🕊️WEB · Isaiah 26:13
What does Isaiah 26:13 mean?
"Yahweh our God, other lords besides you have had dominion over us, but by you only will we make mention of your name."
— Isaiah 26:13 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness he will deal wrongfully, and will not see Yahweh’s majesty.
Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, yet they don’t see; but they will see your zeal for the people, and be disappointed. Yes, fire will consume your adversaries.
Yahweh, you will ordain peace for us, for you have also done all our work for us.
Yahweh our God, other lords besides you have had dominion over us, but by you only will we make mention of your name.
The dead shall not live. The departed spirits shall not rise. Therefore you have visited and destroyed them, and caused all memory of them to perish.
You have increased the nation, O Yahweh. You have increased the nation! You are glorified! You have enlarged all the borders of the land.
Yahweh, in trouble they have visited you. They poured out a prayer when your chastening was on them.
Explanation
Isaiah 26:13 reads, in plain language, as a confession from God's people: "Lord, we admit that other masters have ruled over us, but you alone are the one whose name we will honor and speak of." It's a statement of both painful honesty and renewed loyalty — acknowledging a history of subjection to other powers, while affirming that only Yahweh deserves to be worshiped and named as Lord.
This verse sits within a song of praise that the prophet Isaiah records as being sung "in that day" — a future day of deliverance and restoration for Judah (Isaiah 26:1). Isaiah ministered in the eighth century BC, warning Judah of coming judgment (largely through the rising power of Assyria and later Babylon) while also promising eventual restoration. Chapter 26 is part of a larger section (chapters 24–27), sometimes called the "Isaiah Apocalypse," which looks beyond immediate historical judgment to God's ultimate triumph over the nations and vindication of his people. The "other lords" in verse 13 likely refer to the foreign kings and empires that had dominated Israel and Judah, as well as possibly the false gods associated with those nations, since serving foreign rulers in the ancient Near East often meant acknowledging their gods as well.
Theologically, the verse captures a core biblical theme: exclusive covenant loyalty to Yahweh. Israel's history was marked by repeated subjugation — to Egypt, Assyria, Babylon — and often by spiritual unfaithfulness through idol
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