Isaiah 48:13
in Isaiah 48Surely My own hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they stand up together.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Yea, my hand hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spread out the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.
KJV
Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.
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This verse in Isaiah 48
Commentary
12 notes on this verseNow the hand and the right arm is what God the Father calls his Son. And we often find him so called throughout Scripture. The divine Moses said, "Your right hand has been glorified in might, your right hand has shattered the enemies," and David the blessed said, "May your hand be strengthened, may your right arm be lifted up."
This site's exposition
Listen to Me, O Jacob, and Israel
on Isaiah 48:12-13
“Listen to Me, O Jacob, and Israel” renews the summons, and the self-description carries the weight, “I am the first, and I am the last”. The book repeats this claim through its trial chapters. Verse 13 grounds it in creation, “My own hand founded the earth”.
This site's exposition
My right hand spread out the heavens
Barnes takes the spread heavens as measured with the palm, the picture of Isaiah 40:12. Cyril and Gill read the hand and right hand of God as the Son, the Word by whom the earth was founded. Their Maker is able to deliver Israel.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Verse 12, 13 and following) Hear me, Jacob and Israel, whom I call. I am the first and the last. My hand also laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand measures the heavens: I have called them, and they will stand together. Gather yourselves and listen: who among them has declared these things? The Lord loved him: he will fulfill his will in Babylon and his arm in the Chaldeans. I, I have spoken and called him: I have brought him, and his way is made straight.
He is the Lord's right hand, indeed his two hands, by which he worked and constructed the universe.
The Medieval Church2 voices
889. Hearken to me. Here he shows the divine majesty from the creation of things. I shall call them, placing on each its proper work, and they shall stand, ready to obey, above: who has poised with three fingers the bulk of the earth? (Isa …
"My right hand spread out the heavens," that is, I have flung out the heavens with my power and fixed them on high and spread out. [These words are said] in analogy with one who takes some clay and puts it on the wall or …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth,.... Which is ascribed to the Wisdom, Word, and Son of God, Pro 3:
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
He shows them that, as it was by their own sin that they brought themselves into captivity, so it would be only by the grace of God that they would obtain the necessary preparatives for their enlargement,
We see the earth firm under us, and feel it so; it was his hand that laid the foundation of it. We see the heavens spread out as a canopy over our heads, and it was his hand that spread them, that spanned them, that stretched them out, and did it by an exact measure, as the workman sometimes metes out his work by spans.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Mine hand also hath laid ... - I am the Creator of all things, and I have all power, and am abundantly able to deliver you from all your foes. And my right hand hath spanned the heavens - Margin, ‘The palm of my right hand hath spread out.’ The sense is, that he by his right hand had spanned, or measured the heavens. The phrase is designed to show his greatness and his power (see the notes at Isa 40:12). When I call unto them - (See the note at Isa 40:26).
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
spanned--measured out (Isa 40:12). when I call . . . stand up together-- (Isa 40:26; But it is not their creation so much which is meant, as that, like ministers of God, the heavens and the earth are prepared at His command to execute His decrees (Ps 119:91) [ROSENMULLER].
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Hearken to Me, O Jacob The name that your father called you.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
The Lord loves him He who will perform the will of the Holy One, blessed be He, upon Babylon.
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. 4 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
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַף־ | ʾaf- | also | H637 → | 134 times |
| יָדִי֙ | yadi | hand my | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| יָ֣סְדָה | yasedah | it founded | H3245 → | 43 times |
| אֶ֔רֶץ | ʾeretz | [the] earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
| וִֽימִינִ֖י | vimini | and right [hand] my | H3225 → | 140 times |
| טִפְּחָ֣ה | tipechah | it spread out | H2946 → | |
| שָׁמָ֑יִם | shamayim | [the] heavens | H8064 → | 421 times |
| קֹרֵ֥א | kore' | [am] calling | H7121 → | 733 times |
| אֲנִ֛י | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| אֲלֵיהֶ֖ם | ʾaleihem | to them | H413 → | 5510 times |
| יַעַמְד֥וּ | yaamdu | they stand | H5975 → | 521 times |
| יַחְדָּֽו׃ | yachdav | together | H3162 → | 141 times |
אַף־also
ʾaf-H637 →134 times
יָדִי֙hand my
yadiH3027 →1618 times
יָ֣סְדָהit founded
yasedahH3245 →43 times
אֶ֔רֶץ[the] earth
ʾeretzH776 →2504 times
וִֽימִינִ֖יand right [hand] my
viminiH3225 →140 times
טִפְּחָ֣הit spread out
tipechahH2946 →
שָׁמָ֑יִם[the] heavens
shamayimH8064 →421 times
קֹרֵ֥א[am] calling
kore'H7121 →733 times
אֲנִ֛יI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
אֲלֵיהֶ֖םto them
ʾaleihemH413 →5510 times
יַעַמְד֥וּthey stand
yaamduH5975 →521 times
יַחְדָּֽו׃together
yachdavH3162 →141 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
Exodus 20:11For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath…
it leads to
- Genesis 1:1–2
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- Genesis 2:2–3
And by the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on that day He rested from all His work.
- Genesis 1:1–2
Through
Psalms 102:25In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
it leads to
- Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- Exodus 20:11
For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath…
- Hebrews 1:10–12
And: “In the beginning, O Lord, You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
- Jeremiah 32:17
“Oh, Lord GOD! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!
- Genesis 1:1
Through
Isaiah 45:18For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens—He is God; He formed the earth and fashioned it; He established it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be…
it leads to
- Psalms 115:16
The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth He has given to mankind.
- Jeremiah 10:12
The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.
- Psalms 115:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 4:3.48:12-13; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Ishodad of Merv, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 48:13; 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; Tertullian, AGAINST HERMOGENES 45 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.