- Jude 1:4 For there are certain men who crept in secretly, even those who were long ago written about for this condemnation: ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into indecency, and denying our only Master, God, and Lord, Jesus Christ.
- Psalms 17:13 Arise, Yahweh, confront him. Cast him down. Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword;
- Psalms 76:10 Surely the wrath of man praises you. The survivors of your wrath are restrained.
- Isaiah 25:1-2 Yahweh, you are my God. I will exalt you! I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago, in complete faithfulness and truth. For you have made a city into a heap, a fortified city into a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city. It will never be built.
- Isaiah 45:7 I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create calamity. I am Yahweh, who does all these things.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Signifying, that God made not his Church to destroy…
Signifying, that God made not his Church to destroy it, but to preserve it: and therefore he saith that he formed it of old, even in his eternal counsel which cannot be changed.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain But I know thy abode, and thy going out,…
But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in,.... Where he dwelt, what he did at home, his secret councils, cabals, contrivances, schemes and plans for the compassing of his ends, the subduing of kingdoms, and setting up an universal monarchy; and his going out of Babylon, his marches, and counter marches, and his entrance into the land of Judea; there was not a motion made, or a step taken in the cabinet or camp, but what were known to the Lord; so the Targum,
"thy sitting in council, and thy going out abroad to make war, and thy coming into the land of Israel, are manifest before me:''
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and thy rage against me; against his people, against the city that was called by his name, against the temple where he was worshipped, particularly against his servant Hezekiah, because he would not immediately deliver up the city to him. The Targum and Syriac versions render it, "before me"; and then the meaning is, "thy rage", wrath and fury, "is before me": or manifest to me; and which he could restrain at pleasure, as he promises to do in the next verse.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 26. Lay waste defended cities into ruinous heaps…
Verse 26. Lay waste defended cities into ruinous heaps - "Lay waste warlike nations; strong fenced cities."] גלים נצים gallim nitstsim. It is not easy to give a satisfactory account of these two words, which have greatly embarrassed all the interpreters, ancient and modern. For גלים gallim I read גוים goyim, as the Septuagint do in this place, εθνη. The word נצים netsim the Vulgate renders in this place compugnantium; in the parallel place, 2Kg 19:25, pugnantium; and the Septuagint μαχιμων, fighting, warlike. This rendering is as well authorized as any other that I know of; and, with the reading of the Septuagint, perfectly clears up the construction. See the margin on all the preceding verses.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Hast thou not heard - This is evidently the…
Hast thou not heard - This is evidently the language of God addressed to Sennacherib. It is designed to state to him that he was under his control; that this was the reason Isa 37:27 why the inhabitants of the nations had been unable to resist him; that he was entirely in his hands Isa 37:28; and that lie would control him as he pleased Isa 37:29.
Long ago how I have done it - You boast that all this is by your own counsel and power. Yet I have done it; that is, I have purposed, planned, arranged it long ago (compare Isa 22:11).
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That thou shouldest be to lay waste - I have raised you up for this purpose, and you have been entirely under my control (see the note at Isa 10:5).
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 Reply of God to Sennacherib.
Reply of God to Sennacherib.
long ago--join, rather, with "I have done it." Thou dost boast that it is all by thy counsel and might: but it is I who, long ago, have ordered it so (Isa 22:11); thou wert but the instrument in My hands (Isa 10:5, Isa 10:15). This was the reason why "the inhabitants were of small power before thee" (Isa 37:27), namely, that I ordered it so; yet thou art in My hands, and I know thy ways (Isa 37:28), and I will check thee (Isa 37:29). Connect also, "I from ancient times have arranged ('formed') it." However, English Version is supported by Isa 33:13; Isa 45:6, Isa 45:21; Isa 48:5.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 26. Through the prophet God now speaks to Sennacherib.
26. Through the prophet God now speaks to Sennacherib.
Hast thou not heard — Is it real ignorance on thy part, that Jehovah is the only true God, and has control of Assyria; that she is his instrument, the rod of his anger, (Isa_10:5; Isa_10:15,) to lay waste peoples who submit not to warning and correction? Thou dost boast that it is all by thy command and might, but it is I, who long ago… have done it. (Isa_22:11.) Because I so ordered it, the people were of small power before thee.
