Isaiah 8:20

It is to go to the law more rather, and to the witnessing, that if they say not after this word, morrowtide light shall not be to them. ( Say thou, It is better to go to the Law, and to the testimony, and if they say not after this word, then the light is not in them.)

Wycliffe Modern Spelling

In The King James Version

To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

In Context

19And when they say to you, Ask ye of conjurers, and of false diviners, that gnash in their enchantings, whether the people shall not ask of their God (for) a revelation, for quick men and [the] dead? (And when they say to you, Ask ye of conjurers, and of false diviners, who gnash in their enchantings, Shall not the people ask their gods for a revelation, yea, a word from the dead for the living?)

21And it shall pass by that, and it shall fall down, and it shall hunger. And when it shall hunger, it shall be wroth, and shall curse his king and his God, and it shall behold upward. (But they shall pass by that, and they shall fall down, and they shall have hunger. And when they shall have hunger, they shall be angry, and they shall curse their king and their God, and then they shall look upward, but for nought.)

Read all of Isaiah 8

Cross References

Ezra 10:3make we (a) bond of peace with the Lord our God, and cast we away all our alien wives, and them that be born of those wives, by the will of the Lord; and of them that dread the commandment of our God, be it done by the law. (let us make a covenant with the Lord our God to cast away, that is, to send away, all our foreign wives, and those who were born of those wives, according to thy counsel, my lord, and the counsel of those who fear the command of our God or who revere the command of our God; yea, let it be done according to the Law.)

Psalms 119:130Declaring of thy words lighteneth; and it giveth understanding to meek men. (The declaring, or the exposition, of thy words bringeth light, or enlightenment; and it giveth understanding even to the simple, or the untaught.)

Isaiah 1:10Ye princes of men of Sodom, hear the word of the Lord; and ye people of Gomorrah, perceive with ears the law of your God. (Ye leaders of the people of Sodom, listen to the word of the Lord; and ye people of Gomorrah, listen to the Law of your God.)

Isaiah 30:8Now therefore enter thou, and write to it on [a] box [table], and write thou it diligently in a book; and it shall be in the last day into witnessing, till into without end. (And so now enter thou, and write it on a tablet, and diligently write it in a book; and it shall be in the last day a testimony, yea, unto forever.)

Hosea 6:3We shall know, and follow, (so) that we know the Lord. His going out is made ready at the morrowtide, and he shall come as a rain to us, which is timeful and lateful to the earth.

Malachi 4:2And to you dreading my name the sun of rightwiseness shall rise, and health in (the) pens of him; and ye shall go out, and shall leap, as a calf of the drove. (And to those of you who fear my name, or who revere my name, the Sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in his wings; and ye shall go out, and shall leap, like a calf of the herd.)

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 8:17-22

The Importance of the Scriptures. ( b. c. 740.) 16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. 17 And I will wait upon the Lord , that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion. 19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Isaiah 8:20