For I will not fight against you forever; I will not always be angry. If I were, all people would pass away— all the souls I have made.
Parallel translations
- WEB For I will not contend forever, neither will I be always angry; for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls whom I have made.
- KJV For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.
- BSB For I will not accuse you forever, nor will I always be angry; for then the spirit of man would grow weak before Me, with the breath of those I have made.
- NKJV For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would fail before Me, And the souls which I have made.
- NASB “For I will not contend forever, Nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would grow faint before Me, And the breath of those whom I have made.
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 will not contend or stay angry forever, lest the human spirit He made fail before Him. His mercy restrains His wrath toward His people.
Overview
The Lord tempers His judgment with compassion, promising not to strive endlessly, for the frail spirit He created could not endure perpetual wrath. His anger serves correction, not destruction of His covenant people. This restraint of judgment for the sake of the weak reveals the merciful heart of God, fully displayed when Christ bears the wrath His people deserved.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Mic 7:18Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness.
- Jer 10:24Yahweh, correct me, but in measure: not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.
- Ps 85:5Will you be angry with us forever? Will you draw out your anger to all generations?
- Ps 103:9–16He will not always accuse; neither will he stay angry forever.
- Heb 12:9Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?
- Ps 78:38–39But he, being merciful, forgave iniquity, and didn’t destroy them. Yes, many times he turned his anger away, and didn’t stir up all his wrath.
- Num 16:22They fell on their faces, and said, “God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?”
- Job 34:14–15If he set his heart on himself, If he gathered to himself his spirit and his breath,
- Gen 6:3Yahweh said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so his days will be one hundred twenty years.”
- Jer 38:16So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, “As Yahweh lives, who made us this soul, I will not put you to death, neither will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life.”
- Isa 42:5Thus says God Yahweh, he who created the heavens and stretched them out, he who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it, he who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it.
- Zech 12:1A revelation, Yahweh’s word concerning Israel. Yahweh, who stretches out the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him says:
- Eccl 12:7and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
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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 57:16 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
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