Isaiah 48:19

Isa 48:19 Thy seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.

Ver. 19. Thy seed also had been as the sand.] As was promised to Abraham, and performed to his posterity; such a μυριομακαριοτης there is in godliness, and in doing of God’s commandments so great reward.

His name should not have been cut off.] As it was of old among the heathens (see Horace, Juvenal, Martial, &c.), and is at this day among the Turks, who usually swear, Iudaeus sim si fallam, &c. See Zec 8:13. {See Trapp on "Zec 8:13"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

48:19 Your descendants . . . like the sands: This would fulfill God’s covenant to Abraham (Gen 22:17); by contrast, the Israelites were nearly wiped out in the Exile (see Isa 44:26).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

That is, the prosperous estate of Israel.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

sand--retaining the metaphor of "the sea" (Isa 48:18).

like the gravel thereof--rather, as the Hebrew, "like that (the offspring) of its (the sea's) bowels"; referring to the countless living creatures, fishes, &c., of the sea, rather than the gravel [MAURER]. JEROME, Chaldee, and Syriac support English Version.

his name . . . cut off--transition from the second person, "thy," to the third "his." Israel's name was cut off "as a nation" during the Babylonish captivity; also it is so now, to which the prophecy especially looks (Rom 11:20).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 19. Like the gravel thereof - "Like that of the bowels thereof"] בצאצאי מעי הים והם הדגים betseetsaey meey haiyam vehem haddagim; "As the issue of the bowels of the sea; that is, fishes." - Salom. ben Melec. And so likewise Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Kimchi, &c.

His name - "Thy name"] For שמו shemo, "his name," the Septuagint had in the copy from which they translated שמך shimcha, "thy name."

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(19) Like the gravel thereof.—Literally, as the bowels thereof, i.e., as that within the bowels of the sand, the living creatures that swarm in countless myriads in the sea. The two verses utter the sigh which has come from the heart of all true teachers as they contemplate the actual state of men and compare it with what might have been. (Comp. Deu_32:29-30; Luk_19:42.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

19. as the sand] A common comparison; see ch. Isa_10:22; Gen_22:17; Hos_1:10 &c.

like the gravel thereof] Lit. the grains thereof. The word used resembles a fem. plur. of that which immediately precedes (“bowels”); hence some commentators translate “the entrails thereof” (i.e. the fishes), taking as antecedent of the pronoun the word “sea” in the previous verse (see R.V. marg.). It would be better to explain it at once of the “entrails” of the sand (i.e. worms), for which indeed there is said to be a Syriac parallel (see Payne Smith, Thesaurus, col. 2185). But both comparisons alike are prosaic and unnatural. The word is no doubt identical with the Aramaic mâ‘âh, “kernel” (generally used of a small coin).

his name &c.] its name (that of the “seed”) should not be cut off &c.

20, 21 (cf. ch. Isa_52:11-12) form the lyrical conclusion of this division of the prophecy. In anticipation of this second exodus of Israel, the prophet puts a song of praise in the mouth of the redeemed exiles.

flee ye from the Chaldeans] or “from Chaldæa” (see on Isa_47:1). The verb flee probably means no more than “hasten” (see ch. Isa_52:12).

with a voice of singing … tell this] The exiles’ shout of joy is a revelation to the world of the greatness of the God of Israel.

utter it] Lit. “send it forth,” as in ch. Isa_42:1.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thy seed had also been as the sand,.... Upon the sea shore, as numerous as that, as was promised to Abraham, Gen 22:17,

and the offspring of thy bowels as the gravel thereof; that is, of the sand; the little stones that are in it, which lie in great numbers on the sea shore; the same thing expressed in different words, denoting the number of their posterity, as it would have been, had they received the Messiah, his doctrines and ordinances: it may be rendered, "and the offspring", or "those that go out of thy bowels", that spring from thee, are born of thee, "as the bowels thereof" (q), that is, of the sea; as what is within it, particularly the fishes of it, which are innumerable; and so Aben Ezra and Jarchi interpret it; and which sense is mentioned by Kimchi and Ben Melech:

his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me: the name of Israel, as the Targum has it; the name of the people of the Jews is no more in the land where they dwelt; they are cut off as a nation; their city and temple are destroyed, where they appear no more before the Lord; which would not have been, had they hearkened to the Messiah, embraced his truths, and been obedient to his commands.

(q) "sicut viscera ejus", Montanus; "interiora maris"; Munster.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Thy seed also - Instead of being reduced to a small number by the calamities incident to war, and being comparatively a small and powerless people sighing in captivity, you would have been a numerous and mighty nation. This is another of the blessings which would have followed from obedience to the commands of God; and it proves that a people who are virtuous and pious will become numerous and mighty. Vice, and the diseases, the wars, and the divine judgments consequent on vice, tend to depopulate a nation, and to make it feeble.

As the sand - This is often used to denote a great and indefinite number (Gen 22:17; Gen 32:12; Gen 41:49; Jos 11:4; Jdg 7:12; 1Sa 13:5; 2Sa 17:11; 1Ki 4:20-29; Job 29:18; Psa 139:18; the note at Isa 10:22; Hos 1:10; Rev 20:8).

And the offspring of thy bowels - On the meaning of the word used here, see the note at Isa 22:24.

Like the gravel thereof - literally, ‘and the offspring of thy bowels shall be like its bowels,’ that is, like the offspring of the sea. The phrase refers probably rather to the fish of the sea, or the innumerable multitudes of animals that swim in the sea, than to the gravel. There is no place where the word means gravel. Jerome, however, renders it, Ut lapili ejus - ‘As its pebbles.’ The Septuagint Ὡς ὁ χοῦς τῆς γῆς hōs ho chous tēs gēs - ‘As the dust of the earth.’ The Chaldee also renders it, ‘As the stones of the sea;’ and the Syriac also. The sense is essentially the same that the number of the people of the nation would have been vast.

