Isaiah 66:13
in Isaiah 66As a mother comforts her son, so will I comfort you, and you will be consoled over Jerusalem.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
KJV
As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
⋯
This verse in Isaiah 66
Commentary
4 notes on this verseon Isaiah 66:13-14
(Verse 13, 14) Just as a mother caresses her child, so will I comfort you, and in Jerusalem you will find comfort. Your heart will rejoice and your bones will flourish like grass. The hand of the Lord will be known to his servants, and he will be angry with his enemies. The Septuagint translates 'servants' as 'those who fear' and 'enemies' as 'unbelievers'; the rest is the same. We learn from the example of mothers, who surpass all charity by nourishing their children with love in their arms, the mercy of the Creator towards his creatures.
This site's exposition
the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream
on Isaiah 66:12-14
Peace extended like a river and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream both picture abundance arriving by a natural, unstoppable channel rather than by conquest, the Gentiles' own wealth pictured flowing toward Jerusalem the way the Nile fed Egypt in the earlier oracles against the nations. As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you makes the comfort personal rather than merely national, the same maternal image carried from the previous unit now spoken directly by the Lord himself. Your bones shall flourish like an herb answers the exile's own despair with a different figure, and Barnes reads the pairing of comfort for the servants with indignation toward his enemies in the same verse as the chapter's consistent refusal to separate blessing from judgment.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
on Isaiah 66:6-14
He that, &c. - Solomon, Prov. xv, 8, gives a full commentary on the whole verse; The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. As if - From hence it is plain, that the prophet is not here reflecting upon idolatrous worship, but formal worship: upon those who in a formality worshipped the true God, and by acts which he had appointed.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3189: “The Tenderness of God's Comfort” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
WE do not intend entering into a discussion of the context and its relationship literally to the Jewish people. We have never hesitated to assert our conviction that there are great blessings in store for God's ancient Israel and that the day shall come when her comfort shall abound, when the glory of the Gentiles shall flow to her like a flowing stream and she shall be comforted by her God as one whom his mother comforts.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
and like a flooding stream I extend to her the wealth of the nations.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
and the hand of the Lord shall be known When He wreaks His vengeance and His awesome acts, His servants shall know the strength of the might of His hand.
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. 6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כְּאִ֕ישׁ | keish | like a person | H376 → | 1663 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | whom | H834 → | 5497 times |
| אִמּ֖וֹ | ʾimo | mother his | H517 → | 220 times |
| תְּנַחֲמֶ֑נּוּ | tenachamenu | she comforts him | H5162 → | 108 times |
| כֵּ֤ן | ken | so | H3651 → | 771 times |
| אָֽנֹכִי֙ | ʾanokhi | I | H595 → | 359 times |
| אֲנַ֣חֶמְכֶ֔ם | ʾanachemkhem | I will comfort you | H5162 → | 108 times |
| וּבִירֽוּשָׁלִַ֖ם | uvirushalim | and in Jerusalem | H3389 → | 643 times |
| תְּנֻחָֽמוּ׃ | tenuchamu | you will be comforted | H5162 → | 108 times |
כְּאִ֕ישׁlike a person
keishH376 →1663 times
אֲשֶׁ֥רwhom
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
אִמּ֖וֹmother his
ʾimoH517 →220 times
תְּנַחֲמֶ֑נּוּshe comforts him
tenachamenuH5162 →108 times
כֵּ֤ןso
kenH3651 →771 times
אָֽנֹכִי֙I
ʾanokhiH595 →359 times
אֲנַ֣חֶמְכֶ֔םI will comfort you
ʾanachemkhemH5162 →108 times
וּבִירֽוּשָׁלִַ֖םand in Jerusalem
uvirushalimH3389 →643 times
תְּנֻחָֽמוּ׃you will be comforted
tenuchamuH5162 →108 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
2 Corinthians 1:4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
it leads to
- Isaiah 51:12
“I, even I, am He who comforts you. Why should you be afraid of mortal man, of a son of man who withers like grass?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Therefore encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:16–17
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who by grace has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope,
- 2 Corinthians 7:6–7
But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the arrival of Titus,
- Isaiah 40:1
“Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.
- Isaiah 51:12
Through
Isaiah 40:1“Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 1:4
who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
- Isaiah 51:3
For the LORD will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness…
- Zephaniah 3:14–17
Sing for joy, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem!
- 2 Corinthians 1:4
About Isaiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3189: “The Tenderness of God's Comfort” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament.