I have made the earth, and created man on it. I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens. I have commanded all their army.
Parallel Translations
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I have made the earth, and created man on it. I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens. I have commanded all their army.
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I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.
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I, even I, have made the earth, and created man upon it; I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Science (1)
Historical claims about the natural world, weighed against the scientific record.
Cross-references (14)
Passages linked to Isaiah 45:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 42:5 God Yahweh, he who created the heavens and stretched them out, he who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it, he who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it, says:
- 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;
- Jeremiah 27:5 ‘I have made the earth, the men, and the animals that are on the surface of the earth by my great power and by my outstretched arm. I give it to whom it seems right to me.
- Genesis 2:1 The heavens, the earth, and all their vast array were finished.
- Nehemiah 9:6 You are Yahweh, even you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their army, the earth and all things that are on it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve them all. The army of heaven worships you.
- Isaiah 45:18 For Yahweh who created the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, who established it and didn’t create it a waste, who formed it to be inhabited says: “I am Yahweh. There is no other.
- Jeremiah 32:17 “Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you.
- 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.
- Hebrews 11:3 By faith, we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible.
- Zechariah 12:1 A revelation, Yahweh’s word concerning Israel. Yahweh, who stretches out the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him says:
- Genesis 1:26-27 God said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.
- Psalms 102:25 Of old, you laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the work of your hands.
- Isaiah 40:12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
- Isaiah 40:22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, the stars.
That is, the stars.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 45:12 I have made the earth, and created…
Isa 45:12 I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, [even] my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.
Ver. 12. I have made the earth,] q.d., I am the mighty maker and monarch of the world; therefore pray on, and patiently wait for a gracious answer, "he that believeth maketh not haste."
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain I have made the earth, and created man upon…
I have made the earth, and created man upon it; they are wholly and solely my creatures, and therefore absolutely at my disposal.
All their host have I commanded; I have commanded them to be, or made them by my command, or the word of my power: compare Psa 148:5.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain I have made the earth,.... The Targum adds, "by…
I have made the earth,.... The Targum adds, "by my Word"; the essential Word, the Lord Jesus Christ; see Heb 11:3, this, with what follows, is said to show that the Lord was able to bring to pass things to come, concerning his children, and the works of his hands, which he allowed his people to inquire of him concerning, and to insist upon the performance of them; since he was the Creator of all things, and had made the earth out of nothing, in the beginning of time, by the word of his power:
and created man upon it; the last and chief of the creation, for the sake of whom the earth was made; and man was made to dwell upon it, manure, and cultivate it:
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I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens; as a canopy over the earth, as a curtain and tent to dwell in; a phrase often used to express the greatness and majesty of God; see Isa 40:22,
and all their host have I commanded; into being, and to perform their offices regularly and constantly, the sun, moon, and stars, as well as the heavenly host of angels; see Psa 33:9, what is it that such a God cannot do? he is able to do more than his people can ask of him, or think to receive from him, Eph 3:20.
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 I have made the earth - God here asserts…
I have made the earth - God here asserts that he had made all things, doubtless with a view to show that he was able to hear their cry, and to grant an answer to their requests. His agency was visible everywhere, alike in forming and sustaining all things, and in raising up for them a deliverer. They might, therefore, go before him with confidence, and spread out all their needs.
Have stretched out the heavens - (See the notes at Isa 40:26).
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And all their host - The stars (see the notes at Isa 40:26).
Have I commanded - All are under my direction and control. What more can be needed by his people than the friendship and protection of him who made the heavens and the earth, and who leads on the stars!
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 The same argument for prayer, drawn from God's omnipotence…
The same argument for prayer, drawn from God's omnipotence and consequent power, to grant any request, occurs in Isa 40:26-31.
I, even my hands--so Hebrew (Psa 41:2), "Thou . . . thy hand" (both nominatives, in apposition).
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 12. Is introductory to Isa_45:13; it is the Creator…
12. Is introductory to Isa_45:13; it is the Creator of all things who has destined Cyrus to be the emancipator of Israel.
I, even my hands] The “I” merely lends emphasis to the possessive: “my hands, and not another’s.”
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all their host (the stars, not the angels, Isa_40:26) have I commanded] or, “ordained.”
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 (12) I have made . . .—The Creator is…
(12) I have made . . .—The Creator is also the Ruler, supreme in history as in nature.
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 I, even my hands; literally, I, my hands; i.e.…
I, even my hands; literally, I, my hands; i.e. "my hands, and my hands alone." All their host. The "host of heaven" is sometimes put for the stars, and may be so understood here; but "commands" are laid on intelligent rather than on unintelligent beings. (The object of the verb tsavah in Hebrew is almost always personal.)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain I have made the earth
Isa_45:12
I have made the earth
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Nature and Scripture
(with Isa_45:22):--The study of Nature reveals a Creator.
This is the order: God, creation, fishes, animals, men, women, the human race, the culture of the soil, the building of cities, the navigation of the sea, and, in course of ages, the formation of society as we know it. But man as a moral agent required moral laws; having also a capacity for religion, he needed spiritual light. This made revelation from above necessary. Mankind have had both vocal and written messages from God.
Creation tells of His power, and the Scripture tells of His salvation--the two books together revealing His perfect glory.
I. A careful study of nature and man will bring vividly before you THE LAW OF DEPENDENCE. The man who would attempt to be independent of Nature would soon die of hunger and thirst, and the soul that is arrogant enough to deem itself independent of Christ will soon find that saying true, He that hath not the Son of God, hath not life.
II. In nature you see also THE LAW OF CULTIVATION. Every living thing needs cultivation, and is improved, beautified, and perpetuated by it. Man, the living soul, is under the same law. In a higher sense the soul of man is subject to this law of cultivation. The fruits and flowers found in a cultivated soul are faith, prayer, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity.
III. Nature conspicuously displays and relentlessly enforces THE LAW OF DEPRIVATION. In the great eaves of Kentucky there are dark waters where the light never comes. Eyeless fishes swim there. Their ancestors had eyes that could see; but their descendants, choosing to dwell in lightless waters, have only rims and specks in their heads v, here eyes might have been. Use well a sense, a faculty, a power, and you increase it; neglect it, and it will die. That is the law of Nature. Scripture teaches you the same lesson as to the spiritual world.
IV. Nature does also undoubtedly embrace THE LAW OF TERMINATION. The grass withereth and the flower fadeth. The bones of leviathan whiten the deep places of the sea. And what of man? To him also the law of termination applies. Shall nature, man, life as we know it, continue as they are for ever? No, for both Nature and Scripture proclaim the law of termination (2Pe_3:10).
V. But both Scripture and Nature point us to another law--THAT OF CONTINUITY. And this eternal law of continuity will be in existence after the present world is left behind. Consider, then, these natural and spiritual truths. Let Nature teach you how great the Creator is: let Scripture teach you that His salvation and love and righteousness are for ever and ever. (G. W.MCree.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues speaking.
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It was my hands that
Here the word "hands" represents Yahweh. AT: "It was I who" (See: Synecdoche)
stretched out the heavens
Yahweh speaks of creating the heavens as if they were fabric that he stretched out. See how you translated a similar phrase in Isaiah 42:5.
translationWords
earth
hand
heaven
command
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.