Isaiah 54:16
in Isaiah 54Behold, I have created the craftsman who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its task; and I have created the destroyer to wreak havoc.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the fire of coals, and bringeth forth a weapon for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.
KJV
Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.
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This verse in Isaiah 54
Commentary
15 notes on this verse(Verse 16, 17.) Behold, I have created the blacksmith who blows the coals in the fire, and brings forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the destroyer to destroy. Every weapon formed against you shall not prosper, and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from me, says the Lord. LXX: Behold, I have created you not as a blacksmith blowing the coals in the fire and bringing forth an instrument for work.
This site's exposition
If anyone attacks you, it is not from Me
on Isaiah 54:15-17
Verse 15 says that an attack on Zion is not ordained by the LORD, and “whoever assails you will fall before you”. Verse 16 claims both the smith and the destroyer as His creatures. Verse 17 gives the chapter's best-known line, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper”.
This site's exposition
I have created the craftsman
Jerome makes the craftsman, fanning coals into flame, the devil. Ephrem the Syrian reads the craftsman as the apostles, who instruct the peoples in the doctrine of truth. Wesley pairs the smith who forges the weapon with the soldier who wields it, both creatures of God and under His command.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
"Behold, I have created the blacksmith, who made the vases in his work," that is, I elected the apostles and the disciples of the apostles, who perfectly instruct the peoples through the doctrine of truth. "I have also created the destroyer." I did not prevent …
This the Lord has taught in turn in the holy Gospels: "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the world." He gives it to those who provide proof of the righteousness that he has established by …
(Verse 16, 17.) Behold, I have created the blacksmith who blows the coals in the fire, and brings forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the destroyer to destroy. Every weapon formed against you shall not prosper, and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from me, says the Lord. LXX: Behold, I have created you not as a blacksmith blowing the coals in the fire and bringing forth an instrument for work. But I have created you not to destroy: every vessel that is made against you will not prosper: and every voice that rises against you in judgment, you will overcome and they will be subject to you. This is the inheritance of the servants of the Lord, and you will be righteous to me, says the Lord. Let us first say in Hebrew: If you want to not be afraid, and to be far from fear, do what the previous word has narrated; for I am the one through whom you will have proselytes. I am the one who created the blacksmith blowing on the embers in the fire, that is, the devil, the artisan of all evil, not by necessity of nature, but by the decision of the mind. I who kindled fires, and will bring forth vessels against you: such as Simon and Elymas were, resisting Peter and Paul (Acts 13). I created the destroyer of those who will become unbelievers. Not that I am the cause of their perdition, but that the created adversary may engage in battle, and for the defeated, there may be destruction, and for the victors, the cause may be rewards. And all those who have been fashioned against you by the blowing of a blacksmith's bellows will not be directed, but they will feel both present and future punishments. […]
Therefore, it is good for us if we flee to the mercy of him whose justice we are incapable of escaping. The justice of God is such that it condemns those who turn away and saves those who turn to him. So he says, "Be …
The Medieval Church1 voice
Third, he promises the destruction of their enemies: behold, I. And first, he shows the power of the one who promises, setting out a similitude: I have created the smith, the persecutor, who blows in the fire of tribulation, instruments, adversaries, according to his own …
7 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening5 voices
The truth is they have no power but what is given them from above, and he that gave them their power can limit and restrain them. Hitherto they shall go, and no further. First, They cannot carry on their design without arms and weapons of war; and the smith that makes those weapons is God's creature, and he gave him his skill to work in iron and brass ( Exod. xxxi.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The smith - Both the smith that makes warlike instruments, and the soldier that uses them, are my creatures, and totally at my command, and therefore they cannot hurt you without my leave.
Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire,....
Or their reward for their righteousness, and for all that which they have suffered unrighteously, is of God, that God who judges in the earth, and with whom verily there is a reward for the righteous. Or their righteousness itself, all that in them which is good and right, is of God, who works it in them; it is of Christ who is made righteousness to them.
