Isaiah 63:15
in Isaiah 63Look down from heaven and see, from Your holy and glorious habitation. Where are Your zeal and might? Your yearning and compassion for me are restrained.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where are thy zeal and thy mighty acts? the yearning of thy heart and thy compassions are restrained toward me.
KJV
Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained?
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This verse in Isaiah 63
Commentary
10 notes on this verse(Verse 15) Look down from heaven and see, from your holy and glorious habitation. Where is your zeal and your might? The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion are held back from me. LXX: Return from heaven and see, from your holy dwelling and your glory. Where is your zeal and your might? Where is the multitude of your mercies and the compassions you have shown us?
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”.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Here onwards the prophet prays for every nation, and in the person of the Israelites he presents his supplication. He prays that God will withhold his wrath from them and cease rebuking them and in a forgiving manner subdue Israel's desertion; for there was no one on earth for them other than the true God, one having a glorious home in heaven, their father. Although God is said to dwell in heaven, this should not be thought of him in physical terms. For we say that God is not in a place or to be circumscribed; he is simple, and without a body he fills all things.
The Medieval Church1 voice
1110. Second, he inclines the judge to affection. And first, he seeks a hearing: look down from heaven: you will hear from your holy heaven (1 Kgs 8:32). Second, he provokes him to mercy: where is your zeal with which you loved us. Lord, where …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Look down from heaven,.... Here begins the prayer of the church and people of God, which continues to the end of the chapter, goes through the next, and the answer to which begins at Isa 65:
God sees everywhere, and every thing, but he is said to look down from heaven, because there is his throne whereon he sits in majesty. Behold - Not barely see, but behold with regard, and respect thy poor people. Where - What is become of that love, which of old would not let thee suffer thy people to be wronged?
18 , Look upon my affliction and my pain): Look down from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory. God's holiness is his glory. Heaven is his habitation, the throne of his glory, where he most manifests his glory, and whence he is said to look down upon the earth, Ps. xxxiii.
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3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The most prevailing arguments in prayer are those that are taken from God himself; such these are. Where is thy zeal and thy strength? God has a zeal for his own glory, and for the comfort of his people; his name is Jealous; and he is a jealous God; and he has strength proportionable to secure his own glory and the interest of his people, in despite of all opposition.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Look down from heaven - This commences an earnest appeal that God would have mercy on them in their present calamities and trials. They entreat him to remember his former mercies, and to return and bless them, as he had done in ancient times. And behold from the habitation - (See the notes at Isa 57:15). Where is thy zeal - That is, thy former zeal for thy people; where is now the proof of the interest for their welfare which was vouchsafed in times that are past.
And thy strength “And thy mighty power” - For גבורתיך geburotheycha, plural, thirty-two MSS. (seven ancient) and twenty-one of De Rossi’s, and seven editions, have גבורתך geburathecha, singular. Are they restrained? - For אלי elai, from (or in regard to) me, the Septuagint and Syriac read אלינו eleynu, from us. - L.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
As animals that spread in the valley, and a valley is a smooth land, where there is no obstacle, campagne in French, open country.
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. 3 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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הַבֵּ֤ט | habet | look | H5027 → | 69 times |
| מִשָּׁמַ֙יִם֙ | mishamayim | from heaven | H8064 → | 421 times |
| וּרְאֵ֔ה | ureeh | and see | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| מִזְּבֻ֥ל | mizevul | from [the] lofty abode of | H2073 → | |
| קָדְשְׁךָ֖ | kodshecha | holiness your | H6944 → | 469 times |
| וְתִפְאַרְתֶּ֑ךָ | vetifartekha | and splendor your | H8597 → | 51 times |
| אַיֵּ֤ה | ʾaiyeh | where? | H346 → | 45 times |
| קִנְאָֽתְךָ֙ | kinatecha | [are] zeal your | H7068 → | 43 times |
| וּגְב֣וּרֹתֶ֔ךָ | ugevurotekha | and mighty deeds your | H1369 → | 61 times |
| הֲמ֥וֹן | hamon | [the] tumult of | H1995 → | 83 times |
| מֵעֶ֛יךָ | meeikha | inward parts your | H4578 → | 32 times |
| וְֽרַחֲמֶ֖יךָ | verachameikha | and compassion<s> your | H7356 → | 45 times |
| אֵלַ֥י | ʾelai | to me | H413 → | 5510 times |
| הִתְאַפָּֽקוּ׃ | hitapaku | they have restrained themselves | H662 → | 7 times |
הַבֵּ֤טlook
habetH5027 →69 times
מִשָּׁמַ֙יִם֙from heaven
mishamayimH8064 →421 times
וּרְאֵ֔הand see
ureehH7200 →1300 times
מִזְּבֻ֥לfrom [the] lofty abode of
mizevulH2073 →
קָדְשְׁךָ֖holiness your
kodshechaH6944 →469 times
וְתִפְאַרְתֶּ֑ךָand splendor your
vetifartekhaH8597 →51 times
אַיֵּ֤הwhere?
ʾaiyehH346 →45 times
קִנְאָֽתְךָ֙[are] zeal your
kinatechaH7068 →43 times
וּגְב֣וּרֹתֶ֔ךָand mighty deeds your
ugevurotekhaH1369 →61 times
הֲמ֥וֹן[the] tumult of
hamonH1995 →83 times
מֵעֶ֛יךָinward parts your
meeikhaH4578 →32 times
וְֽרַחֲמֶ֖יךָand compassion<s> your
verachameikhaH7356 →45 times
אֵלַ֥יto me
ʾelaiH413 →5510 times
הִתְאַפָּֽקוּ׃they have restrained themselves
hitapakuH662 →7 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
Psalms 123:1I lift up my eyes to You, the One enthroned in heaven.
it leads to
- Psalms 121:1
I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
- Psalms 141:8
But my eyes are fixed on You, O GOD the Lord. In You I seek refuge; do not leave my soul defenseless.
- Psalms 25:15
My eyes are always on the LORD, for He will free my feet from the mesh.
- Psalms 2:4
The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord taunts them.
- Luke 18:13
But the tax collector stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’
- Psalms 121:1
Through
Hosea 11:8How could I give you up, O Ephraim? How could I surrender you, O Israel? How could I make you like Admah? How could I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 31:20
Is not Ephraim a precious son to Me, a delightful child? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore My heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares…
- Matthew 23:37
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you…
- Jeremiah 31:20
Through
Jeremiah 31:20Is not Ephraim a precious son to Me, a delightful child? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore My heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares…
it leads to
- Isaiah 55:7
Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely…
- Isaiah 55:7
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah
This page draws on 9 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 Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 5:5.63:15-17; 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.