Isaiah 48:16

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Come near to Me and listen to this: "From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time it took place, I was there." And now the Lord GOD has sent me, accompanied by His Spirit.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Approach me and listen to this.From the beginning I have not spoken in secret;from the time anything existed, I was there.”And now the Lord Godhas sent me and his Spirit.

Hebrew Names Version
Come you near to me, hear you this; from the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his Spirit.

King James Version
Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God , and his Spirit, hath sent me.

English Standard Version
Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there." And now the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.

New American Standard Bible
"Come near to Me, listen to this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret, From the time it took place, I was there. And now the Lord GOD has sent Me, and His Spirit."

New Century Version
Come to me and listen to this. From the beginning I have spoken openly. From the time it began, I was there." Now, the Lord God has sent me with his Spirit.

Amplified Bible
"Come near to Me, listen to this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret, From the time that it happened, I was there. And now the Lord GOD has sent Me, and His [Holy] Spirit."

World English Bible
Come you near to me, hear you this; from the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord Yahweh has sent me, and his Spirit.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Come neere vnto me: heare ye this: I haue not spoken it in secret from the beginning: from the time that the thing was, I was there, and now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me.

Legacy Standard Bible
Draw near to Me, hear this:From the first I have not spoken in secret,From the time it took place, I was there.So now Lord Yahweh has sent Me, and His Spirit."

Contemporary English Version
Come closer and listen! I have never kept secret the things I have said, and I was here before time began. By the power of his Spirit the Lord God has sent me

Complete Jewish Bible
"Come close to me, and listen to this: since the beginning I have not spoken in secret, since the time things began to be, I have been there; and now Adonai Elohim has sent me and his Spirit."

Darby Translation
Come near unto me, hear ye this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I; and now the Lord Jehovah hath sent me, and his Spirit.

Easy-to-Read Version
Come here and listen to me! I was there when Babylon began as a nation. And from the beginning, I spoke clearly so that people could know what I said." Now, the Lord God sends me and his Spirit to tell you these things.

George Lamsa Translation
Come near to me, listen to this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the creation, there am I; and now the LORD God, and his Spirit, has sent me.

Good News Translation
"Now come close to me and hear what I say. From the beginning I have spoken openly and have always made my words come true." (Now the Sovereign Lord has given me his power and sent me.)

Lexham English Bible
Draw near to me; hear this! I have not spoken in secrecy from the beginning; from the time it came to be, there I have been; And now the Lord Yahweh has sent me and his Spirit."

Literal Translation
Come near to Me; hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning. From its being, I was there; and now the Lord Jehovah, and His Spirit, has sent Me.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Come nye & heare this: haue I spoke eny thige darckly sence the begynnynge? whe a thige begynneth, I am there. Wherfore the LORDE God with his sprete hath sent me,

American Standard Version
Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; from the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord Jehovah hath sent me, and his Spirit.

Bible in Basic English
Come near to me, and give ear to this; from the start I did not keep it secret; from the time of its coming into existence I was there: and now the Lord God has sent me, and given me his spirit.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Come ye near unto Me, hear ye this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I; and now the Lord GOD hath sent me, and His spirit.

King James Version (1611)
Come ye neere vnto me; heare ye this; I haue not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I; and now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Come to me and heare this: Haue I spoken any thyng darkly since the begynnyng? From the tyme that this thyng begynneth I am there: Wherefore the Lorde God and his spirite hath sent me.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Draw nigh to me, and hear ye these words; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning: when it took place, there was I, and now the Lord, even the Lord, and his Spirit, hath sent me.

English Revised Version
Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; from the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD hath sent me, and his spirit.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Neiye ye to me, and here ye these thingis; at the bigynnyng Y spak not in priuete; fro tyme, bifore that thingis weren maad, Y was there, and now the Lord God and his Spirit sente me.

Update Bible Version
Come near to me, hear this; from the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there I am: and now the Lord Yahweh has sent me, and his Spirit.

Webster's Bible Translation
Come ye near to me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there [am] I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.

New English Translation
Approach me! Listen to this! From the very first I have not spoken in secret; when it happens, I am there." So now, the sovereign Lord has sent me, accompanied by his spirit.

New King James Version
"Come near to Me, hear this:I have not spoken in secret from the beginning;From the time that it was, I was there.And now the Lord God and His SpiritHave [fn] sent Me."

New Living Translation
Come closer, and listen to this. From the beginning I have told you plainly what would happen." And now the Sovereign Lord and his Spirit have sent me with this message.

New Life Bible
Come near to Me and listen to this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret. From the time it came to be, I was there. And now the Lord God has sent me and His Spirit."

New Revised Standard
Draw near to me, hear this! From the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there. And now the Lord God has sent me and his spirit.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Draw ye near unto me - hear ye this, Not in advance in secret, have I spoken, From the very time it cometh into being, there, am I, - And, now, My Lord Yahweh hath sent me and his spirit.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Come ye near unto me, and hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning: from the time before it was done, I was there, and now the Lord God hath sent me, and his spirit.

Revised Standard Version
Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there." And now the Lord GOD has sent me and his Spirit.

