Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.
Parallel translations
- WEB Put me in remembrance. Let us plead together. Declare your case, that you may be justified.
- BSB Remind Me, let us argue the matter together. State your case, so that you may be vindicated.
- 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 1:18Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
- Isa 43:9Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth.
- Rom 8:33Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
- Ps 141:2Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
- Jer 2:21–35Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?
- Rom 10:3For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
- Job 40:7–8Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
- Isa 41:1Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.
- Job 16:21O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!
- Luke 16:15And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
- Isa 50:8He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me.
- Job 23:3–6Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!
- Gen 32:12And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
- Rom 11:35Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
- Ezek 36:37Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock.
- Job 40:4–5Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
- Luke 10:29But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
- Luke 18:9–14And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.