Bible Strands
Isaiah 37:23
Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Lord addresses the Assyrian king immediately after the king’s boastful messages of military conquest and his mockery of Zion. This divine rebuke follows the declaration that the Virgin Daughter of Zion despises and shakes her head at him.
The words — מִי (mi) = whom? frames the rhetorical charge, while חֵרַפְתָּ (che.Raf.ta) = have you taunted identifies the specific offense. The text literally asks, “Whom have you taunted and blasphemed?” before answering, “Against the Holy One of Israel!”
The thread — The theme of arrogant defiance meeting divine judgment appears in Daniel 5:20, where a hardened spirit leads to deposition, and Ezekiel 39:7, where God refuses to let His name be profaned. Isaiah 17:7 later reverses the posture, showing nations turning their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
Why it lands — The verse forces a reader to confront the target of their own pride and the limits of human power against divine authority. It demands recognition that boasting against God’s holiness invites direct confrontation, not passive observation.
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
Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 39:7 So I will make My holy name known among My people Israel and will no longer allow it to be profaned. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
- Daniel 5:20 But when his heart became arrogant and his spirit was hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne, and his glory was taken from him.
- Isaiah 17:7 In that day men will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
- Isaiah 41:16 You will winnow them, and a wind will carry them away; a gale will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the LORD; you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
- Ezekiel 28:9 Will you still say, ‘I am a god,’ in the presence of those who slay you? You will be only a man, not a god, in the hands of those who wound you.
- Daniel 7:25 He will speak out against the Most High and oppress the saints of the Most High, intending to change the appointed times and laws; and the saints will be given into his hand for a time, and times, and half a time.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:4 He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
- Exodus 5:2 But Pharaoh replied, “Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.”
- Exodus 9:17 Still, you lord it over My people and do not allow them to go.
- Exodus 15:11 Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You—majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?