Young's Literal Translation
Come ye near unto me, hear this, Not from the beginning in secret spake I, From the time of its being, there [am] I, And now the Lord Jehovah hath sent me, and His Spirit.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Come near to Me, listen to this: From the first I have not spoken in secret, From the time it took place, I was there. And now the Lord GOD has sent Me, and His Spirit."

Contextual Overview

¹⁶Come near to Me and listen to this: "From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time it took place, I was there." And now the Lord GOD has sent me, accompanied by His Spirit.¹⁷Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who directs you in the way you should go. ¹⁸If only you had paid attention to My commandments, your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like waves of the sea. ¹⁹Your descendants would have been as countless as the sand, and your offspring as its grains; their name would never be cut off or eliminated from My presence." ²⁰Leave Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans! Declare it with a shout of joy, proclaim it, let it go out to the ends of the earth, saying, "The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob!" ²¹They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He made water flow for them from the rock; He split the rock, and water gushed out. ²²"There is no peace," says the LORD, "for the wicked."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I have not: Isaiah 48:3-6, Isaiah 45:19, John 18:20

the Lord God: Isaiah 11:1-5, Isaiah 61:1-3, Zechariah 2:8-11, Luke 4:18, John 3:34, John 20:21, John 20:22

Reciprocal: Isaiah 44:1 - now Zechariah 4:9 - and Matthew 28:19 - the name Luke 4:43 - therefore John 17:3 - and Jesus Acts 1:2 - through Acts 10:20 - for Romans 8:14 - led 1 Corinthians 2:10 - by Galatians 4:4 - God Galatians 5:18 - if 1 John 5:7 - The Father Revelation 22:17 - let him that heareth

Cross-References

Genesis 32:28
Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men, and you have prevailed."

Genesis 48:1
Some time later, Joseph was told, "Your father is ill." So he set out with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

Genesis 48:2
When Jacob was told, "Your son Joseph has come to you," Israel rallied his strength and sat up in bed.

Genesis 48:4
and told me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you; I will make you a multitude of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.'

Genesis 48:5
And now your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here shall be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine.

Genesis 48:6
Any children born to you after them shall be yours, and they shall be called by the names of their brothers in the territory they inherit.

Genesis 48:7
Now as for me, when I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died along the way in the land of Canaan, some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath" (that is, Bethlehem).

Genesis 48:11
"I never expected to see your face again," Israel said to Joseph, "but now God has let me see your children as well."

Genesis 48:13
And Joseph took both of them-with Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand-and brought them close to him.

Genesis 48:15
Then he blessed Joseph and said: "May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Come ye near unto me, hear ye this,.... An address to the Jews, to attend the ministry of Christ, and hear the doctrine he had delivered to them:

I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the beginning of his ministry; which be exercised not in private houses, but in the synagogues of the Jews, and in the temple, whither a large concourse of people resorted, John 18:20:

from the time that it was, there am I; from the time that his ministry began there, he was in the same places, in Judea and Galilee, always publicly preaching the Gospel, and doing good: or rather, "before the time that it was, there was I" n; Christ existed before his incarnation, before he appeared as the great Prophet in Israel; he existed as the Word and Son of God from all eternity, and was with God his Father from everlasting; he was by him, and brought up with him, and lay in his bosom so early:

and now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me; in the fulness of time, in the likeness of sinful flesh, to preach the Gospel, fulfil the law, and to redeem and save the Lord's people. Here is a glorious testimony of a trinity of Persons in the Godhead; Christ the Son of God is sent in human nature, and as Mediator Jehovah the Father and the Spirit are the senders of him; and so is a proof of the mission, commission, and authority of Christ, who came not of himself, but was sent of God, John 8:42, it may be rendered, "and now the Lord God hath sent me and his Spirit" o; both were sent of God, and in this order; first, Christ, to be the Redeemer and Saviour; and then the Spirit, to be the Convincer and Comforter; see John 14:26

n מעת היותה "ex tempore antequam fieret", V. L. "nondum existente tempore horum eventuum", Forerius. o שלחני ורוחו "misit me et spiritum ejus", Lutherus, Castalio; "et spiritum suum", Cocceius, Vitringa.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Come ye near unto me - (see Isaiah 48:14).

I have not spoken in secret - (See the notes at Isaiah 45:19). The idea here is, that he had foretold the raising up of Cyrus, and his agency in delivering his people, in terms so plain that it could not be pretended that it was conjectured, and so clear that there was no ambiguity.

From the time that it was, there am I - From the moment when the purpose was formed, and when it began to be accomplished, I was present. The meaning is, that everything in regard to raising up Cyrus, and to the delivery of his people from Babylon, had been entirely under his direction.

And now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me - There is evidently a change in the speaker here. In the former part of the verse, it is God who is the speaker. But here it is he who is sent to bear the message. Or, if this should be regarded, as Lowth and many others suppose, as the Messiah who is speaking to the exiled Jews, then it is an assertion that he had been sent by the Lord God and his Spirit. There is an ambiguity in the original, which is not retained in our common translation. The Hebrew is, ‘And now the Lord Yahweh hath sent me, and his Spirit;’ and the meaning may be either, as in our version, that Yahweh and his Spirit were united in sending the person referred to; or that Yahweh had sent him, and at the same time had also sent his Spirit to accompany what he said. Grotius renders it, ‘The Lord by his Spirit bas given me these commands.’ Jerome understands the word ‘Spirit’ as in the nominative case, and as meaning that the Spirit united with Yahweh in sending the person referred to - Dominus Deus misit me, et spiritus ejus.

