Isaiah 48:19
in Isaiah 48Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand, and your offspring as numerous as its grains; their name would never be cut off or eliminated from My presence.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the grains thereof: his name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.
KJV
Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.
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This verse in Isaiah 48
Commentary
11 notes on this verseAnd what follows: and your offspring would have been like the sand, and the descendants of your womb like its grains: indeed, it seems to remain in the Jewish people, who to this day, like worms, produce children and grandchildren; but how is this to be understood in terms of the promise, when they do not have peace and righteousness? For either he is angry with them, or appeased. If he is angry, how is his seed multiplied every day? If he is appeased, how do they serve and not possess peace and justice?
This site's exposition
Thus says the LORD your Redeemer
on Isaiah 48:17-19
“Thus says the LORD your Redeemer” opens with the covenant intention. Verse 18 turns to lament, “If only you had paid attention to My commandments, your peace would have been like a river”. Verse 19 extends the loss, “as countless as the sand”, the promise to Abraham’s line forfeited.
This site's exposition
countless as the sand
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown mark the shift from your offspring to their name, cut off as a nation during the exile in Babylon. Barnes reads the countless descendants as the fruit of obedience. Vice, war and disease thin a nation, he notes, while obedience makes it numerous.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Verse 17, 18 and following) Thus says the Lord, your holy Redeemer, the God of Israel: I am the Lord your God, teaching you what is profitable, leading you in the way you should go. Oh, that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been like sand, and the offspring of your womb like its grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me.
"I am the Lord your God. I have shown how to find my way so that you may benefit by traveling on that way." … But since the Jews did not desire to pay attention to these commandments, by reason of their attachment to a …
The Medieval Church1 voice
He also shows the harm from the fault of the Jews: O that you had hearkened to my commandments, keeping them; as a river, abounding, as the waves, the same: if my people had heard me: if Israel had walked in my ways: I should …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
He had indeed brought them into captivity, but it was owing to themselves, nor did he afflict them willingly. (1.) As when he gave them his law he earnestly wished they might be obedient ( O that there were such a heart in them!
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Thy seed had also been as the sand,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Thy seed also - Instead of being reduced to a small number by the calamities incident to war, and being comparatively a small and powerless people sighing in captivity, you would have been a numerous and mighty nation. This is another of the blessings which would have followed from obedience to the commands of God; and it proves that a people who are virtuous and pious will become numerous and mighty. Vice, and the diseases, the wars, and the divine judgments consequent on vice, tend to depopulate a nation, and to make it feeble.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
JEROME, Chaldee, and Syriac support English Version. his name . . . cut off--transition from the second person, "thy," to the third "his." Israel's name was cut off "as a nation" during the Babylonish captivity; also it is so now, to which the prophecy especially looks (Ro 11:20).
Like the gravel thereof “Like that of the bowels thereof” - בצאצאי מעי הים והם הדגים betseetsaey meey haiyam vehem haddagim; “As the issue of the bowels of the sea; that is, fishes.” - Salom. ben Melec. And so likewise Aben Ezra, Jarchi Kimchi, etc. His name “Thy name” - For שמו shemo, “his name,” the Septuagint had in the copy from which they translated שמך shimcha, “thy name.”
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְהִ֤י | vayhi | and it was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| כַחוֹל֙ | khachol | like the sand | H2344 → | |
| זַרְעֶ֔ךָ | zarekha | offspring your | H2233 → | 229 times |
| וְצֶאֱצָאֵ֥י | vetzeetzaei | and [the] descendants of | H6631 → | 11 times |
| מֵעֶ֖יךָ | meeikha | inward parts your | H4578 → | 32 times |
| כִּמְעֹתָ֑יו | kimotav | like grains its | H4579 → | |
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִכָּרֵ֧ת | yikaret | it will be cut off | H3772 → | 288 times |
| וְֽלֹא־ | velo'- | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִשָּׁמֵ֛ד | yishamed | it will be destroyed | H8045 → | 90 times |
| שְׁמ֖וֹ | shemo | name its | H8034 → | 864 times |
| מִלְּפָנָֽי׃ | milefanai | from to before me | H6440 → | 2123 times |
וַיְהִ֤יand it was
vayhiH1961 →3559 times
כַחוֹל֙like the sand
khacholH2344 →
זַרְעֶ֔ךָoffspring your
zarekhaH2233 →229 times
וְצֶאֱצָאֵ֥יand [the] descendants of
vetzeetzaeiH6631 →11 times
מֵעֶ֖יךָinward parts your
meeikhaH4578 →32 times
כִּמְעֹתָ֑יוlike grains its
kimotavH4579 →
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יִכָּרֵ֧תit will be cut off
yikaretH3772 →288 times
וְֽלֹא־and not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
יִשָּׁמֵ֛דit will be destroyed
yishamedH8045 →90 times
שְׁמ֖וֹname its
shemoH8034 →864 times
מִלְּפָנָֽי׃from to before me
milefanaiH6440 →2123 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
Hosea 1:10Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And it will happen that in the very place where it was said to…
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 6:18
And: “I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
- Galatians 4:6–7
And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
- John 1:12
But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—
- Romans 9:25–28
As He says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘My People’ who are not My people, and I will call her ‘My Beloved’ who is not My beloved,”
- 1 Peter 2:9–10
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
- 2 Corinthians 6:18
Through
Genesis 22:17I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.
it leads to
- Genesis 15:5
And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Genesis 15:5
Through
Romans 9:27Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites is like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved.
it leads to
- Isaiah 10:20–23
On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer depend on him who struck them, but they will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy…
- Romans 11:4–6
And what was the divine reply to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
- Isaiah 10:20–23
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah
This page draws on 9 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); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 15:48.18-19 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.