And He saw that there was no one, And was amazed that there was not one to intercede; Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, And His righteousness upheld Him.
Parallel translations
- WEB He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore his own arm brought salvation to him; and his righteousness sustained him.
- KJV And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
- BSB He saw that there was no man; He was amazed that there was no one to intercede. So His own arm brought salvation, and His own righteousness sustained Him.
- NKJV He saw that there was no man, And wondered that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him.
- NLT He was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm, and his justice sustained him.
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 saw no one to intervene and no intercessor, so His own arm brought salvation. When no human could save, God acted to save by Himself.
Overview
The Lord, finding no man to intervene and no intercessor, accomplishes salvation by His own arm and is upheld by His own righteousness. Salvation originates entirely with God, not human merit. This points unmistakably to Christ, the divine arm of the Lord and the great Intercessor, who alone secures salvation when humanity could not.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ezek 22:30“I sought for a man among them, who should build up the wall, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.
- Ps 106:23Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had Moses, his chosen, not stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, so that he wouldn’t destroy them.
- Ps 98:1A Psalm. Sing to Yahweh a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand, and his holy arm, have worked salvation for him.
- Isa 64:7There is no one who calls on your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have consumed us by means of our iniquities.
- Mark 6:6He marveled because of their unbelief. He went around the villages teaching.
- Isa 41:28When I look, there is no man; even among them there is no counselor who, when I ask of them, can answer a word.
- Isa 63:3–5“I have trodden the wine press alone; and of the peoples, no one was with me: Yes, I trod them in my anger, and trampled them in my wrath. Their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments, and I have stained all my clothing.
- Isa 52:10Yahweh has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
- Gen 18:23–32Abraham came near, and said, “Will you consume the righteous with the wicked?
- Jer 5:1“Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its wide places, if you can find a man, if there are any who does justly, who seeks truth; and I will pardon her.
- Isa 50:2Why, when I came, was there no one? when I called, why was there no one to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it can’t redeem? or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea. I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stink, because there is no water, and die for thirst.
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 59:16 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
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.