5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the L ORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. If we apply this to the state of the Jews after their return out of captivity, it is a prophecy of the increase of their nation after they were settled in their own land.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Behold, I have created the smith - The sense of this verse is, ‘Everything that can effect your welfare is under my control. The smith who manufactures the instruments of war or of torture is under me. His life, his strength, his skill, are all in my hands, and he can do nothing which I shall not deem it best to permit him to do. So with the enemy of the church himself - the waster who destroys.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The workman that forms "weapons against thee" (Isa 54:17) is wholly in My power, therefore thou needest not fear, having Me on thy side. for his work--rather, "by his labor [HORSLEY].
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
The words behind it
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הִנֵּ֤ה | hen | here! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| אָֽנֹכִי֙ | ʾanokhi | I | H595 → | 359 times |
| בָּרָ֣אתִי | barati | I created | H1254 → | 55 times |
| חָרָ֔שׁ | charash | a craftsman | H2796 → | 37 times |
| נֹפֵ֙חַ֙ | nofeach | [who] blows | H5301 → | |
| בְּאֵ֣שׁ | beesh | on a fire of | H784 → | 378 times |
| פֶּחָ֔ם | pecham | charcoal | H6352 → | |
| וּמוֹצִ֥יא | umotzi' | and [who] produces | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| כְלִ֖י | kheli | a weapon | H3627 → | 325 times |
| לְמַעֲשֵׂ֑הוּ | lemaasehu | for work its | H4639 → | 236 times |
| וְאָנֹכִ֛י | veanokhi | and I | H595 → | 359 times |
| בָּרָ֥אתִי | barati | I created | H1254 → | 55 times |
| מַשְׁחִ֖ית | mashchit | a destroyer | H7843 → | 146 times |
| לְחַבֵּֽל׃ | lechabel | to ruin | H2254 → | 27 times |
הִנֵּ֤הhere!
henH2009 →843 times
אָֽנֹכִי֙I
ʾanokhiH595 →359 times
בָּרָ֣אתִיI created
baratiH1254 →55 times
חָרָ֔שׁa craftsman
charashH2796 →37 times
נֹפֵ֙חַ֙[who] blows
nofeachH5301 →
בְּאֵ֣שׁon a fire of
beeshH784 →378 times
פֶּחָ֔םcharcoal
pechamH6352 →
וּמוֹצִ֥יאand [who] produces
umotzi'H3318 →1067 times
כְלִ֖יa weapon
kheliH3627 →325 times
לְמַעֲשֵׂ֑הוּfor work its
lemaasehuH4639 →236 times
וְאָנֹכִ֛יand I
veanokhiH595 →359 times
בָּרָ֥אתִיI created
baratiH1254 →55 times
מַשְׁחִ֖יתa destroyer
mashchitH7843 →146 times
לְחַבֵּֽל׃to ruin
lechabelH2254 →27 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
Isaiah 46:11I summon a bird of prey from the east, a man for My purpose from a far-off land. Truly I have spoken, and truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it,…
it leads to
- Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
- Isaiah 14:24–27
The LORD of Hosts has sworn: “Surely, as I have planned, so will it be; as I have purposed, so will it stand.
- Job 23:13
But He is unchangeable, and who can oppose Him? He does what He desires.
- Numbers 23:19
Through
Exodus 9:16But 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.
it leads to
- Romans 9:17
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
- Proverbs 16:4
The LORD has made everything for His purpose—even the wicked for the day of disaster.
- Romans 9:17
Through
Proverbs 16:4The LORD has made everything for His purpose—even the wicked for the day of disaster.
it leads to
- Romans 9:22
What if God, intending to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the vessels of His wrath, prepared for destruction?
- Isaiah 43:21
The people I formed for Myself will declare My praise.
- 2 Peter 2:9
if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.
- Romans 9:22
Where this verse is studied
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); Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 54:16; Fulgentius of Ruspe, LETTER 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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 17:54.17 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.