Isaiah 65:1

But the Prophet intended to strip them of the foolish confidence of imagining that God was bound to the posterity of Abraham; for the Lord had not restricted himself to them but on an absolute condition, and if this were violated by them, they would be deprived, like covenant-breakers and traitors, of all the advantage derived from the covenant.

I am sought of them that asked not for me,.... That this is a prophecy of the calling and conversion of the Gentiles is not to be doubted, since the Apostle Paul has quoted it, and applied it to that case, Rom 10:20 and is here mentioned as an aggravation of the sin of the Jews, in rejecting Christ, when the Gentiles received him; and was the reason of their being rejected of God, and the Gospel being taken away from them, and given to another people, and of the Lord's removing his presence from the one to the other.

Asked not - That in times past made no enquiry after me; l am now found by them that formerly sought me not. I said - I invited whole nations by the preaching of my gospel to behold me, and that with importunity, doubling my words upon them, and this I did unto a nation not called by my name, with whom I was not in covenant.

With what pleasure does the great God here speak of his being sought unto, and how does he glory in it, especially by those who in time past had not asked for him! For there is joy in heaven over great sinners who repent. God shall anticipate their prayers with his blessings: I am found of those that sought me not.

this is the passage which was quoted by the Apostle Paul in the 10th chapter of his Epistle to the Romans. At the 20th verse of that chapter he says—"Isaiah is very bold, and says, I was found of them that sought Me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after Me. But to Israel He says, All day long I have stretched forth My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people." The Apostle followed the Septuagint translation, but altered the position of the clauses. We learn on Inspired authority that this is a very bold passage.

Behold me-- (Isa 45:22). nation . . . not called by my name--that is, the Gentiles. God retorts in their own words (Isa 63:19) that their plea as being exclusively "called by His name" will not avail, for God's gospel invitation is not so exclusive (Ro 9:25;

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

this is the passage which was quoted by the Apostle Paul in the 10th chapter of his Epistle to the Romans. At the 20th verse of that chapter he says—"Isaiah is very bold, and says, I was found of them that sought Me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after Me. But to Israel He says, All day long I have stretched forth My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people." The Apostle followed the Septuagint translation, but altered the position of the clauses. We learn on Inspired authority that this is a very bold passage. It required much courage to utter it at the first and, in Paul's day, it needed still more to quote it and press it home upon the Jews around him. He who protests against a self-righteous people and angers them by showing that others whom they despised are saved while they, themselves, are being lost, will have need of a dauntless spirit. The Israelite people thought that they had a monopoly on the Grace of God, that the Lord who had chosen their fathers and had indulged them with a Divine Revelation, would never deprive them of their advantages, nor advance others to the same privileges. They dreamed that God was almost bound to bless them above all the nations that were upon the face of the earth. To meet this national conceit with plain rebuke needed one who was very bold. When Paul spoke of his own mission to the Gentiles, the Jews lifted up their voices and cried out, "Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live." The Apostle, therefore, knew that Isaiah was very bold when, in former ages, he made Israel know that God would save a people who were not called by His name while the favored people would die in their sins because they would not listen to the entreaties of their God.

I am sought of them that asked not for me “I am made known to those that asked not for me” - נדרשתי nidrashti, εμφανης εγενομην, the Septuagint, Alexandrian, and St. Paul, Rom 10:20; who has however inverted the order of the phrases, εμφανης εγενομην, “I was made manifest, “and ευρεδην, “I was found, “from that which they have in the Septuagint. נדרשתי nidrashti means, “I am sought so as to be found.” Vitringa. If this be the true meaning of the word, then שאלו shaalu, “that asked,” which follows, should seem defective, the verb wanting its object: but two MSS., one of them ancient, have שאלוני shealuni, “asked me;” and another MS. שאלו לי shealu li, “asked for me;” one or other of which seems to be right. But Cocceius in Lex., and Vitringa in his translation, render נדרשתי nidrashti, by “I have answered;” and so the verb is rendered by all the ancient Versions in Eze 20:3, Eze 20:31. If this be right, the translation will be, “I have answered those that asked not.” I leave this to the reader’s judgment; but have followed in my translation the Septuagint and St. Paul, and the MSS. above mentioned. בקשני bikeshuni is written regularly and fully in above a hundred MSS. and in the oldest edition, בקשוני bikeshuni. - L.

I am sought of them that asked not for me - That is, by the Gentiles. So Paul applies it in Rom 10: