Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
Parallel translations
- WEB Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard, yet? Haven’t you been told from the beginning? Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the earth?
- KJV Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
- BSB Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the foundation of the earth?
- NASB ¶Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
- NLT Haven’t you heard? Don’t you understand? Are you deaf to the words of God— the words he gave before the world began? Are you so ignorant?
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
Isaiah rebukes his hearers for failing to grasp truths about God known from the very beginning.
Overview
A series of questions ('Haven't you known? Haven't you heard?') presses Israel to recognize what creation itself testifies about God's sovereignty. The knowledge of the Creator has been available from the foundations of the earth. Ignorance of God is therefore inexcusable, a theme Paul develops in Romans 1.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Acts 14:17Yet he didn’t leave himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you rains from the sky and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”
- Rom 1:19–21because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them.
- Isa 46:8“Remember this, and show yourselves men. Bring it to mind again, you transgressors.
- Isa 48:13Yes, my hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spread out the heavens. when I call to them, they stand up together.
- Ps 50:6The heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah.
- Rom 1:28Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
- Ps 115:8Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them.
- Ps 19:1–5For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. The heavens declare the glory of God. The expanse shows his handiwork.
- Isa 44:20He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can’t deliver his soul, nor say, “Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?”
- Jer 10:8–12But they are together brutish and foolish, instructed by idols! It is just wood.
- Rom 3:1–2Then what advantage does the Jew have? Or what is the profit of circumcision?
- 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?
- Isa 27:11When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.
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 40:21 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.