The Septuagint, like the Hebrew, is ambiguous - Νῦν κύριος κύριος ἀπέστειλέ με, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ Nun kurios kurios apesteile me, kai to pneuma autou. The Syriac has the same ambiguity. The Targum of Jonathan renders it, ‘And now Jehovah (יי y^eyâ) God hath sent me and his word.’ It is perhaps not possible to determine, where there is such ambiguity in the form of the sentence, what is the exact meaning. As it is not common, however, in the Scriptures, to speak of the Spirit of God as sending, or commissioning his servants; and as the object of the speaker here is evidently to conciliate respect for his message as being inspired, it is probably to be regarded as meaning that he had been sent by Yahweh and was accompanied wish the influences of his Spirit. Many of the reformers, and others since their time have supposed that this refers to the Messiah, and have endeavored to derive a demonstration from this verse of the doctrine of the Trinity. The argument which it has been supposed these words furnish on that subject is, that three persons are here spoken of, the person who sends, that is, God the Father; the person who is sent, that is, the Messiah; and the Spirit, who concurs in sending him, or by whom he is endowed.

But the evidence that this refers to the Messiah is too slight to lay the foundation for such an argument; and nothing is gained to the cause of truth by such forced interpretations. “It would require more time, and toil, and ingenuity to demonstrate that this passage had reference to the Messiah, than it would to demontstrate the doctrine of the Trinity, and the divinity of the Redeemer, from the unequivocal declarations of the New Testament.” The remark of Calvin on this verse, and on this mode of interpretation, is full of good sense: ‘This verse interpreters explain in different ways. Many refer it to Christ, but the prophet designs no such thing. Cavendoe autem sunt nobis violentoe et coactoe interpretations - (such forced and violent interpretations are to be avoided).’ The scope of the passage demands, as it seems to me, that it should be referred to the prophet himself. His object is, to state that he had not come at his own instance, or without being commissioned. He had been sent by God, and was attended by the Spirit of inspiration. He foretold events which the Spirit of God alone could make known to mankind. It is, therefore, a strong asseveration that his words demanded their attention, and that they had every ground of consolation, and every possible evidence that they would be rescued from their bondage. It is a full claim to divine inspiration, and is one of the many assertions which are found in the Scriptures where the sacred writers claim to have been sent by God, and taught by his Spirit.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 48:16. Come ye near unto me — After the word קרבו kirbu, "draw near," a MS. adds גוים goyim, "O ye nations;" which, as this and the two preceding verses are plainly addressed to the idolatrous nations, reproaching their gods as unable to predict future events, is probably genuine.

Hear ye this - "And hear ye this"] A MS. adds the conjunction, ושמעו vashimu; and so the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate.

I have not spoken in secret — The Alexandrine copy of the Septuagint adds here, ουδε εν τοπῳ γης σκοτεινω, "nor in a dark place of the earth," as in Isaiah 45:19. That it stands rightly, or at least stood very early, in this place of the Version of the Septuagint, is highly probable, because it is acknowledged by the Arabic Version, and by the Coptic MS. St. Germain de Prez, Paris, translated likewise from the Septuagint. But whether it should be inserted, as of right belonging to the Hebrew text, may be doubted; for a transcriber of the Greek Version might easily add it by memory from the parallel place; and it is not necessary to the sense.

From the time that it was - "Before the time when it began to exist"] An ancient MS. has היותם heyotham, "they began to exist;" and so another had it at first. From the time that the expedition of Cyrus was planned, there was God managing the whole by the economy of his providence.

There am I - "I had decreed it"] I take שם sham for a verb, not an adverb.

And now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me - "And now the Lord JEHOVAH hath sent me, and his Spirit"]

Τις εστιν ὁ εν τῳ Ησαιῳ λεγων, Και νυν Κυριος απεστειλε με και το Πνευμα αυτου; εν ᾡ, αμφιβολου οντος του ῥητου, ποτερον ὁ Πατηρ και το Ἁγιον Πνευμα απεστειλαν του Ιησουν, η ὁ Πατηρ απεστειλε τον τε Χριστον και το Ἁγιον Πνευμα το δευτερον εστιν αληθες.

"Who is it that saith in Isaiah, And now the Lord hath sent me and his Spirit? in which, as the expression is ambiguous, is it the Father and the Holy Spirit who have sent Jesus; or the Father, who hath sent both Christ and the Holy Spirit. The latter is the true interpretation." - Origen cont. Cels. lib. i. I have kept to the order of the words of the original, on purpose that the ambiguity, which Origen remarks in the Version of the Septuagint, and which is the same in the Hebrew might still remain; and the sense which he gives to it, be offered to the reader's judgment, which is wholly excluded in our translation.