Remind Me, let us argue the matter together. State your case, so that you may be vindicated.
Parallel translations
- WEB Put me in remembrance. Let us plead together. Declare your case, that you may be justified.
- KJV Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.
- NKJV Put Me in remembrance; Let us contend together; State your case, that you may be acquitted.
- NASB “Meet Me in court, let’s argue our case together; State your cause, so that you may be proved right.
- NLT Let us review the situation together, and you can present your case to prove your innocence.
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 invites His people to plead their case and state their argument, that they might be justified. It is an ironic challenge showing they have no grounds for self-justification.
Overview
God calls Israel to court to make their defense, knowing they cannot establish their own righteousness. The invitation exposes the futility of self-justification before a holy God. It drives home the need for the righteousness God provides as a gift in Christ, who alone justifies the ungodly.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Isa 1:18“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.
- Isa 43:9All the nations gather together and the peoples assemble. Who among them can declare this, and proclaim to us the former things? Let them present their witnesses to vindicate them, so that others may hear and say, “It is true.”
- Rom 8:33Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
- Ps 141:2May my prayer be set before You like incense, my uplifted hands like the evening offering.
- Jer 2:21–35I had planted you like a choice vine from the very best seed. How could you turn yourself before Me into a rotten, wild vine?
- Rom 10:3Because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
- Job 40:7–8“Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me.
- Isa 41:1“Be silent before Me, O islands, and let the peoples renew their strength. Let them come forward and testify; let us together draw near for judgment.
- Job 16:21Oh, that a man might plead with God as he pleads with his neighbor!
- Luke 16:15So He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is prized among men is detestable before God.
- Isa 50:8The One who vindicates Me is near. Who will dare to contend with Me? Let us confront each other! Who has a case against Me? Let him approach Me!
- Job 23:3–6If only I knew where to find Him, so that I could go to His seat.
- Gen 32:12But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’”
- Rom 11:35“Who has first given to God, that God should repay him?”
- Ezek 36:37This is what the Lord GOD says: Once again I will hear the plea of the house of Israel and do for them this: I will multiply their people like a flock.
- Job 40:4–5“Behold, I am insignificant. How can I reply to You? I place my hand over my mouth.
- Luke 10:29But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
- Luke 18:9–14To some who trusted in their own righteousness and viewed others with contempt, He also told this parable:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 43:26 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.