Your offspring also would have been as the sand and the descendants of your body like its grains. His name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.”
Parallel Translations
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Your offspring also would have been as the sand and the descendants of your body like its grains. His name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.”
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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.
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Thy seed also would be as the sand, and the offspring of thy body like the grains thereof; his name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before Me.
Cross-references (17)
Passages linked to Isaiah 48:19 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 10:22 For though your people, Israel, are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.
- Genesis 22:17 that I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your offspring greatly like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand which is on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the gate of his enemies.
- Jeremiah 33:22 As the army of the sky can’t be counted, and the sand of the sea can’t be measured; so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant and the Levites who minister to me.’ ”
- Hosea 1:10 Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can’t be measured or counted; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’
- Romans 9:27 Isaiah cries concerning Israel, “If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant who will be saved;
- Genesis 13:16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring may also be counted.
- Joshua 7:9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. What will you do for your great name?”
- Ruth 4:10 Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today.”
- 1 Kings 9:7 then I will cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and I will cast this house, which I have made holy for my name, out of my sight; and Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
- Psalms 9:5 You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever.
- Psalms 109:13 Let his posterity be cut off. In the generation following let their name be blotted out.
- Isaiah 9:14 Therefore Yahweh will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed, in one day.
- Isaiah 14:22 “I will rise up against them,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son’s son,” says Yahweh.
- Isaiah 48:9 For my name’s sake, I will defer my anger, and for my praise, I hold it back for you so that I don’t cut you off.
- Isaiah 56:5 I will give them in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.
- Isaiah 66:22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,” says Yahweh, “so your offspring and your name shall remain.
- Zephaniah 1:4 I will stretch out my hand against Judah, and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place: the name of the idolatrous and pagan priests,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, the prosperous estate of Israel.
That is, the prosperous estate of Israel.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 48:19 Thy seed also had been as the…
Isa 48:19 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.
Ver. 19. Thy seed also had been as the sand.] As was promised to Abraham, and performed to his posterity; such a μυριομακαριοτης there is in godliness, and in doing of God’s commandments so great reward.
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His name should not have been cut off.] As it was of old among the heathens (see Horace, Juvenal, Martial, &c.), and is at this day among the Turks, who usually swear, Iudaeus sim si fallam, &c. See Zec 8:13. {See Trapp on "Zec 8:13"}
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 Thy seed also had been as the sand, to…
Thy seed also had been as the sand, to wit, for multitude, according to my promise made to Abraham; whereas now I have, for thy sins, made thee to know my breach of promise, as is said. Num 14:34, and greatly diminished thy numbers.
The offspring of thy bowels; which come out of thy bowels, or belly, or loins; for all these are but various expressions of the same thing.
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His name; which is continued in a man’s posterity, and commonly dies with them; and so the name here is the same thing in effect with the seed and offspring in the former clauses, which, for the most part, are only the memorials of men, and of their names, when they are dead and gone.
Should not have been cut off, as now it hath been in a great measure; and should have been totally and finally cut off, if I had not spared them for my own name’s sake, as he said before.
From before me; or, out of my sight; out of their own land, the place of my special presence and residence.
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 Thy seed had also been as the sand,.... Upon…
Thy seed had also been as the sand,.... Upon the sea shore, as numerous as that, as was promised to Abraham, Gen 22:17,
and the offspring of thy bowels as the gravel thereof; that is, of the sand; the little stones that are in it, which lie in great numbers on the sea shore; the same thing expressed in different words, denoting the number of their posterity, as it would have been, had they received the Messiah, his doctrines and ordinances: it may be rendered, "and the offspring", or "those that go out of thy bowels", that spring from thee, are born of thee, "as the bowels thereof" (q), that is, of the sea; as what is within it, particularly the fishes of it, which are innumerable; and so Aben Ezra and Jarchi interpret it; and which sense is mentioned by Kimchi and Ben Melech:
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his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me: the name of Israel, as the Targum has it; the name of the people of the Jews is no more in the land where they dwelt; they are cut off as a nation; their city and temple are destroyed, where they appear no more before the Lord; which would not have been, had they hearkened to the Messiah, embraced his truths, and been obedient to his commands.
(q) "sicut viscera ejus", Montanus; "interiora maris"; Munster.
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 19. Like the gravel thereof - "Like that…
Verse 19. Like the gravel thereof - "Like that of the bowels thereof"] בצאצאי מעי הים והם הדגים 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, &c.
His name - "Thy name"] For שמו shemo, "his name," the Septuagint had in the copy from which they translated שמך shimcha, "thy name."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Thy seed also - Instead of being reduced to…
Thy 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 judgments consequent on vice, tend to depopulate a nation, and to make it feeble.
As the sand - This is often used to denote a great and indefinite number (Gen 22:17; Gen 32:12; Gen 41:49; Jos 11:4; Jdg 7:12; 1Sa 13:5; 2Sa 17:11; 1Ki 4:20-29; Job 29:18; Psa 139:18; the note at Isa 10:22; Hos 1:10; Rev 20:8).
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And the offspring of thy bowels - On the meaning of the word used here, see the note at Isa 22:24.
