Isaiah 26:13
in Isaiah 26O LORD our God, other lords besides You have had dominion, but Your name alone do we confess.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
O Jehovah our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us; but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.
KJV
O Lord our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.
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This verse in Isaiah 26
Commentary
11 notes on this verseA commentator
Athanasius of Alexandria296–373
Discourses Against the Arians 2.15.14 · Written before 373.
For the Son of God indeed, being himself the Word, is Lord of all. But we once were subject from the first to the slavery of corruption and the curse of the law. Then by degrees fashioning for ourselves things that were not, we served, as says the blessed apostle, "them which by nature are no gods." Ignorant of the true God, we preferred things that were not to the truth.
This site's exposition
You will establish peace for us
on Isaiah 26:12-15
Verse 12 credits the LORD with all the nation has done, "For all that we have accomplished, You have done for us". Verse 14 answers, "The dead will not live; the departed spirits will not rise", and the LORD has "wiped out all memory of them".
This site's exposition
other lords besides You have had dominion
Barnes names the other lords as the kings of Babylon, and Gill applies the verse to sin and Satan before grace comes. Henry hears the lesson of 2 Chronicles 12:8, where Judah learns the difference between serving God and serving foreign kings. One name is confessed.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Therefore Christ will hand the kingdom over to God and the Father when through him the Father will be known by sight, for his kingdom consists of those in whom he now reigns through faith. In fact, in one sense Christ's kingdom means his divine power according to which every created thing is subject to him; and in another sense his kingdom means the church in respect to the faith that it has in him. In accord with this meaning is the prayer of him who says, "Possess us," for it is not the case that [Christ] himself does not possess all things. This is also the meaning of the following statement: "When you were the slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness." Therefore he will destroy every dominion and every authority and power, so that he who sees the Father through the Son will neither require nor be pleased with repose in his own or the power of any created thing.
(Verse 13) Lord our God, we have been possessed by other lords without you; only in you do we remember your name. LXX: Lord our God, possess us: Lord; we know no other besides you, we invoke your name. Therefore, we seek mercy and peace, which must be given after all, because we have been possessed by other masters without you, namely idols or demons sitting on idols: and we ask for nothing else except that we may be worthy to remember your name after many errors. According to the Septuagint, they said: Lord God, possess us, they pray that they may become God's possession after peace is restored to them. Indeed, we read the same about Wisdom, which speaks according to the Hebrew in Proverbs: God possessed me at the beginning of His ways (Prov. VIII, 22), although some copies have the word 'possession' in a wrong way. Finally, it follows: Before all the hills, He has begotten me. For how could the generation of a creature be more suitable to possession? It is written in Deuteronomy: Did not this your father possess you, and make you, and create you (Deut. XXXII, 6)? And it must be noted that it does not say, the Lord or God possessed you, and made you, and created you; but rather father, in order to mitigate the severity of the power with the mercy of the name. And what follows: O Lord, we do not know another besides you, does not exclude the Son, but joins him to the Father, for he did not say 'We do not know another,' but 'We do not know another outside of you.' But when the Son says, 'I am in the Father, and the Father in me,' we do not know the Son outside of the Father, for we know him in the Father. Finally, we also name him by saying in the Lord's Prayer: 'Our Father, who art in heaven.'
The Medieval Church1 voice
Second, the praise of God: O Lord our God, other lords besides you have had dominion over us, and therefore we could not give ourselves to praise of you; only in you, to whom alone we give ourselves, having no other god: servants have ruled …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us,.... Sin and Satan have the dominion over the Lord's people, in a state of unregeneracy; before the good work of grace is wrought in them, every lust is a lord, and is served and obeyed: and Satan is the god of this world by usurpation, and leads men captive at his will. Some think that the idols the Jews had served and worshipped, called "Baalim" or lords, are meant, and that this is a confession of their sin; but that word is not here used.
