Put Me in remembrance; Let us contend together; State your case, that you may be acquitted.
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.
- BSB Remind Me, let us argue the matter together. State your case, so that you may be vindicated.
- 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, and let us reason together,” says Yahweh: “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 peoples be assembled. Who among them can declare this, and show us former things? Let them bring their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, “That is true.”
- Rom 8:33Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies.
- Ps 141:2Let my prayer be set before you like incense; the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice.
- Jer 2:21–35Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a pure and faithful seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me?
- Rom 10:3For being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they didn’t subject themselves to the righteousness of God.
- Job 40:7–8“Now brace yourself like a man. I will question you, and you will answer me.
- Isa 41:1“Keep silent before me, islands, and let the peoples renew their strength. Let them come near, then let them speak. Let’s meet together for judgment.
- Job 16:21that he would maintain the right of a man with God, of a son of man with his neighbor!
- Luke 16:15He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.
- Isa 50:8He who justifies me is near. Who will bring charges against me? Let us stand up together. Who is my 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 32:12You said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which can’t be counted because there are so many.’”
- Rom 11:35“Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid to him again?”
- Ezek 36:37Thus says the Lord Yahweh: For this, moreover, will I be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them: I will increase them with men like a flock.
- Job 40:4–5“Behold, I am of small account. What shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.
- Luke 10:29But he, desiring to justify himself, asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”
- Luke 18:9–14He spoke also this parable to certain people who were convinced of their own righteousness, and who despised all 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.