Limitless Word
Preserve the teaching of God; entrust his instructions to those who follow me.
Isaiah 8:16 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB Wrap up the testimony. Seal the law among my disciples.
  • KJV Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.
  • BSB Bind up the testimony and seal the law among my disciples.
  • NKJV Bind up the testimony, Seal the law among my disciples.
  • NASB Bind up the testimony, seal the Law among my disciples.

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

Isaiah is to preserve God's testimony among his disciples until the prophecy is vindicated by events.

Overview

The teaching is to be "bound up and sealed" entrusted to a faithful circle of disciples. When the foretold judgment comes, the preserved word will prove true. This points to a believing remnant who keep God's word alive even when the wider nation rejects it.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 24

  • Dan 12:4But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run back and forth, and knowledge shall be increased.”
  • Heb 3:5Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken,
  • Matt 13:11He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.
  • Mark 4:10–11When he was alone, those who were around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.
  • Rev 19:10I fell down before his feet to worship him. He said to me, “Look! Don’t do it! I am a fellow bondservant with you and with your brothers who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy.”
  • Isa 29:11–12All vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is educated, saying, “Read this, please”; and he says, “I can’t, for it is sealed:”
  • Mark 4:34Without a parable he didn’t speak to them; but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.
  • 1 Cor 2:14Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
  • Deut 4:45These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Moses spoke to the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt,
  • Isa 8:20Turn to the law and to the testimony! If they don’t speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.
  • Rev 5:1I saw, in the right hand of him who sat on the throne, a book written inside and outside, sealed shut with seven seals.
  • 2 Kgs 11:12Then he brought out the king’s son, and put the crown on him, and gave him the covenant; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, “Long live the king!”
  • Rev 5:5One of the elders said to me, “Don’t weep. Behold, the Lion who is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome; he who opens the book and its seven seals.”
  • Rev 2:17He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he who receives it.
  • Dan 9:24Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.
  • 1 Jn 5:9–12If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is God’s testimony which he has testified concerning his Son.
  • Dan 12:9–10He said, Go your way, Daniel; for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end.
  • Isa 54:13All your children will be taught by Yahweh; and your children’s peace will be great.
  • Rev 10:4When the seven thunders sounded, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from the sky saying, “Seal up the things which the seven thunders said, and don’t write them.”
  • Isa 8:1–2Yahweh said to me, “Take a large tablet, and write on it with a man’s pen, ‘For Maher Shalal Hash Baz’;
  • Mark 10:10In the house, his disciples asked him again about the same matter.
  • Ps 25:14The friendship of Yahweh is with those who fear him. He will show them his covenant.
  • Prov 8:8–9All the words of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing crooked or perverse in them.
  • John 3:32–33What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one receives his witness.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 8:16YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 8:16 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.