Isaiah 37:26 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 37:26
Hast thou not heard long ago, how I have done it; and of ancient times, that I have formed it? now have I brought it to pass, that thou shouldest be to lay waste defenced cities into ruinous heaps.
to do or make · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
ancient
קֶ֖דֶםKe.dem
H6924
the front · noun, common masculine singular absolute
times
מִ֥ימֵיMi.mei
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
formed
וִיצַרְתִּ֑יהָvi.tzar.Ti.ha
H3335
to mould into a form · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
brought
הֲבֵאתִ֔יהָha.ve.Ti.ha
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, hiphil perfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
waste
לְהַשְׁא֛וֹתle.hash.'ot
H7582
to rush · preposition + verb, hiphil infinitive construct
defenced
בְּצֻרֽוֹתbe.tzu.Rot
H1219
to gather grapes · adjective, feminine plural absolute
cities
עָרִ֥ים'a.Rim
H5892
a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · noun, common masculine plural absolute
ruinous
נִצִּ֖יםni.Tzim
H5327
properly · verb, niphal active participle, masculine plural absolute
heaps
גַּלִּ֥יםga.Lim
H1530
something rolled · noun, common masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Acts 4:27-28 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of I…
Acts 2:23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
Isaiah 10:15 Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod sho…
Isaiah 46:10-11 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do…
1 Peter 2:8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appoint…
Isaiah 10:5-6 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
Genesis 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Amos 3:6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 37:21–end
We may here observe, 1. That those who receive messages of terror from men with patience, and send messages of faith to God by prayer, may expect messages of grace and peace from God for their comfort, even when they are most cast down. Isaiah sent a long answer to Hezekiah's prayer in God's name, sent it in writing (for it was too long to be sent by word of mouth), and sent it by way of return to his prayer, relation being thereunto had: "Whereas thou hast prayed to me, know, for thy comfort, that thy prayer is heard." Isaiah might have referred him to the prophecies he had delivered (particularly that ch. 10) and bid him pick out an answer from thence; but, that he might have abundant cons…
Reply of God to Sennacherib.
long ago--join, rather, with "I have done it." Thou dost boast that it is all by thy counsel and might: but it is I who, long ago, have ordered it so (Isa 22:11); thou wert but the instrument in My hands (Isa 10:5, Isa 10:15). This was the reason why "the inhabitants were of small power before thee" (Isa 37:27), namely, that I ordered it so; yet thou art in My hands, and I know thy ways (Isa 37:28), and I will check thee (Isa 37:29). Connect also, "I from ancient times have arranged ('formed') it." However, English Version is supported by Isa 33:13; Isa 45:6, Isa 45:21; Isa 48:5.
John Gill on Isaiah 37:26
Hast thou not heard long ago?.... By report, by reading the history of ancient times, or by means of the prophets; these are the words of the Lord to Sennacherib. The Targum adds,
"what I did to Pharaoh king of Egypt;''
it follows:
how I have done it; and of ancient times that I have formed it? meaning either the decree in his own breast from all eternity, and which he had published by his prophets, of raising up him, this wicked prince, to be the scourge of nations; or by the "it" are meant the people of the Jews, God's Israel, whom he had made, formed into a body politic, and into a church state, and had done great things for, in bringing them out of Egypt, leading them through the Red…
(Verse 26 and following) Have you not heard what I did to him in the past? From ancient times I formed it, and now I have brought it forth, and it has become a ruin of the hills that fight against me, and of fortified cities. The inhabitants of those cities were brought low, they trembled and were confused. They became like the grass of the field, and the green herb, and the roof grass that withered before it could mature. I have seen your dwelling place, your going out and your coming in, and your rage against me, when you raged against me. Your pride reaches my ears, so I will put a hoop in your nostrils and a bit in your lips, and I will bring you back on the path from which you came. These words are to be understood from the perspective of God in response to the blasphemy of the Assyrians: Do you not know that what you have done, you have done by my will, and that I have foretold these things, and commanded you to do them through you? Therefore, what I decreed long ago has been fulfilled in its time, that the hills, that is, the rulers who were previously fighting among themselves, and the heavily fortified cities, by my strengthening of my hand and without providing assistance as usual, would be uprooted and tremble and perish, and instead of olives and vineyards, and fruitful trees, there would be grass and weeds, and plants that are beaten down by hay and wither before reaching maturity. Therefore, I have known both your sitting down and your going out and your coming in beforehand, and the madness with which you were about to rage against me, as prophesied by the prophets. I spoke through them, knowing that you alone would declare, 'I will ascend into heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven, and I will be like the Most High.' Therefore, your fury and your pride have reached my ears, and I will no longer bear you so that you may understand that you were able to act not by your own power, but by my will. For impious nations and unfruitful trees were deserving that they be cut down and fall by you, like my axe and saw. Therefore, I will place a circle or a bridle in your nostrils, so that I may restrain blasphemy from your mouth, and you may not dare to speak such things again; and I will apply a bridle to your lips, which will tame your ferocity and bring you back to the Assyrians. With this translation, the Scripture also uses it in…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Egypt — The land of the Nile and the pyramids, the oldest kingdom of which we have any record, holds a place of great significance in Scripture. The Egyptians belonged to the white race, and their original…
Libnah · .Sennacherib besieged; his army — .Sennacherib besieged; his army
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Isaiah 37:26
Hast thou not heard? The greater part of commentators explain this verse as if the Lord declared that nothing was now done, or had formerly been done by this tyrant, which he had not foretold by the mouth of the Prophet, and thus affirmed that he was the author of those things. But I explain it in a different manner, which is, that Jerusalem will be preserved by the assistance of God, because he is the protector of it.
That I made it long ago. For the sake of giving greater emphasis, he suppresses the name of the city, and employs the demonstrative pronoun it, as if all other cities had been of no value in the sight of God. [60] Others view the pronoun it as referring to the deliverance whi…
And yet what he was able to do was not the result of his own power, but of the counsel of God, which he subserved. Fourth turn, "Hast thou not heart? I have done it long ago, from (K. lemin, since) the days of ancient time have I formed it, and now brought it to pass (הבאתיה, K. הביאתיה): that thou shouldst lay waste fortified cities into desolate stone heaps; and their inhabitants, powerless, were terrified, and were put to shame (ובשׁוּ, K. ויּבשׁוּ): became herb of the field and green of the turf, herb of the house-tops, and a corn-field (וּשׁדמה, K. and blighted corn) before the blades." L'mērâcōq (from afar) is not to be connected with the preceding words, but according to the parall…
I planned for you to crush . . . into heaps of rubble: Assyria was God’s agent of destruction, but the Assyrians did not realize that they were only a tool in God’s hand (see ch 10), fulfilling what God had planned long before (14:24-27).
Rashi on Isaiah 37:26
Have you not heard Now why do you boast? This is not yours, for this is a decree that emanated from Me many years ago, that you will exact My recompense from the nations, as the matter is written (supra 10:5): “Woe! Assyria is the rod of My wrath.”
Have you not heard from long ago More than seventy years (correct version as in Parshandatha and Warsaw edition) since Amos prophesied two years before the earthquake (Amos 7:17), “and Israel shall be exiled from upon its land.” Since then, you should have heard that I wrought and prepared this retribution.
in days of yore Since the six days of Creation, that decree that was decreed upon you entered My mind, as it is said (supra 30:33): “For Top…
