Isaiah 51:8
in Isaiah 51For the moth will devour them like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool. But My righteousness will last forever, My salvation through all generations.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation unto all generations.
KJV
For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.
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This verse in Isaiah 51
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThird, he shows their fragility: for the worm shall eat them up as a garment: who am as a garment that is moth-eaten (Job 13:28). Fourth, the firmness of divine help: but my salvation shall be for ever, above: Israel is saved in the Lord …
This site's exposition
Do not fear the scorn of men
on Isaiah 51:7-8
Those with the law in their hearts are told, “Do not fear the scorn of men; do not be broken by their insults”. “For the moth will devour them like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool”, the picture of decay used at 50:9.
This site's exposition
the worm will eat them like wool
Barnes reads the moth as the agent itself, one of the smallest insects, so that the scornful are weaker than a worm beside the LORD. Aquinas sets the figure beside Job 13:28. The scorn of men dies with the men.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Verse 7, 8.) Listen to me, you who know righteousness, (people add "my" in Vulg.): my law is in their hearts. Do not fear the reproach of men, nor be afraid of their blasphemies. For like a moth, it will consume them; and like a worm, it will devour them. But my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness for generations upon generations. LXX: Listen to me, you who know judgment, my people: whose law is in their hearts. Do not be afraid of the disgrace of men, and do not be overcome by their contempt.
This is what the Lord has also said in the divine Gospels: "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul," and again: "Do not fear them," and: "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and shall say all …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
But when heaven and earth pass away, when all flesh and the glory of it wither as grass, the word of the Lord endures for ever, and not one iota or tittle of that shall fall to the ground. Those whose happiness is bound up in Christ's righteousness and salvation will have the comfort of it when time and days shall be no more. What use they are to make of this comfort.
For the moth shall eat them up like a garment,....
The falsehood of their reproaches will be detected, but truth shall triumph, and the righteousness of religion's injured cause shall be for ever plain. Clouds darken the sun, but give no obstruction to his progress. Prayer in Behalf of Israel;
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
For the moth - (see Isa 50:9). The idea is, that they shall be consumed as the moth eats up a garment; or rather, that the moth itself shall consume them as it does a garment: that is, that they were so weak when compared with Yahweh that even the moth, one of the smallest, and most contemptible of insects, would consume them.
The words behind it
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֤י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| כַבֶּ֙גֶד֙ | khabeged | like <the> garment | H899 → | 217 times |
| יֹאכְלֵ֣ם | yokhlem | it will eat them | H398 → | 810 times |
| עָ֔שׁ | ʾash | moth | H6211 → | |
| וְכַצֶּ֖מֶר | vekhatzemer | and like <the> wool | H6785 → | |
| יֹאכְלֵ֣ם | yokhlem | it will eat them | H398 → | 810 times |
| סָ֑ס | sas | clothes-moth | H5580 → | |
| וְצִדְקָתִי֙ | vetzidkati | and righteousness my | H6666 → | 157 times |
| לְעוֹלָ֣ם | leolam | for ever | H5769 → | 438 times |
| תִּֽהְיֶ֔ה | tihyeh | it will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| וִישׁוּעָתִ֖י | vishuati | and salvation my | H3444 → | 78 times |
| לְד֥וֹר | ledor | to a generation of | H1755 → | 167 times |
| דּוֹרִֽים׃ ס | dorim | generations | H1755 → | 167 times |
כִּ֤יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
כַבֶּ֙גֶד֙like <the> garment
khabegedH899 →217 times
יֹאכְלֵ֣םit will eat them
yokhlemH398 →810 times
עָ֔שׁmoth
ʾashH6211 →
וְכַצֶּ֖מֶרand like <the> wool
vekhatzemerH6785 →
יֹאכְלֵ֣םit will eat them
yokhlemH398 →810 times
סָ֑סclothes-moth
sasH5580 →
וְצִדְקָתִי֙and righteousness my
vetzidkatiH6666 →157 times
לְעוֹלָ֣םfor ever
leolamH5769 →438 times
תִּֽהְיֶ֔הit will be
tihyehH1961 →3559 times
וִישׁוּעָתִ֖יand salvation my
vishuatiH3444 →78 times
לְד֥וֹרto a generation of
ledorH1755 →167 times
דּוֹרִֽים׃ סgenerations
dorimH1755 →167 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 51:6Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth below; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its people will die like…
it leads to
- Matthew 24:35
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
- Psalms 102:25–26
In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
- Isaiah 34:4
All the stars of heaven will be dissolved. The skies will be rolled up like a scroll, and all their stars will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like foliage from the fig…
- Hebrews 1:10–12
And: “In the beginning, O Lord, You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
- Revelation 6:12–14
And when I saw the Lamb open the sixth seal, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black like sackcloth of goat hair, and the whole moon turned blood red,
- Matthew 24:35
Through
Isaiah 66:24“As they go forth, they will see the corpses of the men who have rebelled against Me; for their worm will never die, their fire will never be quenched, and they will be a…
it leads to
- Revelation 14:10–11
he too will drink the wine of God’s anger, poured undiluted into the cup of His wrath. And he will be tormented in fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and…
- Isaiah 14:11
Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol, along with the music of your harps. Maggots are your bed and worms your blanket.
- Revelation 14:10–11
Through
Isaiah 50:9Surely the Lord GOD helps Me. Who is there to condemn Me? See, they will all wear out like a garment; the moths will devour them.
it leads to
- Job 13:28
So man wastes away like something rotten, like a moth-eaten garment.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 13:28
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
On this verse
About Isaiah

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); 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; Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 16:51.8 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.