His name should not have been out off - This does not imply of necessity that they had ceased to be a nation when they were in Babylon, but the meaning is, that if they had been, and would continue to be, obedient, their national existence would have been perpetuated to the end of time. When they ceased to be a distinct nation, and their name was blotted out among the kingdoms of the earth, it was for national crime and unbelief Rom 11:20.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Name. The Jews were not forgotten, till they had rejected the Messias.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Thy seed also had been as the sand, to wit, for multitude, according to my promise made to Abraham; whereas now I have, for thy sins, made thee to know my breach of promise, as is said. Num 14:34, and greatly diminished thy numbers.

The offspring of thy bowels; which come out of thy bowels, or belly, or loins; for all these are but various expressions of the same thing.

His name; which is continued in a man’s posterity, and commonly dies with them; and so the name here is the same thing in effect with the seed and offspring in the former clauses, which, for the most part, are only the memorials of men, and of their names, when they are dead and gone.

Should not have been cut off, as now it hath been in a great measure; and should have been totally and finally cut off, if I had not spared them for my own name’s sake, as he said before.

From before me; or, out of my sight; out of their own land, the place of my special presence and residence.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Thy seed also had been as the sand. Israel, at the close of the Captivity, was "a remnant", (Isa_37:31) a "very small remnant"; (Isa_1:9) the ten tribes were for the most part absorbed into the heathen among whom they had been scattered; the two tribes had dwindled in number through the hardships of the Captivity, and were scarcely more than a "handful." Less than fifty thousand returned with Zerubbabel; (Ezr_2:64) less than two thousand males with Ezra. (Ezr_8:2-20) Had Israel not been disobedient, the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would have been literally fulfilled, and the descendants of Abraham would have been millions upon millions, instead of being one or two hundred thousand. The offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof; rather, like the grains thereof; i.e. the grains of the sand. His name; i.e. "Israel"s name." Should not have been cut off. Israel"s name had not been wholly "cut off" or "destroyed." But it had been approximately "cut off." Israel was no more a people, but only a horde of slaves. The restoration to Palestine was a resurrection the re-creation of a nation which, humanly speaking, had ceased to be.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

“Then should have been like the sand thy seed,” a common scriptural expression for great multitude, with special reference, in this case, to the promise made to Abraham and Jacob (Gen 22:17; Gen 32:12) the partial accomplishment of which (2Sa 17:11) is not inconsistent with the thought here expressed, that, in the case supposed, it would have been far more ample and conspicuous. The image is that of a parent (here the patriarch Jacob) and his personal descendants. And the issues (or offspring) of thy bowels (an equivalent expression to thy seed). Of the next word there are two interpretations. Some give it the sense of stones, pebbles, gravel, and make it a poetical equivalent to sand. Others make the antithesis between thy bowels and its bowels, viz. those of the sea; and the whole clause, supplying the ellipsis, will read thus, ‘the offspring of thy bowels like (the offspring of) its bowels’, in allusion to the vast increase of fishes. “His name.” We must either suppose an abrupt transition from the second to the third person, or make ‘seed’ the antecedent of the pronoun, which is harsh in itself, and rendered more so by the intervening plural forms. All the requisitions of the text are answered by the common understanding of ‘name’, in such connections, as equivalent to ‘memory’. The excision or destruction of the name from before God is expressive of entire extermination. The precise sense of the futures in this clause is somewhat dubious. Most interpreters assimilate them to the futures of the foregoing clause, as in the English Version (should not have been cut off nor destroyed). Those who understand the first clause as expressing a wish in relation to the present or the future, make this last a promise, either absolute (his name shall not be cut off) or conditional (his name should not be cut off). Nor is this direct construction of the last clause inconsistent with the old interpretation of the first; as we may suppose that the writer, after wishing that the people had escaped the strokes provoked by their iniquities, declares that even now they shall not be entirely destroyed. This is precisely the sense given to the clause in the Septuagint, and is recommended by its perfect agreement with the whole drift of the passage and the analogy of others like it, where the explanation of the sufferings of the people as the fruit of their own sin is combined with a promise of exemption from complete destruction.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

Yahweh continues describing a hypothetical situation to the people of Israel.

Your descendants would have been as numerous as the sand, and the children from your womb as numerous as the grains of sand

These both mean that the people would have had more descendants than they could count. (See: Parallelism)

the children from your womb

Yahweh speaks of the descendants of the people of Israel as if they were children to which the nation gives birth. (See: Metaphor)

their name would not have been cut off nor blotted out

The people of Israel being destroyed is spoken of as if their name had been cut off, as one would cut a piece of cloth or cut a branch from a tree, or blotted out. This can be translated in active form. AT: "I would not have cut off nor blotted out their name" (See: Metonymy and Active or Passive)

their name

Here the word "name" refers to the descendants who would carry on the name of Israel. AT: "they" (See: Metonymy)

cut off nor blotted out

These two expressions in this context refer to destroying the people. AT: "destroyed" (See: Doublet)

translationWords

descend

womb

grain

name

cut off

blot out

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

like its innards of the sea, like the fish of the sea for multitude.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Thy seed. The number of thy children.

בטנך═מעיך Thy womb.

כמעותיו As its bowels. The possessive pronoun refers to the sea, the waves and sand of which have just been mentioned (ver. 18 and 19); by the bowels of the sea the roe of the fish is meant.

His name. The name of thy seed.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.