“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.
Parallel translations
- WEB “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways,” says Yahweh.
- KJV For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
- NKJV “ForMy thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
- NASB “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
- NLT “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
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 declares that His thoughts and ways are not like ours. It matters because it humbles human presumption and points to the surprising mercy of God.
Overview
In context, this contrasts God's readiness to 'abundantly pardon' with our limited, grudging notions of mercy. His ways transcend human calculation, especially in grace. The unexpected logic of the cross, where God justifies sinners through the Servant's death, shows just how far His thoughts surpass ours.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ps 92:5How great are Your works, O LORD, how deep are Your thoughts!
- Ps 40:5Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us—none can compare to You—if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I can count.
- Hos 14:9Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous walk in them but the rebellious stumble in them.
- Ezek 18:29Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Are My ways unjust, O house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust?
- Ps 25:10All the LORD’s ways are loving and faithful to those who keep His covenant and His decrees.
- Dan 4:37Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, for all His works are true and all His ways are just. And He is able to humble those who walk in pride.
- Isa 53:6We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.
- Prov 21:8The way of a guilty man is crooked, but the conduct of the innocent is upright.
- Prov 25:3As the heavens are high and the earth is deep, so the hearts of kings cannot be searched.
- 2 Sam 7:19And as if this was a small thing in Your eyes, O Lord GOD, You have also spoken about the future of the house of Your servant. Is this Your custom with man, O Lord GOD?
- Jer 3:1“If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers—and you would return to Me?” declares the LORD.
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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 55:8 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.