When you cry out, let your companies of idols deliver you! Yet the wind will carry off all of them, a breath will take them away. But he who seeks refuge in Me will inherit the land and possess My holy mountain.”
Parallel translations
- WEB When you cry, let those whom you have gathered deliver you; but the wind will take them. a breath will carry them all away: but he who takes refuge in me will possess the land, and will inherit my holy mountain.”
- KJV When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee; but the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them: but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain;
- NKJV When you cry out, Let your collection of idols deliver you. But the wind will carry them all away, A breath will take them. But he who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land, And shall inherit My holy mountain.”
- NASB “When you cry out, let your collection of idols save you. But the wind will carry them all up, And a breath will take them away. But the one who takes refuge in Me will inherit the land And possess My holy mountain.”
- NLT Let’s see if your idols can save you when you cry to them for help. Why, a puff of wind can knock them down! If you just breathe on them, they fall over! But whoever trusts in me will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain.”
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 mocks the idols Israel gathered, which the wind will sweep away, while promising that those who take refuge in Him will inherit the land and His holy mountain. Trust in the Lord, not idols, secures lasting inheritance.
Overview
The Lord challenges Israel to let her assembled idols save her, knowing a mere breath will scatter them. By contrast, the one who takes refuge in the Lord receives the land and a share in His holy mountain. This promise of inheritance to those who trust God points forward to the eternal inheritance secured for believers in Christ, who alone is a sure refuge.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 27
- Ps 37:9For the evildoers will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.
- Ps 37:3Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
- Isa 65:25The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but the food of the serpent will be dust. They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain,” says the LORD.
- Isa 56:7I will bring them to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.”
- Isa 11:9They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is full of water.
- Judg 10:14Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you in your time of trouble.”
- Joel 3:17Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who dwells in Zion, My holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy, never again to be overrun by foreigners.
- Ezek 20:40For on My holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, declares the Lord GOD, there the whole house of Israel, all of them, will serve Me in the land. There I will accept them and will require your offerings and choice gifts, along with all your holy sacrifices.
- Isa 66:20And they will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the LORD on horses and chariots and wagons, on mules and camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the LORD, “just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.”
- Zech 7:13And just as I had called and they would not listen, so when they called I would not listen, says the LORD of Hosts.
- Isa 65:9And I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and heirs from Judah; My elect will possess My mountains, and My servants will dwell there.
- Ps 125:1A song of ascents. Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion. It cannot be moved; it abides forever.
- 2 Kgs 3:13Elisha, however, said to the king of Israel, “What have we to do with each other? Go to the prophets of your father and of your mother!” “No,” replied the king of Israel, “for it is the LORD who has summoned these three kings to deliver them into the hand of Moab.”
- Ps 1:4Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind.
- Isa 57:9–10You went to Molech with oil and multiplied your perfumes. You have sent your envoys a great distance; you have descended even to Sheol itself.
- Ps 58:9Before your pots can feel the burning thorns—whether green or dry—He will sweep them away.
- Isa 65:11But you who forsake the LORD, who forget My holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,
- Ps 84:12O LORD of Hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in You!
- Job 21:18Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a storm?
- Isa 40:24No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner have their stems taken root in the ground, than He blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like stubble.
- Jer 22:20Go up to Lebanon and cry out; raise your voice in Bashan; cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed.
- Prov 28:25A greedy man stirs up strife, but he who trusts in the LORD will prosper.
- Isa 26:3–4You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You.
- Isa 41:16You will winnow them, and a wind will carry them away; a gale will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the LORD; you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
- Hos 13:3Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff blown from a threshing floor, like smoke through an open window.
- Jer 22:22The wind will drive away all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity. Then you will be ashamed and humiliated because of all your wickedness.
- Jer 17:7–8But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
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 57:13 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.