Bible Strands
Isaiah 1:20
But if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God speaks through Isaiah to Judah, presenting a conditional choice between obedience and rebellion during a period of national corruption.
The words — The Hebrew תְּמָאֲנוּ (te.ma'ă.nu) means "you will refuse," and מְרִיתֶם (me.rî.te.m) means "you will rebel," paired with חֶרֶב (che.rev), "the sword," which describes the consequence of defiance.
The thread — This warning echoes the pattern of covenant failure seen in Isaiah 65:12 and Numbers 23:19, where divine speech guarantees that rejected calls result in judgment.
Why it lands — The verse demands a clear decision between submission and defiance, leaving no middle ground between blessing and destruction.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 65:12 I will destine you for the sword, and you will all kneel down to be slaughtered, because I called and you did not answer, I spoke and you did not listen; you did evil in My sight and chose that in which I did not delight.”
- Isaiah 58:14 then you will delight yourself in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the land and feed you with the heritage of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
- Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
- Isaiah 40:5 And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all humanity together will see it.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
- Isaiah 3:11 Woe to the wicked; disaster is upon them! For they will be repaid with what their hands have done.
- Isaiah 3:25 Your men will fall by the sword, and your warriors in battle.
- Leviticus 26:33 But I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out a sword after you as your land becomes desolate and your cities are laid waste.
- 1 Samuel 12:25 But if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away.”
- 2 Chronicles 36:14 Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, following all the abominations of the nations, and they defiled the house of the LORD, which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.
- Micah 4:4 And each man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, with no one to frighten him. For the mouth of the LORD of Hosts has spoken.