Isaiah 51:13
“And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →We forget the God who created and sustains all things, and let continual fear of human oppression dominate us, yet the oppressor's fury proves to be empty.
Context
A poignant diagnosis of the exiles' spiritual state. They have fallen into a kind of forgetfulness that leads to disproportionate fear, despite God's evident power over creation.
What Does Isaiah 51:13 Mean?
The prophet names the root of the exiles' trouble: they have forgotten the Lord their Maker. This is not mere mental lapse but a practical orientation away from God. They have forgotten that the one they worship is the one who stretched forth the heavens and laid the earth's foundations. When we forget this, we shrink God in our minds. We begin to see him as local, limited, as though the oppressor might exceed his power. And so they feared continually, day after day, as if the oppressor's fury were final and inescapable, as if he had power to destroy utterly.
Then comes the turning question: And where is the fury of the oppressor? Time has passed. Babylon's rage burns no longer. The oppressor is gone, and God remains. This is not to say the pain of oppression was not real; it was. But the fear that filled each day, the sense of inevitable doom, proved untrue. The very magnitude of the oppressor's fury made it ultimately hollow. For us, this teaches that when we remember God as the Maker of all, the fears that loom large in our present grow smaller. They are real, but they are not ultimate. Our Maker still holds all things together.
In the Original Language
nashah (נשח), 'forgettest' -- to forget, to neglect, to let slip from memory and care
Application
In what ways have I forgotten God as my Maker? Where am I living in continual fear because I have shrunk God in my imagination? What would remembering his character restore?