Isaiah 49:4

Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
said	אָמַ֙רְתִּי֙ 'a.Mar.ti	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
laboured	יָגַ֔עְתִּי ya.Ga'.ti	H3021	properly · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
vain	לְרִ֣יק le.Rik	H7385	emptiness · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
spent	כִלֵּ֑יתִי khi.Lei.ti	H3615	to end · verb, piel perfect, 1st person common singular
strength	כֹּחִ֣י ko.Chi	H3581	vigor · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
nought	לְתֹ֥הוּ le.To.hu	H8414	a desolation (of surface) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
vain	וְהֶ֖בֶל ve.He.vel	H1892	emptiness or vanity · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
surely	אָכֵן֙ 'a.Khen	H403	firmly · interjection
judgment	מִשְׁפָּטִ֣י mish.pa.Ti	H4941	properly · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
LORD	יְהוָ֔ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
work	וּפְעֻלָּתִ֖י u.fe.'u.la.Ti	H6468	(abstractly) work · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
God	אֱלֹהָֽי 'e.lo.Hai	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix

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

Isaiah 35:4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will…
Galatians 4:11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
Isaiah 40:10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
Isaiah 53:10-12 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, h…
Isaiah 62:11 Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward…
Isaiah 65:23 They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.
Ezekiel 3:19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast deliv…
Matthew 17:17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hith…

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 49:1-6

Here, I. An auditory is summoned together and attention demanded. The sermon in the foregoing chapter was directed to the house of Jacob and the people of Israel, Isa 49:1, Isa 49:12. But this is directed to the isles (that is, the Gentiles, for they are called the isles of the Gentiles, Gen 10:5) and to the people from far, that were strangers to the commonwealth of Israel, and afar off. Let these listen (Isa 49:1) as to a thing at a distance, which yet they are to hear with desire and attention. Note, 1. The tidings of a Redeemer are sent to the Gentiles, and to those that lie most remote; and they are concerned to listen to them. 2. The Gentiles listened to the gospel when the Jews were d…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 49:4

I--Messiah. in vain--comparatively in the case of the greater number of His own countrymen. "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not" (Isa 53:1-3; Luk 19:14; Joh 1:11; Joh 7:5). Only a hundred twenty disciples met after His personal ministry was ended (Act 1:15). yet . . . my judgment . . . with the Lord--Ultimately, God will do justice to My cause, and reward (Margin for "work," compare Isa 40:10; Isa 62:11) My labors and sufferings. He was never "discouraged" (Isa 42:4; Isa 50:7, Isa 50:10). He calmly, in spite of seeming ill success for the time, left the result with God, confident of final triumph (Isa 53:10-12; Pe1 2:23). So the ministers of Christ (Co1 4:1-5; Pe1 4:19).

John Gill on Isaiah 49:4

Then I said,.... The Messiah said, by way of objection, in a view of what treatment he should meet with, or when entered on his work, and which he found by experience, what follows: I have laboured in vain; this is not to be understood of the travail of his soul, or of his sufferings and death, which were not in vain, but issued in the redemption and salvation of his people; but of his ministry and miracles, and fatiguing journeys among the Jews; which, with respect to them, were in vain, as to their conversion and reformation; they rejecting the Messiah, slighting his doctrines and miracles, refusing to be gathered by him, being a faithless and perverse generation: I have spent my strengt…

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The Church Fathers

It is necessary to recognize that he says these things as a human. For in the holy Gospels Christ as a human makes a number of humble declarations. For instance, … "I do nothing from myself."
— Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 15:49.4

For it was a labor for the Word to come among us and to surrender himself to human fragility. But "my judgment" is the punishment of the Father that I [the Savior] have turned into a feast for their salvation. For that reason the judgment was taken away from him [the servant]. Just what sort of judgment was that? [Sinners] have been cast out of his company, to be placed outside the people of God, no longer sharers in the salvation wrought by him, and they have no longer any taste of the hope of the saints, to which many of the nations have been called in their place.
— Cyril of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 4:4.49:4

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Isaiah 49:4

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 49:1-6

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 49:4

John Gill on Isaiah 49:4

The Church Fathers

Isaiah 49:4

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 49:1-6

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 49:4

John Gill on Isaiah 49:4

The Church Fathers

John Calvin on Isaiah 49:4

Keil & Delitzsch on Isaiah 49:4

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Isaiah 49:4

Rashi on Isaiah 49:4