Isaiah 48:19

19 and thy seed had been as gravel, and the generation of thy womb, as the little stones thereof; the name of it had not perished, and had not been all-broken from my face. (and thy children would have been like the sand, and the descendants from thy womb, like its grains in number; their name would not have perished, and would not have been all-broken, or blotted out, from my sight.)

Isaiah 48:19 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 48:19

Thy seed had also been as the sand
Upon the sea shore, as numerous as that, as was promised to Abraham, ( Genesis 22:17 ) : and the offspring of thy bowels as the gravel thereof;
that is, of the sand; the little stones that are in it, which lie in great numbers on the sea shore; the same thing expressed in different words, denoting the number of their posterity, as it would have been, had they received the Messiah, his doctrines and ordinances: it may be rendered, "and the offspring", or "those that go out of thy bowels", that spring from thee, are born of thee, "as the bowels thereof" F17, that is, of the sea; as what is within it, particularly the fishes of it, which are innumerable; and so Aben Ezra and Jarchi interpret it; and which sense is mentioned by Kimchi and Ben Melech: his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me:
the name of Israel, as the Targum has it; the name of the people of the Jews is no more in the land where they dwelt; they are cut off as a nation; their city and temple are destroyed, where they appear no more before the Lord; which would not have been, had they hearkened to the Messiah, embraced his truths, and been obedient to his commands.


FOOTNOTES:

F17 (wytemk) "sicut viscera ejus", Montanus; "interiora maris"; Munster.

Isaiah 48:19 In-Context

17 The Lord, thine again-buyer, the Holy of Israel, saith these things, I am thy Lord God, teaching thee profitable things, and I govern thee in the way, wherein thou goest. (The Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, saith these things, I am the Lord thy God, teaching thee profitable things, and I govern thee on the way, on which thou goest.)
18 I would that thou haddest perceived my commandments, thy peace had been made as [a] flood, and thy rightfulness as the swells of the sea; (O that thou haddest followed my commandments! then thy peace would have flowed like a river, and thy righteousness like the swells of the sea;)
19 and thy seed had been as gravel, and the generation of thy womb, as the little stones thereof; the name of it had not perished, and had not been all-broken from my face. (and thy children would have been like the sand, and the descendants from thy womb, like its grains in number; their name would not have perished, and would not have been all-broken, or blotted out, from my sight.)
20 Go ye out of Babylon, flee ye from Chaldees; tell ye in the voice of full out joying; make ye this heard, and bear ye it unto the last parts of [the] earth; say ye, The Lord again-bought his servant Jacob. (Go ye out of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans; tell ye in the voice of rejoicing; make ye this heard, and carry ye it unto the ends of the earth; say ye, The Lord hath redeemed, or hath rescued, his servant Jacob.)
21 They thirsted not in the desert, when he led them out; he brought forth to them water of a stone, and he parted the stone, and waters flowed. (They did not thirst in the desert, when he led them out; he brought forth water out of a stone for them, yea, he parted the stone, and the waters flowed out.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.