It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.
Parallel translations
- WEB so is my word that goes out of my mouth: it will not return to me void, but it will accomplish that which I please, and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do.
- KJV So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
- BSB so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.
- NKJV So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
- NASB So will My word be which goes out of My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the purpose for which I sent it.
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's word will not return empty but will accomplish His purpose and succeed in what He sends it to do. It matters because it guarantees the certain effectiveness of God's promises.
Overview
Like the fruitful rain, God's word always achieves His intended purpose; it never fails. This assures the exiles that His promises of redemption will surely come to pass. It also undergirds confidence in the proclamation of the gospel, which God uses to accomplish salvation according to His sovereign will.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Matt 24:35Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
- Isa 46:10I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done. I say: My counsel will stand, and I will do all that I please.
- Rom 10:17So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
- John 6:63It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life.
- Isa 45:23I have sworn by myself. The word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and will not be revoked, that to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath.
- Luke 8:11–16Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
- 1 Cor 1:18For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.
- 1 Th 2:13For this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that, when you received from us the word of the message of God, you accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which also works in you who believe.
- 1 Pet 1:23having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and remains forever.
- Jas 1:18Of his own will he gave birth to us by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
- 1 Cor 3:6–9I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase.
- Eph 1:9–11making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him
- Deut 32:2My doctrine will drop as the rain. My speech will condense as the dew, as the misty rain on the tender grass, as the showers on the herb.
- Heb 6:7For the land which has drunk the rain that comes often on it, and produces a crop suitable for them for whose sake it is also tilled, receives blessing from God;
- Isa 54:9“For this is like the waters of Noah to me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah will no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.
- Isa 44:26–28who confirms the word of his servant, and performs the counsel of his messengers; who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited;’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will be built,’ and ‘I will raise up its waste places;’
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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 55:11 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.