Isaiah 46:8
in Isaiah 46Remember this and be brave; take it to heart, you transgressors!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Remember this, and show yourselves men; bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors.
KJV
Remember this, and shew yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors.
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This verse in Isaiah 46
Commentary
13 notes on this verseShow yourselves men - התאששו hithoshashu. This word is rather of doubtful derivation and signification. It occurs only in this place: and some of the ancient interpreters seem to have had something different in their copies. The Vulgate read התבששו hithbosheshu, take shame to yourselves; the Syriac התבוננו hithbonenu, consider with yourselves; the Septuagint στεναξετε· perhaps התאבלו hithabbelu, groan or mourn, within yourselves. Several MSS. read התאוששו hithosheshu, but without any help to the sense.
This site's exposition
Remember this and be brave
on Isaiah 46:8-11
“Remember this and be brave” opens the chapter’s second argument, a trial of prediction. The LORD names “a bird of prey from the east, a man for My purpose from a far-off land”. The traditional identification is Cyrus, named at 44:28; “My purpose will stand” rests the claim on fulfilment.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
A commentator
Augustine of HippoTRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 18:10.1-2 · Written before 430.
proposed
"Return, you transgressors, to the heart." Return to the heart! Why do you go away from yourselves and perish from yourselves?… You go astray by wandering about. Return. Where? To the Lord. It is quickly done! First, return to your heart. You are wandering away. You are an exile from yourself. You do not know yourself. You ask by whom you were made!… Just return to your heart! See there what perhaps you perceive about God, because the image of God is there. In the inner person Christ dwells. In the inner person you are renewed according to the image of God.
"Return, you transgressors, to the heart." As I have already said, what the Lord repeatedly asks of us is not found in distant lands. He sends us within, into our own hearts. For he has placed within us that which he wants, in which consists …
(Verse 8 onwards) Remember this, and be established, and return, you transgressors, to the heart. Recall the former age, for I am God, and there is no other God, nor is there anyone like me. I declare the end from the beginning, and from long ago the things that have not yet been done, saying: My purpose will stand, and I will accomplish all my desire.
Behold, there he is, wherever truth is known. He is within the inmost heart, yet the heart has wandered from him. Return to your heart, O you sinners, and hold fast to him who made you. Stand with him, and you shall stand firmly. Rest in him, and you shall be at rest.
"Go back, therefore, to the heart," and if you are believers, you will find Christ there. He himself is speaking to you there. Yes, here am I, shouting my head off—but he, in silence, is doing more teaching. I am speaking by the sound of these words; he is speaking inwardly by the awe you feel in your thoughts.
6 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
Third, he concludes the calling back: remember this, what I have said of my love and the worthlessness of idols. Man ought to return to the heart, as to the throne of a judge, that he might examine himself: I meditated in the night with …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
), but have an eye to God in his word, not in an image; let them depend upon that, and upon the promises and predictions of it, and God's power to accomplish them all,
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Act with reason; act with resolution; act for your own interest. Do a wise thing; do a brave thing; and scorn to disparage your own judgment as you do when you worship idols." Note, Sinners would become saints if they would but show themselves men, if they would but support the dignity of their nature and use aright its powers and capacities.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
Remember this,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
In order to be manly we must be godly; for man was made "in the image of God," and only rises to his true dignity when joined to God; virtue is derived from the Latin vir, "a man." bring . . . to mind--rather, "lay it to heart." transgressors--addressed to the idolaters among the Jews.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Remember this - Bear in mind what is now said of the manner in which idols are made. This is addressed, doubtless, to the Jews, and is designed to keep them from idolatry. And show yourselves men - Act as men; throw away the childish trifles of idolaters. The word used here (התאשׁשׁוּ hithe'oshâshû' occurs nowhere else in the Bible. It is according to Gesenius, derived from אישׁ 'ı̂ysh, “a man,” and means to act “as a man.” A similar word is used in 1Co 16:13 (ἀνδρίζεσθε andrizesthe, from ἀνήρ anēr, a man), and is correctly rendered there, ‘quit you like men.’ This Greek word often occurs in the Septuagint. It is used as a translation of אמץ 'âmats, in Jos 1:6-7, Jos 1:9, Jos 1:18; 1Ch 28:20; 2Ch 32:7; Neh 2:1; of גדל gâdal in Rth 1:12; of חזק châzaq, in Deu 31:6-7, Deu 31:23; Jos 10:25; 2Ki 2:12; 2Ki 12:8; 1Ch 28:20, and in several other places. Jerome renders the Hebrew word here, ‘Be confounded;’ the Septuagint, Στενάξατε Stenachate) - ‘Groan;’ the Syriac, ‘Consider,’ or understand. The meaning is, that they were to act as became people - not as children; as became those endowed with an immortal mind, and not as the brutes. So Kimchi renders it: ‘Be men, and not brutes, which neither consider nor understand.’ O ye transgressors - Ye who have violated the laws of God by the worship of idols. In the time of Manasseh, the Israelites were much addicted to idolatry, and probably this is to be regarded as addressed to them, and as designed to recall them from it to the worship of the true God.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| זִכְרוּ־ | zikhru- | remember | H2142 → | 230 times |
| זֹ֖את | zot | this | H2063 → | 603 times |
| וְהִתְאֹשָׁ֑שׁוּ | vehitoshashu | and pluck up courage | H377 → | |
| הָשִׁ֥יבוּ | hashivu | bring [it] back | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| פוֹשְׁעִ֖ים | fosheim | O rebels | H6586 → | 41 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| לֵֽב׃ | lev | heart | H3820 → | 595 times |
זִכְרוּ־remember
zikhru-H2142 →230 times
זֹ֖אתthis
zotH2063 →603 times
וְהִתְאֹשָׁ֑שׁוּand pluck up courage
vehitoshashuH377 →
הָשִׁ֥יבוּbring [it] back
hashivuH7725 →1056 times
פוֹשְׁעִ֖יםO rebels
fosheimH6586 →41 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
לֵֽב׃heart
levH3820 →595 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
Haggai 1:7This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Consider carefully your ways.
it leads to
- Psalms 119:59–60
I considered my ways and turned my steps to Your testimonies.
- Haggai 1:5
Now this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Consider carefully your ways.
- Psalms 119:59–60
Through
Ezekiel 18:28Because he considered and turned from all the transgressions he had committed, he will surely live; he will not die.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 32:29
If only they were wise, they would understand it; they would comprehend their fate.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 32:29
Through
Deuteronomy 32:29If only they were wise, they would understand it; they would comprehend their fate.
it leads to
- Psalms 81:13
If only My people would listen to Me, if Israel would follow My ways,
- Deuteronomy 5:29
If only they had such a heart to fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it might be well with them and with their children forever.
- Hosea 14:9
Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous walk in them but the rebellious stumble in…
- Luke 19:41–42
As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it
- Luke 12:20
But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’
- Psalms 81:13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah

This page draws on 13 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); Augustine of Hippo, TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 18:10.1-2; Augustine of Hippo, Confessions 4.12.18; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 102:2; Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 37:1; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.
