Isaiah 41:14

Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Fear	תִּֽירְאִי֙ ti.re.'I	H3372	to fear · verb, qal jussive, 2nd person feminine singular
worm	תּוֹלַ֣עַת to.La.'at	H8438	the crimson-grub · noun, common feminine singular construct
Jacob	יַֽעֲקֹ֔ב ya.'a.Ko	H3290	Jaakob · proper noun, a man's name
men	מְתֵ֖י me.Tei	H4962	properly · noun, common masculine plural construct
Israel	יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל Yis.ra.'El	H3478	Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
help	עֲזַרְתִּיךְ֙ 'a.zar.tiKh	H5826	to surround · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
saith	נְאֻם ne.'um-	H5002	an oracle · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD	יְהוָ֔ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
redeemer	וְגֹאֲלֵ֖ךְ ve.go.'a.Lekh	H1350	to be the next of kin (and as such to buy back a relati… · conjunction + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
One	קְד֥וֹשׁ ke.Do.osh	H6918	sacred (ceremonially or morally) · adjective, masculine singular construct
Israel	יִשְׂרָאֵֽל Yis.ra.'El	H3478	Jisrael · proper noun, a place name

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

Psalms 22:6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
Isaiah 43:14 Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, an…
Isaiah 54:5 For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he…
Jeremiah 50:34 Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disqui…
Job 25:6 How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?
Psalms 19:14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
Job 19:25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
Isaiah 44:6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 41:10-20

The scope of these verses is to silence the fears, and encourage the faith, of the servants of God in their distresses. Perhaps it is intended, in the first place, for the support of God's Israel, in captivity; but all that faithfully serve God through patience and comfort of this scripture may have hope. And it is addressed to Israel as a single person, that it might the more easily and readily be accommodated and applied by every Israelite indeed to himself. That is a word of caution, counsel, and comfort, which is so often repeated, Fear thou not; and again (Isa 41:13), Fear not; and (Isa 41:14), "Fear not, thou worm Jacob; fear not the threatenings of the enemy, doubt not the promise of…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 41:14

worm--in a state of contempt and affliction, whom all loathe and tread on, the very expression which Messiah, on the cross, applies to Himself (Psa 22:6), so completely are the Lord and His people identified and assimilated. God's people are as 'worms' in humble thoughts of themselves, and in their enemies' haughty thoughts of them; worms, but not vipers, or of the serpent's seed." [HENRY]. men--The parallelism requires the word "men" here to have associated with it the idea of fewness or feebleness. LOWTH translates, "Ye mortals of Israel." The Septuagint, "altogether diminutive." MAURER supports English Version, which the Hebrew text best accord with. the Lord--in general. and thy re…

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John Gill on Isaiah 41:14

Fear not, thou worm Jacob,.... Being like a worm, exposed to danger, and liable to be trampled upon and crushed, mean and despicable in their own eyes, and in the esteem of others; and it may be Jacob, or the true Israelites, are so called, because of their impurity in themselves, of which they are sensible; and chiefly because of their weakness and impotence to defend themselves, and resist their enemies. It is an observation of Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, that the strength of a worm lies in its mouth, which, though tender, can strike the strongest cedar, and penetrate into it; and the latter observes, that the strength of Israel lies in their prayers, as Jacob's did, when, wrestling wi…

The Church Fathers

The Spirit described his generation as a worm that was without meaning. The type that the Holy Spirit shaped attains its meaning.
— Ephrem the Syrian, HYMNS ON THE NATIVITY 1:10

Therefore, you will subdue kings and kingdoms with your frailty and will overturn their schemes and proud designs. So [Isaiah] calls the Jews, about whom he is speaking here, "worm," in order that they may understand that they cannot rely on their strength; nonetheless, their weakness will not hinder them, since worms are able to consume hard wood, so that, in the future, they will destroy the pride and power of very strong kingdoms.
— Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 41:14

This shows clearly that the prophetic text applies to those who have believed in the Lord. It is a small part of Israel that believed, while the major part refused to. That is why Paul said that even at the present time there remains a remnant according to God's gracious election.… As for the name "worm," it fits very well. In the first place, this remnants' appearance was contemptible. In fact, this is what the divine apostle meant when he said, "God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise." But Isaiah calls them worms for another reason. The worm that lodges in wood of poor quality will in a short time wear it down. Similarly, those who are athletes of the truth will, while hidden and imperceptible, destroy the error of the idols.
— Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 12:41.14

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

Kinsman — Heb. goel, from root meaning to redeem. The goel among the Hebrews was the nearest male blood relation alive. Certain important obligations devolved upon him toward his next of kin. (1.) If any one…
Man — (1.) Heb. ‘Adam, used as the proper name of the first man. The name is derived from a word meaning “to be red,” and thus the first man was called Adam because he was formed from the red earth. It is…
Worm — (1.) Heb. sas (Isa. 51:8), denotes the caterpillar of the clothes-moth. (2.) The manna bred worms (tola’im), but on the Sabbath there was not any worm (rimmah) therein (Ex. 16:20, 24). Here these…
Faith · ENJOINE — ENJOINE
Titles And Names Of Christ · Holy One of Israel — Holy One of Israel
Warfare Of Saints · Saints: Helped by God in — Saints: Helped by God in
Worm · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE

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).

Isaiah 41:14

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 41:10-20

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 41:14

John Gill on Isaiah 41:14

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Isaiah 41:14

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 41:10-20

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 41:14

John Gill on Isaiah 41:14

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Isaiah 41:14

Keil & Delitzsch on Isaiah 41:14-16

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Isaiah 41:14

Rashi on Isaiah 41:14