Isaiah 45:10
in Isaiah 45Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What have you begotten?’ or to his mother, ‘What have you brought forth?’”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Woe unto him that saith unto a father, What begettest thou? or to a woman, With what travailest thou?
KJV
Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?
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This verse in Isaiah 45
Commentary
12 notes on this verse(Verse 9 and following) Woe to those who contradict their maker, a pot made of clay, and say to the one who formed them, 'What are you making?' or 'Your work has no hands.' Woe to those who say to their father, 'What are you begetting?' or to their mother, 'What are you in labor with?' This is what the Lord says, the Holy One of Israel, and its maker: Ask me about the things to come, concerning my children, and about the work of my hands, give me orders.
This site's exposition
Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker
on Isaiah 45:9-10
“Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker” warns against questioning the LORD’s use of Cyrus. Paul takes up the figure at Romans 9:20, “Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it”. Verse 10 applies the same point to birth, a child questioning the father and mother.
This site's exposition
who says to his father
Aquinas reads the father and mother as figures for the LORD, who begets Cyrus in purpose and conceives him in intention. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hear a warning to Israel. In their reading the Jews counted themselves God's only children and grew angry when he adopted the Gentiles as well.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
Likewise, the common Jewish people rejected the grace that was given them and found it unacceptable; for they resisted, as I have said, the teachings of Christ.… "For I desire to refashion you," he says, "into something better, to remake you into something superior through a spiritual birth which, of course, is the one through water and the Spirit; but you foolishly resist my plans. Did the clay," he says, "ever reproach the potter for not having a skillful hand, or for not knowing how to give shape to what he holds in his hands? Nor," he says, "does the one who is about to be born put a question to his own father, 'Will you give birth?' How is it, then, that you, who are like clay in the potter's hands, and do not know at all how your spiritual rebirth will take place, are not afraid of being cantankerous? And why do you not realize you ought to leave it to me, as to a craftsman and father, how to do these things?" … Therefore, it is necessary to [yield] to what God says. He himself knows the way of his own works, and what he fashioned is not subject to prying, and what transcends our understanding should be given the honor of unquestioning faith.One must also understand that the prophet Jeremiah was sent to the house of the potter to see him at work. When the clay collapsed and was reshaped into a different vessel, God said to him: "Can I not do with you as this potter has done, O house of Israel? […]
For we, who do not know at all what the future has in store and see merely our present circumstances, misjudge what will profit us. God … sees what is to come as if it were present. These prophecies are addressed, however, to those who …
Just as the potter models anew the vase of broken clay, [God] says, for my part, I will make you better than at first. "Will the plowman plow the earth all day?" This comes back to saying it is not effective to use chastisement continually, …
The Medieval Church1 voice
Second, under the metaphor of a father who begets: woe to him that says to his father, as if to say: I am a father begetting Cyrus and like a mother conceiving him in intention, and therefore you ought not contradict me in this, just …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Woe unto him that saith unto his father, what begettest thou?....
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Encouragement given to the believing Jews, who trusted in God and continued instant in prayer, assuring them that God would in due time accomplish this work by the hand of Cyrus,
Shall any teach God knowledge, or give law to him? Those that complain of God do in effect assume an authority over him. They are encouraged to depend upon the power of God when they are brought very low and are utterly incapable of helping themselves,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
If it be wrong for a child, born in less favorable circumstances, to upbraid his parents with having given him birth, a fortiori, it is, to upbraid God for His dealings with us. Rather translate, "a father . . . a woman." The Jews considered themselves exclusively God's children and were angry that God should adopt the Gentiles besides.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Wo unto him that saith unto his father ... - It is wicked and foolish for a son to complain of his father or mother in regard to his birth, or of his rank and condition of life. Probably the idea is, that if a child is by his birth placed in circumstances less advantageous than others, he would have no right to com plain of his parents, or to regard them as having acted improperly in having entered into the marriage relation.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Woe to him who says to a father, “What do you beget?” He thinks that he has more pity on the son than his father.
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. 5 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
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ה֛וֹי | ho | woe to! | H1945 → | 51 times |
| אֹמֵ֥ר | ʾomer | [one who] says | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לְאָ֖ב | leav | to a father | H1 → | 1212 times |
| מַה־ | mah- | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| תּוֹלִ֑יד | tolid | are you fathering | H3205 → | 496 times |
| וּלְאִשָּׁ֖ה | uleishah | and to a woman | H802 → | 781 times |
| מַה־ | mah- | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| תְּחִילִֽין׃ ס | techilin | are you in labor with ! | H2342 → | 58 times |
ה֛וֹיwoe to!
hoH1945 →51 times
אֹמֵ֥ר[one who] says
ʾomerH559 →5305 times
לְאָ֖בto a father
leavH1 →1212 times
מַה־what?
mah-H4100 →752 times
תּוֹלִ֑ידare you fathering
tolidH3205 →496 times
וּלְאִשָּׁ֖הand to a woman
uleishahH802 →781 times
מַה־what?
mah-H4100 →752 times
תְּחִילִֽין׃ סare you in labor with !
techilinH2342 →58 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 1:6“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me?” says the…
it leads to
- Luke 6:46
Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I say?
- Exodus 20:12
Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 1:2
Listen, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD has spoken: “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me.
- John 13:13–17
You call Me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, because I am.
- 1 Peter 2:17–19
Treat everyone with high regard: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
- Luke 6:46
Through
Hebrews 12:9Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?
it leads to
- Numbers 16:22
But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the whole congregation?”
- Numbers 27:16
“May the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation
- Isaiah 42:5
This is what God the LORD says—He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and life to…
- Numbers 16:22
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); Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 4:2.45:9-10; 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); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Nemesius of Emesa, ON THE NATURE OF MAN 44:66; Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 14:45.9 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.