Bible Strands
Isaiah 46:3
“Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been sustained from the womb, carried along since birth.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — YHWH addresses the remnant of Israel directly, immediately after declaring that the Babylonian gods have gone into captivity (v. 2). The speaker is the God of Israel; the audience is the surviving exiled community.
The words — שִׁמְעוּ (shim'u, "listen!") is a second-person masculine plural imperative, a command that presumes authority over the hearer. שְׁאֵרִית (she'arit, "remnant") narrows the audience to those who survived, implying others did not.
The thread — The "carrying from the womb" motif echoes Deuteronomy 1:31 (God carried Israel in the wilderness "as a man carries his son") and Psalm 71:6 ("You pulled me from my mother's womb"). The "listen to me" formula recurs in Isaiah 51:7, where the same voice calls on those who know the law.
Why it lands — The verse asks the reader to recognize that their continued existence is not neutral fact but the active work of the one now speaking. It places the listener inside a sustained relationship rather than a one-time event.
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
Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb:
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 1:31 and in the wilderness, where the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way by which you traveled until you reached this place.”
- Isaiah 51:7 Listen to Me, you who know what is right, you people with My law in your hearts: Do not fear the scorn of men; do not be broken by their insults.
- Psalms 71:6 I have leaned on You since birth; You pulled me from my mother’s womb. My praise is always for You.
- Isaiah 51:1 “Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut, and to the quarry from which you were hewn.
- Exodus 19:4 ‘You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.
- Deuteronomy 32:11 As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, He spread His wings to catch them and carried them on His pinions.
- Psalms 22:9 Yet You brought me forth from the womb; You made me secure at my mother’s breast.
- Isaiah 1:9 Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.
- Isaiah 10:22 Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will return. Destruction has been decreed, overflowing with righteousness.
- Isaiah 44:1 But now listen, O Jacob My servant, Israel, whom I have chosen.