Isaiah 49:15
in Isaiah 49“Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, these may forget, yet will not I forget thee.
KJV
Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.
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This verse in Isaiah 49
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThis providence and love of God therefore, which the Lord in His unwearied goodness vouchsafes to show us, He compares to the tenderest heart of a kind mother, as He wishes to express it by a figure of human affection, and finds in His creatures no such feeling of love, to which he could better compare it. And He uses this example, because nothing dearer can be found in human nature, saying: "Can a mother forget her child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?"
This site's exposition
Can a woman forget her nursing child
on Isaiah 49:15-16
The LORD answers Zion with the strongest human bond, “Can a woman forget her nursing child”, and then surpasses it. Verse 16 gives the proof, “I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands”, a mark carried on the body itself. Zion’s walls stand “ever before Me.”
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Only let us put the rudders of our lives in his hands, and we shall encounter an unfailing providence. God's guardianship will be surer than that of any person, for his are the words, "Can a woman forget her nursing child? Will she not have …
(Verse 14 and following) And Zion said: The Lord has abandoned me, and the Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman forget her nursing child, so as not to have compassion on the son of her womb? Even if she forgets, I will not forget you. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are always before my eyes. Your builders have come, and those who destroyed and devastated you will depart from you. Lift up your eyes all around and see; all these have gathered together, they have come to you.
The Medieval Church3 voices
A commentator
Symeon the New TheologianCommentary (church-history corpus) · Written before 1022.
proposed
So tell me, where did you learn that you did not belong to those who are foreknown and predestined to become conformed to the image of God's glory? Tell me, who told you this? Was it, maybe, God Who announced this to you, Himself, or …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Septem Donis, Collation 6 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
The blessed Virgin paid that price as a woman strong and devout with the piety of mercy toward the world, and especially toward the Christian people. Isaiah: "Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have mercy on the son of her womb? …
Concerning the first, he does three things: first, he sets out their doubt, the Lord has forsaken me, without help, and therefore I cannot hope for liberation: I am left alone (Bar 4:19); second, he excludes this doubt through the similitude of a mother: can …
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?....
"You think that I have forgotten you. Can a woman forget her sucking child?" First, It is not likely that she should. A woman, whose honour it is to be of the tender sex as well as the fair one, cannot but have compassion for a child, which, being both harmless and helpless, is a proper object of compassion.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Can a woman forget her sucking child? - The design of this verse is apparent. It is to show that the love which God has for his people is stronger than that which is produced by the most tender ties created by any natural relation. The love of a mother for her infant child is the strongest attachment in nature. The question here implies that it was unusual for a mother to be unmindful of that tie, and to forsake the child that she should nourish and love.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲתִשְׁכַּ֤ח | hatishkach | ¿ will she forget | H7911 → | 102 times |
| אִשָּׁה֙ | ʾishah | a woman | H802 → | 781 times |
| עוּלָ֔הּ | ʾulah | sucking child her | H5764 → | |
| מֵרַחֵ֖ם | merachem | from having compassion on | H7355 → | 47 times |
| בֶּן־ | ben- | [the] child of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| בִּטְנָ֑הּ | bitnah | womb her | H990 → | 72 times |
| גַּם־ | gam- | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| אֵ֣לֶּה | ʾeleh | these | H428 → | 746 times |
| תִשְׁכַּ֔חְנָה | tishkachnah | they will forget | H7911 → | 102 times |
| וְאָנֹכִ֖י | veanokhi | and I | H595 → | 359 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| אֶשְׁכָּחֵֽךְ׃ | ʾeshkachekh | I will forget you | H7911 → | 102 times |
הֲתִשְׁכַּ֤ח¿ will she forget
hatishkachH7911 →102 times
אִשָּׁה֙a woman
ʾishahH802 →781 times
עוּלָ֔הּsucking child her
ʾulahH5764 →
מֵרַחֵ֖םfrom having compassion on
merachemH7355 →47 times
בֶּן־[the] child of
ben-H1121 →4930 times
בִּטְנָ֑הּwomb her
bitnahH990 →72 times
גַּם־also
gam-H1571 →769 times
אֵ֣לֶּהthese
ʾelehH428 →746 times
תִשְׁכַּ֔חְנָהthey will forget
tishkachnahH7911 →102 times
וְאָנֹכִ֖יand I
veanokhiH595 →359 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
אֶשְׁכָּחֵֽךְ׃I will forget you
ʾeshkachekhH7911 →102 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
Matthew 7:11So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
it leads to
- Luke 11:11–13
What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?
- James 1:17
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.
- Romans 8:32
He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?
- Psalms 84:11
For the LORD God is a sun and a shield; the LORD gives grace and glory; He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity.
- Luke 11:11–13
Through
Psalms 103:13As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
it leads to
- Luke 11:11–12
What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?
- Hebrews 12:5–11
And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you.
- Luke 15:21–22
The son declared, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
- Psalms 103:17
But from everlasting to everlasting the loving devotion of the LORD extends to those who fear Him, and His righteousness to their children’s children—
- Luke 11:11–12
Where this verse is studied
About Isaiah
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bonaventure, Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 6; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Cassian, The Third Conference of Abbot Chaeremon, Chapter 17; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Symeon the New Theologian, Commentary (church-history corpus); Theodoret of Cyrus, LETTER 14 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.