Isaiah 1:19
in Isaiah 1If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
KJV
If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
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This verse in Isaiah 1
Commentary
15 notes on this verse(Verse 19, 26.) If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Free will is preserved, so that on either side, not by the prejudice of God, but by the merits of each individual, there may be either punishment or reward.
This site's exposition
Come now, let us reason together
on Isaiah 1:18-20
The LORD invites the very people He has just indicted to argue the case with Him. Scarlet and crimson were fast dyes, set against snow and wool, a stain beyond any remedy promised removal. Verses 19 and 20 set the offer beside its opposite, the rebels "devoured by the sword."
This site's exposition
If you are willing and obedient
Verses 19 and 20 set two roads. The willing and obedient eat the best of the land, and those who resist and rebel are devoured by the sword. Chrysostom read willing as an earnest will.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
This passage means the blessings that await the flesh when in the kingdom of God it shall be renewed, and made like the angels, and waiting to obtain the things "which neither eye has seen nor ear heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man."
There is also the Pelagians' second wickedness, for they so attribute free will to their human powers that they believe that they can devise or enact some good of their own accord without God's grace.… You interpret these and similar passages most perversely, believing that …
Who understands clearly how the sum of salvation is attributed to our will?…What does this all mean except that in each of these cases both the grace of God and our freedom of will are affirmed, since even by his own activity a person can occasionally be brought to a desire for virtue, but he always needs to be helped by the Lord.
"If ye be willing and obedient," He saith, "ye shall eat the good of the land." Seest thou that there needs the will only? will—not the common wishing of the multitude—but earnest will. For I know that all are wishing to fly up to heaven even now; but it is necessary to show forth the wish by works. The merchant too wishes to get rich; but he doth not allow his wish to stop with the thought of it; no, he fits out a ship, and gets together sailors, and engages a pilot, and furnishes the vessel with all other stores, and borrows money, and crosses the sea, and goes away into a strange land, and endures many dangers, and all the rest which they know who sail the sea. So too must we show our will; for we also sail a voyage, not from land to land, but from earth to heaven.
"If ye be willing, and will hearken unto me, ye shall eat the good of the land; but if ye be not willing, the sword shall devour you." But perhaps one will say, "I am willing; (and no one is so void of understanding as not to be willing;) but to will is not sufficient for me." Nay, but it is sufficient, if thou be duly willing, and do the deeds of one that is willing. But as it is, thou art not greatly willing.… For he that wills a thing as he ought, puts also his hand unto the means which lead to the object of his desire. Thus, when hunger compels thee to take nourishment, thou waitest not for the viands to come unto thee of their own accord, but omittest nothing to gather victuals together. So in thirst, and cold and all other such things, thou art industrious and duly prepared to take care of the body. Now do this in respect of God's kingdom also, and surely thou shalt obtain it.
7 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers2 voices
A commentator
Clement of RomeClement's First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 8 · Written before 99.
proposed
The ministers of the grace of God have, by the Holy Spirit, spoken of repentance; and the Lord of all things has himself declared with an oath regarding it, "As I live, says the Lord, I desire not the death of the sinner, but rather his repentance;" [Ezekiel 33:11] adding, moreover, this gracious declaration, "Repent, O house of Israel, of your iniquity." [Ezekiel 18:30] Say to the children of my people, Though your sins reach from earth to heaven, and though they be redder than scarlet, and blacker than sack-cloth, yet if you turn to me with your whole heart, and say, Father! I will listen to you, as to a holy people. [2 Chronicles 7:14] And in another place He speaks thus: "Wash you and become clean; put away the wickedness of your souls from before my eyes; cease from your evil ways, and learn to do well; seek out judgment, deliver the oppressed, judge the fatherless, and see that justice is done to the widow; and come, and let us reason together. He declares, Though your sins be like crimson, I will make them white as snow; though they be like scarlet, I will whiten them like wool. And if you be willing and obey me, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse, and will not hearken unto me, the sword shall devour you, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things." [Isaiah 1:16-20] Desiring, therefore, that all His beloved should be partakers of repentance, He has, by His almighty will, established [these declarations].
Scripture promised these good things to the faithful when it said, "You shall eat the good things of the land." That we may obtain the good things, let us be like that good, the good that is without iniquity and without deceit and without severity but is with grace and holiness and purity and benevolence and love and justice. Thus goodness, like a prolific mother, embraces all the virtues.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Third, the restoration of good things is set out: if you be willing, and will hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land. I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living (Ps 26[27]:13); …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
"Be but willing and obedient, and you shall eat the good of the land, the land of promise; you shall have all the blessings of the new covenant, of the heavenly Canaan, all the good of the land." Those that go on in sin, though they may dwell in a good land, cannot with any comfort eat the good of it; guilt embitters all; but, if sin be pardoned, creature-comforts become comforts indeed.
If ye be willing and obedient,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
If ye be willing - If you submit your wills, and become voluntary in your obedience to my law. And obedient - Hebrew If you will hear; that is, my commands. Ye shall eat ... - That is, the land shall yield its increase; and you shall be saved from pestilence, war, famine, etc. The productions of the soil shall no more be devoured by strangers, Isa 1:7; compare the notes at Isa 65:21-
Ye shall eat the good of the land - Referring to Isa 1:7: it shall not be “devoured by strangers.”
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| תֹּאב֖וּ | tovu | you will be willing | H14 → | 54 times |
| וּשְׁמַעְתֶּ֑ם | ushema'tem | and you will obey | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| ט֥וּב | tuv | [the] good thing[s] of | H2898 → | 32 times |
| הָאָ֖רֶץ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| תֹּאכֵֽלוּ׃ | tokhelu | you will eat | H398 → | 810 times |
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
תֹּאב֖וּyou will be willing
tovuH14 →54 times
וּשְׁמַעְתֶּ֑םand you will obey
ushema'temH8085 →1159 times
ט֥וּב[the] good thing[s] of
tuvH2898 →32 times
הָאָ֖רֶץthe land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
תֹּאכֵֽלוּ׃you will eat
tokheluH398 →810 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 3:10Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.
it leads to
- Psalms 128:1–2
Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in His ways!
- Hebrews 6:10
For God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you have shown for His name as you have ministered to the saints and continue to do so.
- Ecclesiastes 8:12
Although a sinner does evil a hundred times and still lives long, yet I also know that it will go well with those who fear God, who are reverent in His presence.
- Galatians 6:7–8
Do not be deceived: God is not to be mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.
- Ezekiel 18:9–19
He follows My statutes and faithfully keeps My ordinances. That man is righteous; surely he will live, declares the Lord GOD.
- Psalms 128:1–2
Through
Hebrews 5:9And having been made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him
it leads to
- Hebrews 9:15
Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under…
- Hebrews 9:12
He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.
- Hebrews 12:2
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand…
- Hebrews 9:15
Where this verse is studied
By subject
Obedience35 verses
On this page
Studies10
On this verse
About Isaiah
This page draws on 14 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, FLIGHT FROM THE WORLD 6:36; Cassiodorus, EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 50:7; Clement of Rome, Clement's First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 8; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah; John Cassian, CONFERENCE 13:9.2, 4; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 1; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON 1 CORINTHIANS 14:5 (3); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Tertullian, ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 26 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.