Isaiah 48:9
in Isaiah 48For the sake of My name I will delay My wrath; for the sake of My praise I will restrain it, so that you will not be cut off.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.
KJV
For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off.
⋯
This verse in Isaiah 48
Commentary
13 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
For my name’s sake - (See the notes at Isa 43:25; compare Isa 66:5). It is possible that the design of this verse may be, to answer an objection. ‘If the character of the nation is such, it might be said, ‘why should God desire to restore them again to their own land? If their sins have been so great as to make these heavy judgments proper, why not suffer them to remain under the infliction of the deserved judgment?
This site's exposition
I will delay My wrath
on Isaiah 48:9-11
“For the sake of My name I will delay My wrath” turns the chapter from indictment to mercy. Verse 10 names the discipline applied, “I have tested you in the furnace of affliction”. Verse 11 doubles the ground, “For My own sake, My very own sake, I will act”.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
But we say that God brings fire on the world, not like a cook [pace Celsus] but like a God who is the benefactor of those who stand in need of the discipline of force. This is confirmed by the prophet Isaiah.… Now the Scripture is appropriately adapted to the multitudes of those who are to peruse it, because it speaks obscurely of things that are sad and gloomy, in order to terrify those who cannot by any other means be saved from the flood of their sins, although even then the attentive reader will clearly discover the end that is to be accomplished by these sad and painful punishments on those who endure them. It is sufficient, however, for the present to quote the words of Isaiah: "For my name's sake will I delay my anger, and my glory I will bring on you, that I may not destroy you."
It is a work that is necessary, and it is the fruit of admirable foresight to avoid these things that are announced and not to wait for the end of the unhappy times but to stand outside of all wrath and judgment.… "I have restrained my wrath for the sake of my name," and I will establish my glorious deeds over you lest you be destroyed.… We see in this the greatness of God's love; he mixes in with unhappy events glorious things lest they be totally destroyed.
(Verse 3, 4 and following) I announced the former things long ago, they went out from my mouth, and I made them heard. Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass. For I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your forehead is bronze. I foretold them to you long ago, before they came to pass I announced them to you, lest you should say, 'My idols did these things, and my carved images and molded idols commanded them.' You have heard; see all this. And will you not declare it?
The Medieval Church1 voice
888. Third, he excludes a certain objection: for my name's sake. For someone may ask: when they are so stubborn, why do you promise and do good things for them? And he first sets out the response to this objection, recalling three benefits shown to …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Their captivity was the punishment of their iniquity; and if, when he had them in Babylon, he had left them to pine away and perish there, and made the desolations of their country perpetual, he would only have dealt with them according to their sins, and it was what such a sinful people might expect from an angry God.
6 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
For my sake - I will spare thee, and deliver thee out of captivity, not for thy sake, but merely for my own sake, and for the vindication of my name, that I may be praised for my power, faithfulness, and goodness.
For my name's sake will I defer mine anger,.... From age to age, for those sins which had been committed, and continued in ever since they were a people.
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
'For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.''Isaiah 48:9-11. THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL in all their generations were full of evil.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
refrain--literally, "muzzle"; His wrath, after the return, was to be restrained a while, and then, because of their sins, let loose again (Ps 78:38). for thee--that is, mine anger towards thee.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
'For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.''Isaiah 48:9-11. THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL in all their generations were full of evil. Those who came out of Egypt were a rebellious people, and for forty years multiplied their provocations of the Lord in the wilderness, till at last they all found a grave in the desert. The generation following were stiff-necked and rebellious like their fathers, and they continually went astray after false gods. Though by the good hand of the Lord they were settled in a goodly land which flowed with milk and honey, yet they forgot the covenant and sinned grievously. Though they were smitten and bruised for their idolatries, yet their successors did the same: whether they were ruled by the high priest, or governed by the judges, or presided over by a king, it little mattered, they started aside still, they were never to be depended upon. Idolatry and rebellion against God were ingrained in their nature; this sin was in their bone, and it would come out in their flesh. At last the Lord, whose glory tabernacled in Zion, appeared to grow weary of keeping house with such ungracious children and unfaithful servants, and he broke up the house altogether: he gave up his temple to be destroyed, the whole land to be ravaged, and the inhabitants to be carried away captive into Babylon.
And for my praise “And for the sake of my praise” - I read ולמען תהלתי ulemaan tehillathi. The word למען lemaan, though not absolutely necessary here, for it may be understood as supplied from the preceding member, yet seems to have been removed from hence to Isa 48:11; where it is redundant, and where it is not repeated in the Septuagint, Syriac, and a MS. I have therefore omitted it in the latter place, and added it here.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
but not as silver [lit. but not with silver.] Not with the fire of Gehinnom, as silver is refined through fire.
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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לְמַ֤עַן | lemaan | for [the] sake of | H4616 → | 272 times |
| שְׁמִי֙ | shemi | name my | H8034 → | 864 times |
| אַאֲרִ֣יךְ | ʾaarikh | I will make long | H748 → | 34 times |
| אַפִּ֔י | ʾapi | anger my | H639 → | 276 times |
| וּתְהִלָּתִ֖י | utehilati | and praise my | H8416 → | 56 times |
| אֶחֱטָם־ | ʾechetom- | I will restrain myself | H2413 → | |
| לָ֑ךְ | lakh | to you | ||
| לְבִלְתִּ֖י | levilti | to not | H1115 → | 112 times |
| הַכְרִיתֶֽךָ׃ | hakhritekha | to cut off you | H3772 → | 288 times |
לְמַ֤עַןfor [the] sake of
lemaanH4616 →272 times
שְׁמִי֙name my
shemiH8034 →864 times
אַאֲרִ֣יךְI will make long
ʾaarikhH748 →34 times
אַפִּ֔יanger my
ʾapiH639 →276 times
וּתְהִלָּתִ֖יand praise my
utehilatiH8416 →56 times
אֶחֱטָם־I will restrain myself
ʾechetom-H2413 →
לָ֑ךְto you
lakh
לְבִלְתִּ֖יto not
leviltiH1115 →112 times
הַכְרִיתֶֽךָ׃to cut off you
hakhritekhaH3772 →288 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
Psalms 106:8Yet He saved them for the sake of His name, to make His power known.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 20:14
But I acted for the sake of My name, so that it would not be profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 9:16
But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power to you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
- Ezekiel 20:9
But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the eyes of the nations among whom they were living, in whose sight I had revealed Myself to…
- Ezekiel 20:14
Through
Psalms 79:9Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; deliver us and atone for our sins, for the sake of Your name.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 14:7
Although our iniquities testify against us, O LORD, act for the sake of Your name. Indeed, our rebellions are many; we have sinned against You.
- Psalms 25:11
For the sake of Your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, for it is great.
- Jeremiah 14:7
Through
Isaiah 37:35‘I will defend this city and save it for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.’”
it leads to
- 2 Kings 20:6
I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for My sake and for…
- Isaiah 38:6
And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.
- Isaiah 31:5
Like birds hovering overhead, so the LORD of Hosts will protect Jerusalem. He will shield it and deliver it; He will pass over it and preserve it.”
- 2 Kings 20:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah
This page draws on 12 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); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1041: “Mercy's Master Motive” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 4:3.48:5-11; 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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, AGAINST CELSUS 5:15 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.