The Meaning of Isaiah 48:16 Explained

Isaiah 48:16

KJV: Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.

YLT: Come ye near unto me, hear this, Not from the beginning in secret spake I, From the time of its being, there am I, And now the Lord Jehovah hath sent me, and His Spirit.

Darby: Come near unto me, hear ye this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I; and now the Lord Jehovah hath sent me, and his Spirit.

ASV: Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; from the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord Jehovah hath sent me, and his Spirit.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Come  ye near  unto me, hear  ye this; I have not spoken  in secret  from the beginning;  from the time  that it was, there [am] I: and now the Lord  GOD,  and his Spirit,  hath sent  me. 

What does Isaiah 48:16 Mean?

Verse Meaning

God again urged His people to listen carefully (cf. Isaiah 48:1; Isaiah 48:12; Isaiah 48:14). From the beginning, God"s promises concerning the future had not been vague and ambiguous. They could be verified easily, and they evidenced Yahweh"s nearness in human life. God was there when He made those predictions.
"When Jesus Christ incarnated God on earth, this was not some shocking new modality of revelation; it was the logical endpoint of all that God had been doing in and through Israel up to that point." [1]
The speaker of the last part of this verse is unclear. God appears to have been speaking in the first part of the verse, but now we read that God sent "Me." This may be Isaiah speaking. [2] If Song of Solomon , the point is that God and His Spirit had sent Isaiah to communicate and to confirm the truthfulness of what God had just said. Another view is that Messiah, the Servant, speaks (cf. Isaiah 48:12). [3] The point then would be that the Messiah would testify to the truth of what God had just said-empowered by the Spirit. A third view is that the speaker is an unknown leader. [4] I prefer the second view. The Servant speaks again in Isaiah 49:1-6. Since the speaker in the context is the Lord, it seems more natural that a member of the Godhead would say these words than the prophet. If true, this is one of the clearest Old Testament intimations of the Trinity.

Context Summary

Isaiah 48:1-16 - The Obstinate And Insincere Rebuked
We are meant to be for God's praise and glory; but we may delay the realization of His high purpose. Our neck iron, our brow brass, we trust in idols and refuse to open our ear. It is necessary, therefore, to send us to Babylon, where, as in a furnace for silver, the dross and alloy are purged away. Many of us are in furnaces which have been rendered needful through our evil ways.
Notwithstanding our sins, God comes to the furnace mouth and chooses us there. For His own sake, His own sake, He does it that His name may not be polluted. He cannot give His glory to another. You cannot account for God's grace to you personally. He must have known all, from the first. Then dare to believe that the reason that prompted Him at the first will suffice to the end. He is not "the son of man that He should repent." He who was the first will be the last. Jesus is Omega as well as Alpha; the end as well as the beginning! Fear not! Revelation 1:17. [source]

Chapter Summary: Isaiah 48

1  God, to convince the people of their foreknown obstinance, revealed his prophecies
9  He saves them for his own sake
12  He exhorts them to obedience, because of his power and providence
16  He laments their backwardness
20  He powerfully delivers his people out of Babylon

What do the individual words in Isaiah 48:16 mean?

Come near to Me hear this not from the beginning in secret I have spoken from the time that it was there I [was] now the Lord GOD have sent Me and His Spirit -
קִרְב֧וּ אֵלַ֣י שִׁמְעוּ־ זֹ֗את לֹ֤א מֵרֹאשׁ֙ בַּסֵּ֣תֶר דִּבַּ֔רְתִּי מֵעֵ֥ת הֱיוֹתָ֖הּ שָׁ֣ם אָ֑נִי וְעַתָּ֗ה אֲדֹנָ֧י יְהוִ֛ה שְׁלָחַ֖נִי וְרוּחֽוֹ פ

קִרְב֧וּ  Come  near 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperative, masculine plural
Root: קָרַב  
Sense: to come near, approach, enter into, draw near.
אֵלַ֣י  to  Me 
Parse: Preposition, first person common singular
Root: אֶל  
Sense: to, toward, unto (of motion).
שִׁמְעוּ־  hear 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperative, masculine plural
Root: שָׁמַע 
Sense: to hear, listen to, obey.
זֹ֗את  this 
Parse: Pronoun, feminine singular
Root: זׄאת  
Sense: this, this one, here, which, this … that, the one … the other, such.
מֵרֹאשׁ֙  from  the  beginning 
Parse: Preposition-m, Noun, masculine singular
Root: רֹאשׁ 
Sense: head, top, summit, upper part, chief, total, sum, height, front, beginning.
בַּסֵּ֣תֶר  in  secret 
Parse: Preposition-b, Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: סֵתֶר 
Sense: covering, shelter, hiding place, secrecy.
דִּבַּ֔רְתִּי  I  have  spoken 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Perfect, first person common singular
Root: דָּבַר 
Sense: to speak, declare, converse, command, promise, warn, threaten, sing.
מֵעֵ֥ת  from  the  time 
Parse: Preposition-m, Noun, common singular
Root: עֵת  
Sense: time.
הֱיוֹתָ֖הּ  that  it  was 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct, third person feminine singular
Root: אֶהְיֶה 
Sense: to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out.
אָ֑נִי  I  [was] 
Parse: Pronoun, first person common singular
Root: אֲנִי  
Sense: I (first pers.
וְעַתָּ֗ה  now 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adverb
Root: עַתָּה  
Sense: now.
אֲדֹנָ֧י  the  Lord 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: אֲדֹנָי  
Sense: my lord, lord.
יְהוִ֛ה  GOD 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: Jehovah—used primarily in the combination ‘Lord Jehovah’.
שְׁלָחַ֖נִי  have  sent  Me 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person masculine singular, first person common singular
Root: שָׁלַח  
Sense: to send, send away, let go, stretch out.
וְרוּחֽוֹ  and  His  Spirit 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Noun, common singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: רוּחַ  
Sense: wind, breath, mind, spirit.
פ    - 
Parse: Punctuation