Isaiah 51:8

For the moth will devour them like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool. But My righteousness will last forever, My salvation through all generations.”

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — YHWH addresses the listeners who possess His law in their hearts, following an exhortation not to fear human scorn and preceding a call for God to awaken His strength. The declaration contrasts the impermanence of human opposition with divine permanence.

The words — The Hebrew סָס (sas) means clothes-moth, paired with עָשׁ ('ash) for moth, both describing agents that consume garments and wool. The phrase וְ/צִדְקָתִי (ve-tzidqati) translates as "and My righteousness," marking the speaker's enduring attribute against the decay described.

The thread — The imagery of decay appears in Isaiah 51:6, where the heavens vanish like smoke and the earth wears out, and in Isaiah 50:9, where adversaries wear out like a garment devoured by moths. Isaiah 66:24 extends the motif of unending consumption to the corpses of rebels.

Why it lands — The text asserts that human threats and created things will perish, while the speaker's righteousness and salvation endure permanently. It demands recognition that divine fidelity outlasts all temporal opposition, requiring reliance on that unchanging standard rather than human approval.

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

כִּ֤יkifor כַבֶּ֙גֶד֙kha./Be.gedlike <the>/ garment יֹאכְלֵ֣םyokh.Le/mit will eat/ them עָ֔שׁ'Ashmoth וְכַצֶּ֖מֶרve./kha./Tze.merand/ like <the>/ wool יֹאכְלֵ֣םyokh.Le/mit will eat/ them סָ֑סSasclothes-moth וְצִדְקָתִי֙ve./tzid.ka.T/iand/ righteousness/ my לְעוֹלָ֣םle./'o.Lamfor/ ever תִּֽהְיֶ֔הtih.Yehit will be וִישׁוּעָתִ֖יvi./shu.'a.T/iand/ salvation/ my לְד֥וֹרle./Dorto/ a generation of דּוֹרִֽים׃ סdo.Rimgenerations

King James Version

For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.

Cross-references

Isaiah 51:6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth below; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its people will die like gnats. But My salvation will last forever, and My righteousness will never fail.
Isaiah 50:9 Surely the Lord GOD helps Me. Who is there to condemn Me? See, they will all wear out like a garment; the moths will devour them.
Isaiah 66:24 “As they go forth, they will see the corpses of the men who have rebelled against Me; for their worm will never die, their fire will never be quenched, and they will be a horror to all mankind.”
Job 4:19 how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who can be crushed like a moth!
Hosea 5:12 So I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like decay to the house of Judah.
Luke 1:50 His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation.
Job 13:28 So man wastes away like something rotten, like a moth-eaten garment.
Isaiah 45:17 But Israel will be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation; you will not be put to shame or humiliated, to ages everlasting.
Isaiah 46:13 I am bringing My righteousness near; it is not far away, and My salvation will not be delayed. I will grant salvation to Zion and adorn Israel with My splendor.