Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Isaiah 66:5 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 5. 5Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
The prophetic poem or speech in Isaiah introduces or commands “Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word” at Isaiah 66:5 as “Excluded Servants Hear Birth and Maternal Comfort for Zion” develops.
Read It With
- Isaiah 66:5–14
Read Isaiah 66:5 with 66:5–14. By itself, “Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word” can be detached from the speaker, addressee, historical horizon, poetic movement, or outcome that gives it force. The complete unit establishes: Mocking kin are answered by temple noise, Zion gives birth before labor, children nurse at Jerusalem's abundance, and divine comfort makes servants flourish.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within the same chapter, this unit advances from “Heaven's Throne Exposes Manipulative Worship” into “Excluded Servants Hear Birth and Maternal Comfort for Zion.” Its non-interchangeable movement is: Mocking kin are answered by temple noise, Zion gives birth before labor, children nurse at Jerusalem's abundance, and divine comfort makes servants flourish. This verse's placement is specific: The prophetic poem or speech in Isaiah introduces or commands “Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word” at Isaiah 66:5 as “Excluded Servants Hear Birth and Maternal Comfort for Zion” develops.
Follow the Context
- The unit opens at 66:5 with the address, scene, poem, sign, question, or action named in its title.
- Mocking kin are answered by temple noise, Zion gives birth before labor, children nurse at Jerusalem's abundance, and divine comfort makes servants flourish.
- By 66:14 the movement reaches its warning, promise, answer, response, or transition before the next unit begins.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Conflict with “brethren” does not authorize Christian contempt for Jews or treating every community dispute as persecution.
What Remains True
Hope for a community must hold justice, belonging, safety, worship, grief, and repair together. In Isaiah 66:5, that bounded truth is carried through this verse's role: The prophetic poem or speech in Isaiah introduces or commands “Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word” at Isaiah 66:5 as “Excluded Servants Hear Birth and Maternal Comfort for Zion” develops.
How It Can Shape Life
- Serve real communities with accountable justice and welcome while refusing territorial absolutism, misogyny, or claims that one modern city exhausts the poetry. This response follows Isaiah 66:5–14's specific concern, “Excluded Servants Hear Birth and Maternal Comfort for Zion.” This verse directs that response through its exact role: The prophetic poem or speech in Isaiah introduces or commands “Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word” at Isaiah 66:5 as “Excluded Servants Hear Birth and Maternal Comfort for Zion” develops.
Teach It Back
Explain Isaiah 66:5's precise role in Isaiah 66:5–14. Include “Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word,” state the unit's historical or literary limit, give one proportionate truth and action, and explicitly reject one harmful use.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Isaiah 66:5–14 — Excluded Servants Hear Birth and Maternal Comfort for ZionSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Responsible readings differ over date, composition, speaker, historical reconstruction, rhetoric, textual details, and later reception. The preferred reading follows the complete unit and its received-book placement while preserving this limit: The birth and nursing metaphors do not shame bodies, infertility, adoption, or grief, and the conflict does not authorize hatred of Jewish opponents.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Isaiah 66:5–14, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Isaiah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology at the exact unit, without treating morphology as apparatus, lexicon, composition history, or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Isa.xml, OSIS 66:5–14 with Hebrew/KJV versification difference checked
Open the fixed Hebrew Isaiah file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Isaiah
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2016; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for Hebrew, syntax, poetry, older KJV language, chronology, names, textual issues, and material translation alternatives.
Exact location: Official NET Isaiah PDF, translator, study, and textual notes attached to Isaiah 66:5–14 in the complete 205-page book PDF
Open the official NET Isaiah PDF ↗modern scholarly book course
Isaiah course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, themes, and reception
Fred Gaiser; revised by Michael Chan
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised August 2024
Supports: Whole-book historical, literary, theological, ethical, and reception synthesis across Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, and postexilic horizons.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Isaiah course, Outline Book 3C, themes, and reception of new creation; applied to Isaiah 66:5–14
Open the Enter the Bible Isaiah course ↗scholarly ethical reception guidance
Anti-Judaism in Christian Teaching and Preaching
Matt Skinner
Working Preacher, Luther Seminary, 2008
Supports: Controls against caricaturing Judaism, Torah-as-legalism claims, blanket condemnation, Gentile boasting, and supersessionist misuse.
Exact location: Skinner, 'Anti-Judaism in Christian Teaching and Preaching,' Working Preacher (2008), complete essay categories and guidance; applied to the reception risks in Isaiah 66:5–14
Open Skinner's anti-Judaism guidance ↗