Isaiah 49:8 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 49:8
Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָ֗הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
acceptable
רָצוֹן֙ra.tzOn
H7522
delight (especially as shown) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
time
בְּעֵ֤תbe.'Et
H6256
time · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct
heard
עֲנִיתִ֔יךָ'a.ni.Ti.kha
H6030
properly · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
day
וּבְי֥וֹםu.ve.Yom
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
salvation
יְשׁוּעָ֖הye.shu.'Ah
H3444
something saved · noun, common feminine singular absolute
helped
עֲזַרְתִּ֑יךָ'a.zar.Ti.kha
H5826
to surround · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
preserve
וְאֶצָּרְךָ֗ve.'e.tza.re.Kha
H5341
to guard · conjunction + verb, qal, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
give
וְאֶתֶּנְךָ֙ve.'e.ten.Kha
H5414
to give · conjunction + verb, qal, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
covenant
לִבְרִ֣יתliv.Rit
H1285
a compact (because made by passing between pieces of fl… · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
people
עָ֔ם'Am
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
establish
לְהָקִ֣יםle.ha.Kim
H6965
to rise (in various applications · preposition + verb, hiphil infinitive construct
earth
אֶ֔רֶץ'E.retz
H776
the earth (at large · noun, common feminine singular absolute
inherit
לְהַנְחִ֖ילle.han.Chil
H5157
to inherit (as a (figurative) mode of descent) · preposition + verb, hiphil infinitive construct
desolate
שֹׁמֵמֽוֹתsho.me.Mot
H8074
to stun (or intransitively · verb, qal active participle, feminine plural absolute
heritages
נְחָל֥וֹתne.cha.Lot
H5159
properly · noun, common feminine 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
2 Corinthians 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; be…
Isaiah 42:6 I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for…
Psalms 69:13 But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salv…
Isaiah 61:4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of…
Hebrews 12:24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Isaiah 58:12 And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be…
Isaiah 44:26 That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and…
Isaiah 51:16 And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundati…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 49:7-12
In these verses we have,
I. The humiliation and exaltation of the Messiah (Isa 49:7): The Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and Israel's Holy One, who had always taken care of the Jewish church and wrought out for them those deliverances that were typical of the great salvation, speaks here to him, who was the undertaker of that salvation. And, 1. He takes notice of his humiliation, the instances of which were uncommon, nay, unparalleled. He was one whom man despised. He is despised and rejected of men, Isa 53:3. To be despised by so mean a creature (man, who is himself a worm) bespeaks the lowest and most contemptible condition imaginable. Man, whom he came to save and to put honour upon, yet d…
Messiah is represented as having asked for the grace of God in behalf of sinners; this verse contains God the Father's favorable answer.
an acceptable time--"In a time of grace" [HENGSTENBERG]. A limited time (Isa 61:2; Co2 6:2). The time judged by God to be the best fitted for effecting the purposes of His grace by Messiah.
heard thee-- (Psa 2:8; Heb 5:7).
day of salvation--when "the fulness of time" (Gal 4:4) shall have come. The day of salvation is "to-day" (Heb 4:7).
helped--given Thee the help needed to enable Thee, as man, to accomplish man's salvation.
preserve--from the assaults and efforts of Satan, to divert Thee from Thy voluntary death to save man.
covenant of the peo…
Thus saith the Lord,.... These are the words of God the Father to his Son continued; the Jews themselves interpret them of the Messiah (z):
in an acceptable time have I heard thee: this was the time when Christ was here on earth, when he became incarnate, and suffered and died for his people: this was an acceptable time to God the Father; his very sufferings were acceptable; his sacrifice was of a sweet smelling savour; his righteousness was well pleasing to him; for by all this his perfections were glorified, his purposes were answered, his covenant and promises fulfilled, and his people saved: it was acceptable to men, the things that were now done and procured; as pardon of sin, peace an…
The Church Fathers
Those who have faith by which they win justification attain by the grace of God to the law of justice. For this reason the prophet says, "In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you."
The blessed Paul knew the distance between the present world and the world to come. He knew that only in the present world could the blessing of salvation be acquired but that only in the world to come could a just reward be given to individuals according to the quality of their work, good or wicked. So, when he had repeated the prophetic testimony that God speaks, "In an acceptable time, I heard you, and on the day of salvation, I helped you," he immediately followed it up by adding, "Behold, now is a very acceptable time; now is the day of salvation."
It seemed right to some of the previous exegetes to make this the head of the chapter that follows. For thus says the Lord: "In due season I heard you and on the day of salvation I helped you." And they say that this is what was said by the God and Father of all to Christ our Savior. For they weave in such a sense to the words. For he prayed, saying before the precious cross, "Father, if it is possible, take away this cup from me." But he was not heard, and he drank it. When he had suffered death with the Father permitting it, then the Father said to him what was necessary, "In due season I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you."
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
Covenant, The · Christ, the substance of — Christ, the substance of
Salvation · Now is the day of — Now is the day of
Time · Particular periods of, mentioned: The accepted time — Particular periods of, mentioned: The accepted time
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).
In a time of good pleasure. From this verse we again learn more clearly what we explained at the beginning of this chapter, that the Prophet, while he addresses the whole body of the Church, begins with Christ, who is the head. I have said that this ought to be carefully observed; for commentators have not attended to it, and yet there is no other way in which this chapter can be consistently expounded. This is clearly shewn by Paul, who applies this statement to the whole Church. (2 Corinthians 6:2.) And yet, what the Prophet adds, I will give thee to be a covenant, is applicable to no other than Christ.
How shall we reconcile these statements? By considering that Christ is not so much his…
The next two vv. describe (though only with reference to Israel, the immediate circle) what is the glory of the vocation to which Jehovah, in accordance with His promise, exalts His chosen One. "Thus saith Jehovah, In a time of favour have I heard thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee: and I form thee, and set thee for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to apportion again desolate inheritances, saying to prisoners, Go ye out: to those who are in darkness, Come ye to the light." Jehovah heard His servant, and came to his help when he prayed to Him out of the condition of bondage to the world, which he shared with his people. He did it at the time for the active dis…
God acts at just the right time to accomplish his purposes (Acts 1:7; 2 Cor 6:2). Israel returned to reestablish the land of Israel after the Exile. The land was restored and the city rebuilt beginning with Cyrus’s edict (Isa 44:26-28).
Rashi on Isaiah 49:8
In a time of favor In the time of prayer, when you seek My favor and appease Me.
and on a day of salvation When you need salvation.
and I will watch you Heb. וְאֶצָּרְךָ, and I will watch you.
for a people of a covenant to be a people of a covenant to Me.
to establish a land The land of Israel, chosen by Me from all lands.
