Isaiah 42:21
in Isaiah 42The LORD was pleased, for the sake of His righteousness, to magnify His law and make it glorious.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
It pleased Jehovah, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify the law, and make it honorable.
KJV
The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.
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This verse in Isaiah 42
Commentary
11 notes on this verse(Verse 21) And the Lord desired to sanctify him, and to magnify the law, and to exalt it. LXX: The Lord God was pleased for the sake of his justice, that he might magnify his law. The Lord, he said, wanted to sanctify him, and magnify his Law, and lift up and comfort his suffering people.
This site's exposition
for the sake of His righteousness
on Isaiah 42:21-22
The purpose of God outlasts the servant's failure, for the LORD was pleased to magnify His law and make it glorious. The description that follows is stark, a people plundered and looted, all trapped in caves or imprisoned in dungeons. They have become plunder with no one to rescue them.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
He reports how they became the blind and dull by saying, "They see many things but do not observe." These things were previously communicated [in Isaiah]: "Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand. Make the mind of this people dull." … You see that all these things he says about the people, he means concerning those of the circumcision. But "the Lord was pleased, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify his praise."
The Medieval Church1 voice
Second, he shows the foolishness of the hard-hearted, because the Lord intended what is found in the precepts for their own advantage. Hence he sets out the intention of the Lord: and the Lord was willing to sanctify him, the people, both that the people …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Well pleased - Altho' God might justly destroy thee suddenly, yet he will patiently wait for thy repentance, that he may be gracious; and that not for thy sake, but for the glory of his own faithfulness, in fulfilling that covenant, which he made with thy pious progenitors.
): The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; not well pleased with their sin, but well pleased in the manifestation of his own righteousness, in rejecting them for rejecting the great salvation.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Called thee - To declare my righteousness, or faithfulness. With-hold - Will give thee counsel and strength for the work. Give thee - To be the mediator in whom my covenant of grace is confirmed with mankind.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake - There is great variety in the translation and interpretation of this verse. Lowth renders it: Yet Yahweh was gracious unto him for his truth’s sake; He hath exalted his own praise, and made it glorious. Noyes renders it: It pleased Yahweh for his goodness’ sake To give him a law great and glorious; And yet it is a robbed and plundered people.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Perhaps in God's "righteousness" here is included His faithfulness to His promises given to Israel's forefathers [ROSENMULLER]; because of this He is well pleased with Israel, even though displeased with their sin, which He here reproves; but that promise could only be based on the righteousness of Messiah, the promised seed, which is God's righteousness.
He win magnify the law “He hath exalted his own praise” - For תורה torah, the law, the Septuagint read תודה todah, praise.
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יְהוָ֥ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| חָפֵ֖ץ | chafetz | he was pleased | H2654 → | 74 times |
| לְמַ֣עַן | lemaan | for [the] sake of | H4616 → | 272 times |
| צִדְק֑וֹ | tzidko | righteousness his | H6664 → | 119 times |
| יַגְדִּ֥יל | yagdil | he will make great | H1431 → | 117 times |
| תּוֹרָ֖ה | torah | [the] law | H8451 → | 219 times |
| וְיַאְדִּֽיר׃ | veya'dir | so he may make [it] glorious | H142 → |
יְהוָ֥הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
חָפֵ֖ץhe was pleased
chafetzH2654 →74 times
לְמַ֣עַןfor [the] sake of
lemaanH4616 →272 times
צִדְק֑וֹrighteousness his
tzidkoH6664 →119 times
יַגְדִּ֥ילhe will make great
yagdilH1431 →117 times
תּוֹרָ֖ה[the] law
torahH8451 →219 times
וְיַאְדִּֽיר׃so he may make [it] glorious
veya'dirH142 →
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
Hebrews 8:10For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their minds and inscribe them on their hearts. And…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 36:26–28
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
- Jeremiah 31:33
“But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD. I will put My law in their minds and inscribe it on their hearts. And…
- 2 Corinthians 3:3
It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on…
- Ezekiel 11:19–20
And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh,
- Hebrews 10:16–17
“This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their hearts and inscribe them on their minds.”
- Ezekiel 36:26–28
Through
Romans 7:12So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.
it leads to
- 1 Timothy 1:8
Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately.
- 1 Timothy 1:8
Through
Romans 3:31Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Certainly not! Instead, we uphold the law.
it leads to
- Galatians 2:21
I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, Christ died for nothing.
- Galatians 2:21
Through
Matthew 3:15“Let it be so now,” Jesus replied. “It is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness in this way.” Then John permitted Him.
it leads to
- John 4:34
Jesus explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.
- John 4:34
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
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About Isaiah
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Eusebius of Caesarea, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 2:23; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.