Then you will call, and Yahweh will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you take away from among you the yoke, finger pointing, and speaking wickedly;
Parallel translations
- KJV Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
- BSB Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry out, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and malicious talk,
- NKJV Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ “If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
- NASB “Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; You will cry for help, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,
- NLT Then when you call, the Lord will answer. ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply. “Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!
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
If they remove oppression and wicked speech, God will answer their cries with His ready presence. Repentant obedience brings God's attentive nearness.
Overview
The Lord promises that when the yoke, accusing finger, and malicious speech are put away, He will respond to their call, saying Here I am. Communion with God is restored when sin against neighbor is forsaken. This anticipates the gospel reality that, reconciled through Christ, believers draw near to a God who hears and is present with them.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 22
- Ps 50:15Call on me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
- Jer 29:12–13You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
- Isa 65:24It will happen that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
- Matt 7:7–8“Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you.
- Ps 91:15He will call on me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him, and honor him.
- Isa 1:15When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.
- Ps 118:5Out of my distress, I called on Yah. Yah answered me with freedom.
- Ps 34:15–17Yahweh’s eyes are toward the righteous. His ears listen to their cry.
- Prov 6:13who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, who motions with his fingers;
- Ps 12:2Everyone lies to his neighbor. They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart.
- Ps 66:18–19If I cherished sin in my heart, the Lord wouldn’t have listened.
- Ps 37:4Also delight yourself in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
- 1 Jn 3:21–22Beloved, if our hearts don’t condemn us, we have boldness toward God;
- Isa 57:4Whom do you mock? Against whom do you make a wide mouth, and stick out your tongue? Aren’t you children of disobedience, and offspring of falsehood,
- Isa 58:6“Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?
- Isa 59:13transgressing and denying Yahweh, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
- Zech 10:2For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore they go their way like sheep. They are oppressed, because there is no shepherd.
- 1 Sam 3:4–8Yahweh called Samuel; and he said, “Here I am.”
- Gen 27:18He came to his father, and said, “My father?” He said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”
- Isa 30:19For the people will dwell in Zion at Jerusalem. You will weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the voice of your cry. When he hears you, he will answer you.
- Isa 59:3–4For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies. Your tongue mutters wickedness.
- Ezek 13:8“‘Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because you have spoken falsehood and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you,” says the Lord Yahweh.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 58:9 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.