because Yahweh of Armies has blessed them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”
Parallel translations
- 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.
- BSB The LORD of Hosts will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My 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 29:23But when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in the middle of him, they will sanctify my name. Yes, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
- Rom 9:24–25us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles?
- Hos 2:23I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; and I will tell those who were not my people, ‘You are my people;’ and they will say, ‘My God!’”
- Deut 32:9For Yahweh’s portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
- Ps 138:8Yahweh will fulfill that which concerns me; your loving kindness, Yahweh, endures forever. Don’t forsake the works of your own hands.
- Ps 115:15Blessed are you by Yahweh, who made heaven and earth.
- Num 6:24‘Yahweh bless you, and keep you.
- Isa 60:21Then your people will all be righteous. They will inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
- Isa 61:9Their offspring will be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge them, that they are the offspring which Yahweh has blessed.”
- Num 6:27“So they shall put my name on the children of Israel; and I will bless them.”
- Isa 45:11Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker says: “You ask me about the things that are to come, concerning my sons, and you command me concerning the work of my hands!
- Eph 1:3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ;
- Gal 6:15For in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
- Isa 64:8But now, Yahweh, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you our potter. We all are the work of your hand.
- Ps 100:3Know that Yahweh, he is God. It is he who has made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
- Isa 65:23They will not labor in vain, nor give birth for calamity; for they are the offspring of Yahweh’s blessed, and their descendants with them.
- Phil 1:6being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
- Ps 67:6–7The earth has yielded its increase. God, even our own God, will bless us.
- 1 Pet 2:10who in time past were no people, but now are God’s people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
- Num 24:1When Balaam saw that it pleased Yahweh to bless Israel, he didn’t go, as at the other times, to meet with enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness.
- Eph 2:10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.
- Rom 3:29Or is God the God of Jews only? Isn’t he the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
- Col 3:10–11and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his 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.