The LORD of Hosts will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance.”
Parallel translations
- WEB because Yahweh of Armies has blessed them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”
- KJV Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.
- NKJV whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”
- NASB whom the Lord of armies has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”
- NLT For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will say, “Blessed be Egypt, my people. Blessed be Assyria, the land I have made. Blessed be Israel, my special possession!”
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
God calls Egypt 'my people,' Assyria 'the work of my hands,' and Israel 'my inheritance.' It matters because it stunningly extends covenant blessing to the Gentile nations.
Overview
Titles once reserved for Israel are now spoken over Egypt and Assyria as well, signaling their inclusion in God's blessing. This astonishing grace reverses centuries of hostility and shows the breadth of God's saving purpose. While Israel remains his special inheritance, the nations are gathered in alongside her. The verse is a high point of Old Testament hope, fulfilled as the gospel brings the nations into the people of God through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 23
- Isa 29:23For when he sees his children around him, the work of My hands, they will honor My name, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and they will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
- Rom 9:24–25including us, whom He has called not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles?
- Hos 2:23And I will sow her as My own in the land, and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’ I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’ ‘You are My people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”
- Deut 32:9But the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance.
- Ps 138:8The LORD will fulfill His purpose for me. O LORD, Your loving devotion endures forever—do not abandon the works of Your hands.
- Ps 115:15May you be blessed by the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
- Num 6:24‘May the LORD bless you and keep you;
- Isa 60:21Then all your people will be righteous; they will possess the land forever; they are the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, so that I may be glorified.
- Isa 61:9Their descendants will be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the LORD has blessed.
- Num 6:27So they shall put My name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”
- Isa 45:11Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: “How dare you question Me about My sons, or instruct Me in the work of My hands?
- Eph 1:3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.
- Gal 6:15For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. What counts is a new creation.
- Isa 64:8But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.
- Ps 100:3Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.
- Isa 65:23They will not labor in vain or bear children doomed to disaster; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD—they and their descendants with them.
- Phil 1:6being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
- Ps 67:6–7The earth has yielded its harvest; God, our God, blesses us.
- 1 Pet 2:10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
- Num 24:1And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he did not resort to sorcery as on previous occasions, but he turned his face toward the wilderness.
- Eph 2:10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.
- Rom 3:29Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,
- Col 3:10–11and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 19:25 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.