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Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, And have not been mindful of the Rock of your stronghold, Therefore you will plant pleasant plants And set out foreign seedlings;
Isaiah 17:10 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the rock of your strength. Therefore you plant pleasant plants, and set out foreign seedlings.
  • KJV Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:
  • BSB For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and failed to remember the Rock of your refuge. Therefore, though you cultivate delightful plots and set out cuttings from exotic vines—
  • NASB For you have forgotten the God of your salvation And have not remembered the rock of your refuge. Therefore you plant delightful plants And set them with vine shoots of a strange god.
  • NLT Why? Because you have turned from the God who can save you. You have forgotten the Rock who can hide you. So you may plant the finest grapevines and import the most expensive seedlings.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Israel forgot the God of their salvation and the rock of their strength, so they planted foreign delights instead. Forgetting God lies at the heart of their downfall.

Overview

Isaiah locates the root of judgment in the people's neglect of the LORD, their true salvation and rock, in favor of foreign cults and pleasures. Forgetting God leads to misplaced trust and effort. The verse calls believers to remember and rest in the Rock of salvation, a name fulfilled in Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 36

  • Jer 2:32“Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number.
  • Ps 106:21They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,
  • Deut 32:18Of the Rock who became your father, you are unmindful, and have forgotten God who gave you birth.
  • Isa 26:4Trust in Yahweh forever; for in Yah, Yahweh, is an everlasting Rock.
  • Deut 32:4The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness who does no wrong, just and right is he.
  • Hos 13:6–7According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted. Therefore they have forgotten me.
  • Isa 12:2Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and will not be afraid; for Yah, Yahweh, is my strength and song; and he has become my salvation.”
  • Ps 106:13They soon forgot his works. They didn’t wait for his counsel,
  • Deut 32:31For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves concede.
  • Isa 51:13Have you forgotten Yahweh your Maker, who stretched out the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth? Do you live in fear continually all day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he prepares to destroy? Where is the fury of the oppressor?
  • Jer 12:13They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns. They have put themselves to pain, and profit nothing. You shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the fierce anger of Yahweh.”
  • Ps 85:4Turn us, God of our salvation, and cause your indignation toward us to cease.
  • Hos 8:14For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; but I will send a fire on his cities, and it will devour its fortresses.”
  • Jer 17:13Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be disappointed. Those who depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Yahweh, the spring of living waters.
  • Deut 28:30You will betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her. You will build a house, and you won’t dwell in it. You will plant a vineyard, and not use its fruit.
  • Deut 32:15But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and rejected the Rock of his salvation.
  • Deut 8:14then your heart might be lifted up, and you forget Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;
  • Isa 65:21–22They will build houses, and inhabit them. They will plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.
  • Deut 28:38–42You will carry much seed out into the field, and will gather little in; for the locust will consume it.
  • Deut 8:11Beware lest you forget Yahweh your God, in not keeping his commandments, and his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command you today;
  • Lev 26:16I also will do this to you: I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and make the soul to pine away. You will sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will eat it.
  • Lev 26:20Your strength will be spent in vain; for your land won’t yield its increase, neither will the trees of the land yield their fruit.
  • Ps 79:9Help us, God of our salvation, for the glory of your name. Deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name’s sake.
  • Deut 8:19It shall be, if you shall forget Yahweh your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you today that you shall surely perish.
  • Ps 68:19–20Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burdens, even the God who is our salvation. Selah.
  • 1 Chr 16:35Say, “Save us, God of our salvation! Gather us together and deliver us from the nations, to give thanks to your holy name, to triumph in your praise.”
  • Deut 6:12then beware lest you forget Yahweh, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
  • Ps 31:2Bow down your ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be to me a strong rock, a house of defense to save me.
  • Hab 3:18yet I will rejoice in Yahweh. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
  • Ps 65:5By awesome deeds of righteousness, you answer us, God of our salvation. You who are the hope of all the ends of the earth, of those who are far away on the sea;
  • Ps 9:17The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God.
  • Hos 2:13–14I will visit on her the days of the Baals, to which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me,” says Yahweh.
  • Hos 4:6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may be no priest to me. Because you have forgotten your God’s law, I will also forget your children.
  • Zeph 1:13Their wealth will become a plunder, and their houses a desolation. Yes, they will build houses, but won’t inhabit them. They will plant vineyards, but won’t drink their wine.
  • Ps 18:2Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.
  • Amos 5:11Therefore, because you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 17:10YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).

How Isaiah 17:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.