“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Parallel Translations
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“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
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For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
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For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to Isaiah 55:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Romans 11:31-36 even so these also have now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they may also obtain mercy. For God has bound all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all. Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out! “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid to him again?” For of him, and through him, and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen.
- Psalms 103:11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him.
- Matthew 11:25 At that time, Jesus answered, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants.
- Psalms 77:19 Your way was through the sea; your paths through the great waters. Your footsteps were not known.
- Psalms 36:5 Your loving kindness, Yahweh, is in the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
- Psalms 89:2 I indeed declare, “Love stands firm forever. You established the heavens. Your faithfulness is in them.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (7 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 55:9 For [as] the heavens are higher than…
Isa 55:9 For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Ver. 9. For as the heavens are higher than the earth.] And that is no small deal; see the note on Psa 103:11-12. Lo, such is the proportion that my mercy beareth to your mercy, even the very best of you, that the heaven doth to the earth - i.e., that a most vast circumference doth to one little point or centre.
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 Higher than the earth; inexpressibly and infinitely; for the…
Higher than the earth; inexpressibly and infinitely; for the distance between the earth and the highest heavens is unmeasurable by any man upon earth.
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 For as the heavens, are higher than the earth,....…
For as the heavens, are higher than the earth,.... Than which there cannot be conceived a greater distance:
so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts; which may denote the heavenliness of the ways and thoughts of God, the eternity and unsearchableness of them, and their excellency and preciousness; as well as the very great distance between his ways and thoughts and men's which this is designed to illustrate.
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 9. For as the heavens are higher] I…
Verse 9. For as the heavens are higher] I am persuaded that כ caph, the particle of comparison, is lost in this place, from the likeness of the particle כי ki, immediately preceding it. So Houbigant and Secker. And their remark is confirmed by all the ancient Versions, which express it; and by the following passage of Ps 103:11, which is almost the same: -
הארץ על שמים כגבה כי
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haarets al shamayim chigboah ki
יראיו על חסדו גבר
yereaiv al chasdo gabar
"For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So high is his goodness over them that fear him."
Where, by the nature of the sentence, the verb in the second line ought to be the same with that in the first; גבה gabah, not גבר gabar: so Archbishop Secker conjectured; referring however to Ps 117:2.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For as the heavens ... - This verse is…
For as the heavens ... - This verse is designed merely to illustrate the idea in the former. There is as great a difference between the plans of God and those of people, as between the heavens and the earth. A similar comparison occurs in Psa 103:11 -
For as the heaven is high alcove the earth,
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So great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
Compare Psa 57:10 -
For thy mercy is great unto the heavens,
And thy truth unto the clouds.
Also Psa 89:2 -
Mercy shall be built up forever,
Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.
The idea in all these passages is substantially the same - that the mercy and compassion of God are illimitable.
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 (Psa 57:10; Psa 89:2; Psa 103:11). "For" is repeated…
(Psa 57:10; Psa 89:2; Psa 103:11). "For" is repeated from Isa 55:8. But MAURER, after the negation, translates, "but."
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 Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain For as the heavens are higher than the earth,--
Isa_55:9
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,--
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The near and heavenly horizons
I.
THE HEAVENS ARE SO FAR ABOVE THE EARTH, AND THEREFORE SO PURE. By nature, the trend of our thinkings and activities is downward, earthly, sensual, devilish. Hence the awful disparity between the ways and thoughts of God and ours. It is impossible, therefore, for the natural man to understand God, or, to please God. It is impossible, also, for the natural man to live with God for ever, unless the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts.
II. SO FOR, AND THEREFORE SO ABUNDANT. This is the thought which the apostle expands in one of the most glowing passages on the page of revelation (Rom_5:12-21). His point is, that whatever was done by sin, and through sin, must be paralleled and outdone by the grace of God. There is no parallel between our forgiveness and Gods. When God forgives, He ceases to remember; He blots out iniquities as a cloud, and sins as a thick cloud; He does not treat us simply as pardoned criminals, but takes us to His heart as beloved sons, He transforms the sad consequences of our sins into blessings, instead of the thorn comes up the fir-tree, and instead of the briar the myrtle-tree. This surely is as much above mans notions of forgiveness as the heavens are high above the earth
III. SO FAR, AND THEREFORE SO BENEFICENT. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
The transcendent elevation of God
It is a wonderful and beautiful turn which the prophet here gives to the thought of the transcendent elevation of God. The heavens are the very type of the unattainable; and to say that they are higher than the earth, seems, at first sight, to be but to say, No man hath ascended into the heavens, and you sinful men must grovel here down upon your plain, whilst they are far above, out of your reach. But the heavens bend. They are an arch, and not a straight line. They touch the horizon; and there come from them the sweet influences of sunshine and of rain, of dew and of blessing, which bring fertility. So they are not only far and unattainable, but friendly and beneficent, and communicative of good. Like them in true analogy, but yet infinite superiority to the best and noblest in man, is the boundless mercy of our pardoning God. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.