); we will give the glory of it to thee only, and not to any other, and we will depend upon thy grace only to enable us to do so." We cannot praise God's name but by his strength.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
When they had been careless in the service of God, God suffered their enemies to have dominion over them, that they might know the difference between his service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Other lords beside thee have had dominion - The allusion here is to the kings of Babylon who had subdued and oppressed them, and who in their long captivity had held them in subjection to their laws. But by thee only will we make mention of thy name - This may be better rendered, ‘but only thee, thy name will we henceforward commemorate.’ The words ‘by thee,’ and ‘thy name,’ are put in apposition, and denote the same thing. The word ‘make mention’ (נזכיר nazekiyr) means literally to cause to be remembered; to commemorate; to celebrate.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
28:5, 6), Nebuchadnezzar, &c. Spiritual also, idols and lusts (Ro 6:16-18). by thee only--It is due to Thee alone, that we again worship Thee as our Lord [MAURER]. "(We are) Thine only, we will celebrate Thy name" [HORSLEY]. The sanctifying effect of affliction (Ps 71:16;
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
have possessed us They have become our masters and have oppressed us.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
The dead shall not live May it be Your will that these wicked men shall not live in the World to Come, and that these slackers who slackened their hands from Your commandments shall not have restoration.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 2 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יְהוָ֣ה | yahweh | O Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֵ֔ינוּ | ʾeloheinu | God our | H430 → | 2601 times |
| בְּעָל֥וּנוּ | bealunu | they have ruled over us | H1166 → | 15 times |
| אֲדֹנִ֖ים | ʾadonim | lords | H113 → | 333 times |
| זֽוּלָתֶ֑ךָ | zulatekha | except you | H2108 → | 16 times |
| לְבַד־ | levad- | <to> only | H905 → | 200 times |
| בְּךָ֖ | bekha | in you | ||
| נַזְכִּ֥יר | nazkir | we bring to remembrance | H2142 → | 230 times |
| שְׁמֶֽךָ׃ | shemekha | name your | H8034 → | 864 times |
יְהוָ֣הO Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֵ֔ינוּGod our
ʾeloheinuH430 →2601 times
בְּעָל֥וּנוּthey have ruled over us
bealunuH1166 →15 times
אֲדֹנִ֖יםlords
ʾadonimH113 →333 times
זֽוּלָתֶ֑ךָexcept you
zulatekhaH2108 →16 times
לְבַד־<to> only
levad-H905 →200 times
בְּךָ֖in you
bekha
נַזְכִּ֥ירwe bring to remembrance
nazkirH2142 →230 times
שְׁמֶֽךָ׃name your
shemekhaH8034 →864 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 63:7I will make known the LORD’s loving devotion and His praiseworthy acts, because of all that the LORD has done for us—the many good things for the house of Israel according to His great…
it leads to
- Ephesians 2:4
But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
- Psalms 86:5
For You, O Lord, are kind and forgiving, rich in loving devotion to all who call on You.
- Psalms 86:15
But You, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness.
- Ephesians 2:4
Through
Isaiah 2:8Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.
it leads to
- Psalms 115:4–8
Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
- Psalms 115:4–8
Through
2 Chronicles 12:8Nevertheless, they will become his servants, so that they may learn the difference between serving Me and serving the kings of other lands.”
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 28:47–48
Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart in all your abundance,
- Judges 3:1
These are the nations that the LORD left to test all the Israelites who had not known any of the wars in Canaan,
- Deuteronomy 28:47–48
Through
Amos 6:10And when the relative who is to burn the bodies picks them up to remove them from the house, he will call to one inside, “Is anyone else with you?” “None,” that person will…
it leads to
- Amos 8:3
“In that day,” declares the Lord GOD, “the songs of the temple will turn to wailing. Many will be the corpses, strewn in silence everywhere!”
- 1 Samuel 31:12
all their men of valor set out, journeyed all night, and retrieved the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth-shan. When they arrived at Jabesh, they burned the bodies there.
- Amos 8:3
Where this verse is studied
About Isaiah

This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Athanasius of Alexandria, Discourses Against the Arians 2.15.14; Augustine of Hippo, QUESTION 69:4; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.
