Return to the One against whom you have so blatantly rebelled, O children of Israel.
Parallel translations
- WEB Return to him from whom you have deeply revolted, children of Israel.
- KJV Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted.
- NKJV Return to Him against whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted.
- NASB Return to Him against whom you have been profoundly obstinate, you sons of Israel.
- NLT Though you are such wicked rebels, my people, come and return to the Lord.
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 Israel to return to Him from whom they have deeply revolted. It matters because the proper response to God's promised deliverance is repentance.
Overview
In light of God's defense and judgment, Isaiah issues a gracious summons: turn back to the LORD against whom they have so deeply rebelled. Repentance is the fitting response to God's mercy. This call echoes the whole gospel invitation to forsake rebellion and return to the God who alone saves.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Jer 3:22“Return, O faithless children, and I will heal your faithlessness.” “Here we are. We come to You, for You are the LORD our God.
- Jer 3:14“Return, O faithless children,” declares the LORD, “for I am your master, and I will take you—one from a city and two from a family—and bring you to Zion.
- Isa 55:7Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.
- Jer 3:10Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.
- Jer 5:23But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and gone away.
- Acts 3:19Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away,
- Joel 2:12–13“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”
- Jer 31:18–20I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me severely, like an untrained calf. Restore me, that I may return, for You are the LORD my God.
- Isa 1:4–5Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children of depravity! They have forsaken the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him.
- Hos 9:9They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah; He will remember their guilt; He will punish their sins.
- Acts 26:20First to those in Damascus and Jerusalem, then to everyone in the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I declared that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds worthy of their repentance.
- 2 Chr 33:9–16So Manasseh led the people of Judah and Jerusalem astray, so that they did greater evil than the nations that the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.
- Hos 14:1–3Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled by your iniquity.
- Isa 48:8You have never heard; you have never understood; for a long time your ears have not been open. For I knew how deceitful you are; you have been called a rebel from birth.
- Isa 29:15Woe to those who dig deep to hide their plans from the LORD. In darkness they do their works and say, “Who sees us, and who will know?”
- 2 Chr 36:14Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, following all the abominations of the nations, and they defiled the house of the LORD, which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.
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 31:6 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.