Isaiah 63:16
in Isaiah 63Yet You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For thou art our Father, though Abraham knoweth us not, and Israel doth not acknowledge us: thou, O Jehovah, art our Father; our Redeemer from everlasting is thy name.
KJV
Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O Lord, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting.
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This verse in Isaiah 63
Commentary
11 notes on this verse(Verse 16) For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name. LXX: For you are our Father, because Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. But you, Lord our Father, free us: from the beginning your name is upon us. For you are our father, the creator of all, says he.
This site's exposition
Look down from heaven and see
on Isaiah 63:15-16
The review becomes a plea, “Look down from heaven and see”. Verse 16 gives the confession: “Yet You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us”. Descent from Abraham is set beneath a fatherhood that does not depend on it: “our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name”.
This site's exposition
though Abraham does not know us
Wesley reads Abraham does not know as the fact of death. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown explain why Israel stands beside Abraham, for all the sons of Jacob were in the covenant. Cyril of Jerusalem reads the LORD as Father of His people by care and Father of Christ by nature.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
For Thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Sarah travailed not with us, need we inquire further on this point? And if the Psalmist says, Let them be troubled from His countenance, the Father of the fatherless, and Judge of the widows, is it not manifest to all, that when God is called the Father of orphans who have lately lost their own fathers, He is so named not as begetting them of Himself, but as caring for them and shielding them. But whereas God, as we have said, is in an improper sense the Father of men, of Christ alone He is the Father by nature, not by adoption: and the Father of men in time, but of Christ before all time, as He saith, And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Third, he sets out a cause for having mercy: for you are our father, and Abraham has not known us, when he was still alive, because we did not then exist; or, even now, he is unwilling to pray for us, because we do not …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Abraham - He who was our father after the flesh, though he be dead, and so ignorant of our condition. Redeemer - This is urged as another argument for pity; because their Father was their Redeemer. From everlasting - Thou hast been our Redeemer of old.
"Abraham and Israel cannot help us; they have not the power that God has; they are dead long since, and are ignorant of us, and acknowledge us not; they know not what our case is, nor what our wants are, and therefore know not which way to do us a kindness.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
Doubtless thou art our father,.... Therefore why shouldst thou restrain thy mercies and bowels of compassion from us? or therefore look down upon us, and behold us; the church pleads her relation to God, and in a strong manner; faith of interest continued with her, though he hid his face from her.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Our Redeemer; thy name is from everlasting “O deliver us for the sake of thy name” - The present text reads, as our translation has rendered it, “Our Redeemer, thy name is from everlasting.” But instead of מעולם meolam, from everlasting, an ancient MS. has למען lemaan, for the sake of, which gives a much better sense.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
4:12); now at last they renounce this, to trust in God alone as their Father, notwithstanding all appearances to the contrary. Even though Abraham, our earthly father, on whom we have prided ourselves, disown us, Thou wilt not (Isa 49:15; Isaac is not mentioned, because not all his posterity was admitted to the covenant, whereas all Jacob's was;
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Doubtless - Hebrew, כי kı̂y - ‘For;’ verily; surely. It implies the utmost confidence that he still retained the feelings of a tender father. Thou art our father - Notwithstanding appearances to the contrary, and though we should be disowned by all others, we will still believe that thou dost sustain the relation of a father. Though they saw no human aid, yet their confidence was unwavering that he had still tender compassion toward them. Though Abraham be ignorant of us - Abraham was the father of the nations - their pious and much venerated ancestor. His memory they cherished with the deepest affection, and him they venerated as the illustrious patriarch whose name all were accustomed to speak with reverence. The idea here is, that though even such a man - one so holy, and so much venerated and loved - should refuse to own them as his children, yet that God would not forget his paternal relation to them. A similar expression of his unwavering love occurs in Isa 49:15: ‘Can a woman forget her sucking child?’ See the note at that place. The language here expresses the unwavering conviction of the pious, that God’s love for his people would never change; that it would live when even the most tender earthly ties are broken, and when calamities so thicken around us that we seem to be forsaken by God; and are forsaken by our sunshine friends, and even by our most tender earthly connections. And Israel acknowledge us not - And though Jacob, another much honored and venerated patriarch, should refuse to recognize us as his children. The Jewish expositors say, that the reason why Abraham and Jacob are mentioned here and Isaac omitted, is, that Abraham was the first of the patriarchs, and that all the posterity of Jacob was admitted to the privileges of the covenant, which was not true of Isaac. The sentiment here is, that we should have unwavering confidence in God. […]
The words behind it
16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אַתָּ֣ה | ʾatah | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| אָבִ֔ינוּ | ʾavinu | [are] father our | H1 → | 1212 times |
| כִּ֤י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אַבְרָהָם֙ | ʾavraham | Abraham | H85 → | 175 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יְדָעָ֔נוּ | yedaanu | he knows us | H3045 → | 945 times |
| וְיִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל | veyisrael | and Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יַכִּירָ֑נוּ | yakiranu | he acknowledges us | H5234 → | |
| אַתָּ֤ה | ʾatah | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| יְהוָה֙ | yahweh | O Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אָבִ֔ינוּ | ʾavinu | [are] father our | H1 → | 1212 times |
| גֹּאֲלֵ֥נוּ | goalenu | [is] redeemer our | H1350 → | 104 times |
| מֵֽעוֹלָ֖ם | meolam | from long ago | H5769 → | 438 times |
| שְׁמֶֽךָ׃ | shemekha | name your | H8034 → | 864 times |
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
אַתָּ֣הyou
ʾatahH859 →1094 times
אָבִ֔ינוּ[are] father our
ʾavinuH1 →1212 times
כִּ֤יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
אַבְרָהָם֙Abraham
ʾavrahamH85 →175 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יְדָעָ֔נוּhe knows us
yedaanuH3045 →945 times
וְיִשְׂרָאֵ֖לand Israel
veyisraelH3478 →2507 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יַכִּירָ֑נוּhe acknowledges us
yakiranuH5234 →
אַתָּ֤הyou
ʾatahH859 →1094 times
יְהוָה֙O Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אָבִ֔ינוּ[are] father our
ʾavinuH1 →1212 times
גֹּאֲלֵ֥נוּ[is] redeemer our
goalenuH1350 →104 times
מֵֽעוֹלָ֖םfrom long ago
meolamH5769 →438 times
שְׁמֶֽךָ׃name your
shemekhaH8034 →864 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
Malachi 2:10Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why then do we break faith with one another so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?
it leads to
- Psalms 100:3
Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Malachi 2:11
Judah has broken faith; an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the LORD’s beloved sanctuary by marrying the daughter of a foreign god.
- Psalms 100:3
Through
Isaiah 44:6Thus says the LORD, the King and Redeemer of Israel, the LORD of Hosts: “I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God but Me.
it leads to
- Isaiah 41:4
Who has performed this and carried it out, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD—the first and the last—I am He.”
- Isaiah 43:10–11
“You are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may consider and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me no god was formed,…
- Revelation 1:8
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and was and is to come—the Almighty.
- Revelation 22:13
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
- Isaiah 44:8
Do not tremble or fear. Have I not told you and declared it long ago? You are My witnesses! Is there any God but Me? There is no other Rock; I know not one.”
- Isaiah 41:4
Through
Isaiah 64:8But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.
it leads to
- Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.
- Ephesians 2:10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
On this verse
On this chapter
About Isaiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 10 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); Cyril of Jerusalem, ''Catechetical Lectures, Lecture 7''; 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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.