Isaiah 65:1 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 65:1
I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.
properly · verb, niphal perfect, 1st person common singular
asked
שָׁאָ֔לוּsha.'A.lu
H7592
to inquire · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
not
לְל֣וֹאle.Lo'
H3808
not (the simple or abs. negation) · preposition + negative particle
found
נִמְצֵ֖אתִיnim.Tze.ti
H4672
properly · verb, niphal perfect, 1st person common singular
sought
בִקְשֻׁ֑נִיvik.Shu.ni
H1245
to search out (by any method · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person common plural + pronominal suffix
not
לְלֹ֣אle.Lo'
H3808
not (the simple or abs. negation) · preposition + negative particle
said
אָמַ֙רְתִּי֙'a.Mar.ti
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
nation
גּ֖וֹיGoy
H1471
a foreign nation · noun, common masculine singular absolute
called
קֹרָ֥אko.Ra'
H7121
to call out to (i.e. properly · verb, pual perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
name
בִשְׁמִֽיvish.Mi
H8034
an appellation · preposition + noun, common masculine singular 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
Romans 10:20 But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.
Romans 9:24-26 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
1 Peter 2:10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
Ephesians 2:12-13 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having…
Isaiah 45:22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
Hosea 1:10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass,…
Psalms 22:27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
Isaiah 55:5 Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the LORD thy God, and…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 65:1-7
The apostle Paul (an expositor we may depend upon) has given us the true sense of these verses, and told us what was the event they pointed at and were fulfilled in, namely, the calling in of the Gentiles and the rejection of the Jews, by the preaching of the gospel, Rom 10:20, Rom 10:21. And he observes that herein Esaias is very bold, not only in foretelling a thing so improbable ever to be brought about, but in foretelling it to the Jews, who would take it as a gross affront to their nation, and therein Moses's words would be made good (Deu 32:21), I will provoke you to jealousy by those that are no people.
I. It is here foretold that the Gentiles, who had been afar off, should be made ni…
I am sought of them that asked not for me "I am made known to those that asked not for me" - נדרשתי nidrashti, εμφανης εγενομην, the Septuagint, Alexandrian, and St. Paul, Rom 10:20; who has however inverted the order of the phrases, εμφανης εγενομην, "I was made manifest, "and ευρεδην, "I was found, "from that which they have in the Septuagint. נדרשתי nidrashti means, "I am sought so as to be found." Vitringa. If this be the true meaning of the word, then שאלו shaalu, "that asked," which follows, should seem defective, the verb wanting its object: but two MSS., one of them ancient, have שאלוני shealuni, "asked me;" and another MS. שאלו לי shealu li, "asked for me;" one or other of which see…
I am sought of them that asked not for me,.... That this is a prophecy of the calling and conversion of the Gentiles is not to be doubted, since the Apostle Paul has quoted it, and applied it to that case, Romans 10:20 and is here mentioned as an aggravation of the sin of the Jews, in rejecting Christ, when the Gentiles received him; and was the reason of their being rejected of God, and the Gospel being taken away from them, and given to another people, and of the Lord's removing his presence from the one to the other. The Gentiles are described as those that "asked not for" Christ, or after him, as the apostle supplies it; they had not asked for him, nor after him, nor anything about him;…
The Church Fathers
["I was ready to be sought by those who did not seek me."] These words should be understood as about the Savior, who, sent by the Father's love and coming with his own compassionate love, was revealed to all people. He became savior of those who had not made him welcome nor had invited him.
Who then, one might say to the Jews, is he that was made manifest? For if it is the prophet, let them say just when he was hid, afterward to appear again. And what manner of prophet is this, who was not only openly made manifest from obscurity but also stretched out his hands on the cross? None surely of the righteous, save the Word of God only, who, incorporeal by nature, appeared for our sakes in the body and suffered for all.
And what is said in Hebrew: Those who did not ask of me have sought me, is referred to the same meaning: that those who did not previously have knowledge of God, later seek the Lord, and come to know him through revelation: as happened to Paul when he persecuted the Church of the believers, he was revealed (Acts 9). And to the Apostle Peter, he said: Blessed are you, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven (Matt. XVI, 17). This was what Moses sought when he spoke to God: If I have found grace in your sight, show yourself to me manifestly, so that I may see you (Exod. XXXIII, 13). Desiring the greater riches of the treasures of Egypt, he endured the reproach of Christ, looking forward to the recompense of the future, and he contemplated the invisible God as if he could see Him with his mind.
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
Cattle — Abounded in the Holy Land. To the rearing and management of them the inhabitants chiefly devoted themselves (Deut. 8:13; 12:21; 1 Sam. 11:5; 12:3; Ps. 144:14; Jer. 3:24). They may be classified as,…
Condescension Of God · Expostulates with backsliding Israel — Expostulates with backsliding Israel
Gentiles · PROPHECIES OF THE CONVERSION OF — PROPHECIES OF THE CONVERSION OF
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).
I have manifested myself. The Prophet now passes on to another doctrine; for he shews that God has good reason for rejecting and casting off the Jews. It is because they have profited nothing by either warnings or threatenings to be brought back from their errors into the right way. But that they might not think that the Lord's covenant would on that account be made void, he adds that he will have another people which formerly was no people, and that where he was formerly unknown, his name Shall be well known and highly celebrated. The Jews looked on this as monstrous, and reckoned it to be altogether inconsistent with the covenant which the Lord made with Abraham, (Genesis 17:7,) if such a…
After the people have poured out their heart before Jehovah, He announces what they may expect from Him. But instead of commencing with a promise, as we might anticipate after the foregoing prayer, He begins with reproach and threatening; for although the penitential portion of the community had included the whole nation in their prayer, it was destruction, and not deliverance, which awaited one portion of the nation, and that portion was the greater one. The great mass were in that state of "sin unto death" which defies all intercession (Jo1 5:16), because they had so scornfully and obstinately resisted the grace which had been so long and so incessantly offered to them. "I was discernible…
Here the Lord responds to the prayer in 63:7–64:12.
65:1-2 The Lord opened up every opportunity for the people of Israel to seek him (55:6; 58:2), but they did not do so.
Rashi on Isaiah 65:1
I allowed Myself to be sought by those who did not ask The Holy One, blessed be He, replies to him, It is impossible not to avenge Myself on them, for I allowed Myself to be sought by them by reproving them through My prophets, but they did not ask.
I said, “Here I am; here I am!” Return to Me, and I am ready to accept you.
to a nation not called by My name That did not wish to be called by My name.
