Isaiah 42:8

8 "I alone am the Lord your God. No other god may share my glory; I will not let idols share my praise.

Isaiah 42:8 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 42:8

I am the Lord, that is my name
Jehovah, a name expressive of his self-existence, eternity, and immutability; a name by which be made himself known to Israel of old, and which is peculiar to him, and does not belong to another, and so distinguishes him from all false gods; see ( Exodus 3:14 ) ( 6:3 ) ( Psalms 83:18 ) or, "Hu [is] my name" F16; to which (autov) , "he himself the same", answers; see ( Psalms 102:27 ) , compared with ( Hebrews 13:8 ) and this is one of the names of God with the Jews F17; as Hou is with the Turks to this day; which, in Arabic, signifies "him": that is, God, as Monsieur Thevenot F18 observes; see ( Isaiah 48:12 ) : and my glory will I not give to another;
that is, to another god, to a strange god, to an idol; as that has not the nature, it ought not to have the name of deity, nor divine worship given to it: this the Lord will not admit of, but will punish those, be they Heathens, or are called Christians, that give the glory to idols that is due unto his name. This is not to be understood to the exclusion of the Son and Spirit, who are with the Father the one Jehovah, and share in the same glory; the Son is the brightness of his Father's glory, and the Spirit is the Spirit of glory, ( Hebrews 1:3 ) ( 1 Peter 4:14 ) nor will he suffer the glory of the justification, salvation, and conversion of men, to be given to their works, will, and power, which is entirely due to his own grace, to the blood and righteousness of his Son, and to the energy of the divine Spirit: neither my praise to graven images;
which serves to explain the former clause, what is meant by his "glory", and who by "another", to whom he will not give it. Papists should observe this, for it respects not merely or only the graven images of the Heathens, but chiefly those among them that bear the Christian name; for this relates to New Testament times. The Targum is,

``and my glory, in which I am revealed to you, I will not give to another people; nor my praise to worshippers of images.''

FOOTNOTES:

F16 (ymv awh)
F17 Seder Tephillot. fol. 1. 2. & 4, 1. Ed. Basil.
F18 Travels. part 1. B. 1. c. 31. p. 41.

Isaiah 42:8 In-Context

6 "I, the Lord, have called you and given you power to see that justice is done on earth. Through you I will make a covenant with all peoples; through you I will bring light to the nations.
7 You will open the eyes of the blind and set free those who sit in dark prisons.
8 "I alone am the Lord your God. No other god may share my glory; I will not let idols share my praise.
9 The things I predicted have now come true. Now I will tell you of new things even before they begin to happen."
10 Sing a new song to the Lord; sing his praise, all the world! Praise him, you that sail the sea; praise him, all creatures of the sea! Sing, distant lands and all who live there!
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.