If anyone attacks you, it is not from Me; whoever assails you will fall before you.
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, they may gather together, but not by me. Whoever gathers together against you will fall because of you.
- KJV Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.
- NKJV Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake.
- NASB “If anyone fiercely attacks you, it will not be from Me. Whoever attacks you will fall because of you.
- NLT If any nation comes to fight you, it is not because I sent them. Whoever attacks you will go down in defeat.
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
Any who gather to attack God's people do so without His sanction and will fall. It matters because no opposition raised against the redeemed can ultimately succeed.
Overview
God distinguishes between assaults He has not authorized and their certain failure: attackers will fall, not His people. This assures the redeemed that hostility against them is doomed because God stands as their defender. It foreshadows the church's security against all foes, for if God is for us, none can prevail against us (Rom. 8:31).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Isa 41:11–16Behold, all who rage against you will be ashamed and disgraced; those who contend with you will be reduced to nothing and will perish.
- Ps 37:12–13The wicked scheme against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them,
- Zech 12:9So on that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
- Zech 2:8For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “After His Glory has sent Me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye—
- Isa 43:3–4For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place.
- Zech 14:2–3For I will gather all the nations for battle against Jerusalem, and the city will be captured, the houses looted, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be removed from the city.
- Rev 20:8–9and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to assemble them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the seashore.
- Isa 43:14Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “For your sake, I will send to Babylon and bring them all as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships in which they rejoice.
- Zech 12:3On that day, when all the nations of the earth gather against her, I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who would heave it away will be severely injured.
- Ezek 38:8–23After a long time you will be summoned. In the latter years you will enter a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and all now dwell securely.
- Rev 16:14These are demonic spirits that perform signs and go out to all the kings of the earth, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.
- Joel 3:9–14Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war; rouse the mighty men; let all the men of war advance and attack!
- Rev 19:19–21Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies assembled to wage war against the One seated on the horse, and against His army.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 54:15 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.