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Of ancient times… I have formed it — The idea of overruling evil men and their acts is eternal with God. How the Eternal consists with the finite historical, or the absolute with the relative, is doubtless to be forever unknown to men.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 26. The verse reads, with a slight change of…
26. The verse reads, with a slight change of pointing: Hast thou not heard? Long ago have I made it, from the days of old have I formed it: now I bring it to pass, and so hast thou been (able) to lay waste in ruined heaps defenced cities. Cf. ch. Isa_22:11, Isa_44:7, Isa_46:11.
26, 27. In all his successes the Assyrian has been but the unconscious instrument of Jehovah’s eternal purpose. Cf. ch. Isa_10:5-15.
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 (26) Hast thou not heard . . .—The speech…
(26) Hast thou not heard . . .—The speech of Sennacherib ends, and that of Jehovah begins. The adverb “long ago” should be connected with the words that follow. The events of history had all been foreseen and ordered, as in the remote past, by the counsels of Jehovah. Kings and armies were but as His puppets in the drama of the world’s history. The words “hast thou not heard” suggest the thought that Isaiah assumes that Sennacherib had heard of his prophecies, or those of his fore-runners, as to the purposes of Jehovah—an assumption which, looking to the fact that he had ministers who were well acquainted with Hebrew (Isa_36:12), was in itself probable enough.
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 Hast thou not heard, etc.? An abrupt transition, such…
Hast thou not heard, etc.? An abrupt transition, such as is common in Isaiah. From speaking in the person of Sennacherib, the prophet without warning breaks off, and returns to speaking in the person of Jehovah, as his mouthpiece. "Hast thou not heard," he says, long ago; or rather, that from long ago! have done this?" Art thou so ignorant, so devoid of that light of nature, which should "lighten every man that cometh into the world", (Joh_1:9) as not to know God"s method of governing the world? How that "from long ago," in his eternal counsels, he designs the rise and fall of nations, and the mode in which their destruction is to be brought about? Art thou not aware that conquerors are mere instruments in God"s hands rods of his anger" (Isa_10:5) to work his will, and then to have his will worked upon them in turn? (see Isa_10:6-19) Sennacherib seems to be really reproached for not knowing what he ought to have known, and might have known, if he had listened to the voice of conscience and reason. Now have brought it to pass, etc. All that Sennacherib had done, he had done as God"s instrument, by his permission nay, by his aid. He had been the axe in the hand of the hewer, (Isa_10:15) the saw, the rod, the staff, of God"s indignationIsa 10:5), the executor of his vengeance. The very purpose of his being was that he should "lay waste (certain) defenced cities into ruinous heaps."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
This continues Yahweh's message to the king of Assyria.
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Have you not heard how ... times?
Yahweh uses this rhetorical question to remind Sennacherib of information that he should already be aware of. This can be written as a statement. AT: "Certainly you have heard how ... times." (See: Rhetorical Question)
You are here to reduce impregnable cities into heaps of ruins
Yahweh had planned for Sennacherib's army to destroy the cities that they had destroyed. This can be stated clearly. AT: "I planned that your army would destroy cities and cause them to become piles of rubble" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
impregnable
strong and heavily guarded
of little strength
"who are weak"
shattered
broken into small pieces. This is a metaphor for being greatly discouraged. (See: Metaphor)
I am bringing it to pass
The idiom "to bring something to pass" means to cause a specific thing to happen. AT: "I am causing it to happen" or "I am causing these things to take place" (See: Idiom)
They are plants in the field, green grass, the grass on the roof or in the field, before the east wind
This speaks of how weak and vulnerable the cities are before the Assryian army by comparing the cities to grass. AT: "The cities are as weak as the grass in the fields before your armies. They are as weak as the grass that grows on the roofs of houses and is scorched by the hot east wind" (See: Metaphor)
before the east wind
The east wind is hot and dry from the desert and plants die when it blows.
translationWords
ruin
shame
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 37:26 I planned for you to crush . .…
37:26 I planned for you to crush . . . into heaps of rubble: Assyria was God’s agent of destruction, but the Assyrians did not realize that they were only a tool in God’s hand (see ch 10), fulfilling what God had planned long before (14:24-27).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.