Bible Strands
Isaiah 55:3
Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant—My loving devotion promised to David.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Yahweh speaks to Israel in a post-exilic context, inviting them away from futile effort (v. 2) toward Himself. The moment is one of open invitation, not command.
The words — כָּרַת (karat, H3772) literally means "to cut," the verb used for covenant-making throughout the OT (Gen 15:18; Exod 24:8), grounding "I will make" in a physical act. נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh, H5315) is the thing that will live—not an abstract "soul" but the whole person.
The thread — Jeremiah 32:40 echoes the everlasting-covenant language; Proverbs 4:20 reuses the "incline your ear" idiom for attentive hearing; Matthew 11:28 picks up the "come to Me" invitation.
Why it lands — The verse demands a bodily act—turning, coming, listening—as the condition for life and covenant, not a mental assent. It places the reader in the position of the one who must move first.
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
Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 32:40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from Me.
- Proverbs 4:20 My son, pay attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.
- Matthew 11:28 Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
- John 10:27 My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.
- Acts 13:34 In fact, God raised Him from the dead, never to see decay. As He has said: ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’
- Genesis 17:7 I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
- Isaiah 61:8 For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity; in My faithfulness I will give them their recompense and make an everlasting covenant with them.
- John 6:37 Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never drive away.
- Psalms 78:1 A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my instruction; listen to the words of my mouth.
- John 5:24 Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life.