Like the gravel thereof - literally, ‘and the offspring of thy bowels shall be like its bowels,’ that is, like the offspring of the sea. The phrase refers probably rather to the fish of the sea, or the innumerable multitudes of animals that swim in the sea, than to the gravel. There is no place where the word means gravel. Jerome, however, renders it, Ut lapili ejus - ‘As its pebbles.’ The Septuagint Ὡς ὁ χοῦς τῆς γῆς hōs ho chous tēs gēs - ‘As the dust of the earth.’ The Chaldee also renders it, ‘As the stones of the sea;’ and the Syriac also. The sense is essentially the same that the number of the people of the nation would have been vast.
His name should not have been out off - This does not imply of necessity that they had ceased to be a nation when they were in Babylon, but the meaning is, that if they had been, and would continue to be, obedient, their national existence would have been perpetuated to the end of time. When they ceased to be a distinct nation, and their name was blotted out among the kingdoms of the earth, it was for national crime and unbelief Rom 11:20.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Name. The Jews were not forgotten, till they had…
Name. The Jews were not forgotten, till they had rejected the Messias.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain sand--retaining the metaphor of "the sea" (Isa 48:18).
sand--retaining the metaphor of "the sea" (Isa 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.
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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 Babylonish captivity; also it is so now, to which the prophecy especially looks (Rom 11:20).
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 19. as the sand] A common comparison; see ch.…
19. as the sand] A common comparison; see ch. Isa_10:22; Gen_22:17; Hos_1:10 &c.
like the gravel thereof] Lit. the grains thereof. The word used resembles a fem. plur. of that which immediately precedes (“bowels”); hence some commentators translate “the entrails thereof” (i.e. the fishes), taking as antecedent of the pronoun the word “sea” in the previous verse (see R.V. marg.). It would be better to explain it at once of the “entrails” of the sand (i.e. worms), for which indeed there is said to be a Syriac parallel (see Payne Smith, Thesaurus, col. 2185). But both comparisons alike are prosaic and unnatural. The word is no doubt identical with the Aramaic mâ‘âh, “kernel” (generally used of a small coin).
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his name &c.] its name (that of the “seed”) should not be cut off &c.
20, 21 (cf. ch. Isa_52:11-12) form the lyrical conclusion of this division of the prophecy. In anticipation of this second exodus of Israel, the prophet puts a song of praise in the mouth of the redeemed exiles.
flee ye from the Chaldeans] or “from Chaldæa” (see on Isa_47:1). The verb flee probably means no more than “hasten” (see ch. Isa_52:12).
with a voice of singing … tell this] The exiles’ shout of joy is a revelation to the world of the greatness of the God of Israel.
utter it] Lit. “send it forth,” as in ch. Isa_42:1.
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 (19) Like the gravel thereof.—Literally, as the bowels thereof,…
(19) Like the gravel thereof.—Literally, as the bowels thereof, i.e., as that within the bowels of the sand, the living creatures that swarm in countless myriads in the sea. The two verses utter the sigh which has come from the heart of all true teachers as they contemplate the actual state of men and compare it with what might have been. (Comp. Deu_32:29-30; Luk_19:42.)
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 Thy seed also had been as the sand. Israel,…
Thy seed also had been as the sand. Israel, at the close of the Captivity, was "a remnant", (Isa_37:31) a "very small remnant"; (Isa_1:9) the ten tribes were for the most part absorbed into the heathen among whom they had been scattered; the two tribes had dwindled in number through the hardships of the Captivity, and were scarcely more than a "handful." Less than fifty thousand returned with Zerubbabel; (Ezr_2:64) less than two thousand males with Ezra. (Ezr_8:2-20) Had Israel not been disobedient, the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would have been literally fulfilled, and the descendants of Abraham would have been millions upon millions, instead of being one or two hundred thousand. The offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; rather, like the grains thereof; i.e. the grains of the sand. His name; i.e. "Israel"s name." Should not have been cut off. Israel"s name had not been wholly "cut off" or "destroyed." But it had been approximately "cut off." Israel was no more a people, but only a horde of slaves. The restoration to Palestine was a resurrection the re-creation of a nation which, humanly speaking, had ceased to be.
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:
Yahweh continues describing a hypothetical situation to the people of Israel.
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Your descendants would have been as numerous as the sand, and the children from your womb as numerous as the grains of sand
These both mean that the people would have had more descendants than they could count. (See: Parallelism)
the children from your womb
Yahweh speaks of the descendants of the people of Israel as if they were children to which the nation gives birth. (See: Metaphor)
their name would not have been cut off nor blotted out
The people of Israel being destroyed is spoken of as if their name had been cut off, as one would cut a piece of cloth or cut a branch from a tree, or blotted out. This can be translated in active form. AT: "I would not have cut off nor blotted out their name" (See: Metonymy and Active or Passive)
their name
Here the word "name" refers to the descendants who would carry on the name of Israel. AT: "they" (See: Metonymy)
cut off nor blotted out
These two expressions in this context refer to destroying the people. AT: "destroyed" (See: Doublet)
translationWords
descend
womb
grain
name
cut off
blot out
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 48:19 Your descendants . . . like the sands:…
48:19 Your descendants . . . like the sands: This would fulfill God’s covenant to Abraham (Gen 22:17); by contrast, the Israelites were nearly wiped out in the Exile (see Isa 44:26).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.