Isaiah 51:2
New International Version
look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many.

New Living Translation
Yes, think about Abraham, your ancestor, and Sarah, who gave birth to your nation. Abraham was only one man when I called him. But when I blessed him, he became a great nation.”

English Standard Version
Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him.

Berean Standard Bible
Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave you birth. When I called him, he was but one; then I blessed him and multiplied him.

King James Bible
Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.

New King James Version
Look to Abraham your father, And to Sarah who bore you; For I called him alone, And blessed him and increased him.”

New American Standard Bible
“Look to Abraham your father And to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain; When he was only one I called him, Then I blessed him and multiplied him.”

NASB 1995
“Look to Abraham your father And to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain; When he was but one I called him, Then I blessed him and multiplied him.”

NASB 1977
“Look to Abraham your father, And to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain; When he was one I called him, Then I blessed him and multiplied him.”

Legacy Standard Bible
Look to Abraham your father And to Sarah who brought you forth through labor pains; When he was but one I called him, Then I blessed him and multiplied him.”

Amplified Bible
“Look to Abraham your father And to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain; For I called him when he was but one, Then I blessed him and made him many.”

Christian Standard Bible
Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave birth to you. When I called him, he was only one; I blessed him and made him many.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain. When I called him, he was only one; I blessed him and made him many.

American Standard Version
Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Gaze to Abraham your Father and to Sara who conceived you, for he was alone and I called him and I blessed him and I increased him

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Look to Abraam your father, and to Sarrha that bore you: for he was alone when I called him, and blessed him, and loved him, and multiplied him.

Contemporary English Version
God chose Abraham and Sarah to be your ancestors. The LORD blessed Abraham, and from that one man came many descendants.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Look unto Abraham your father, and to Sara that bore you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and multiplied him.

English Revised Version
Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Look to Abraham, your ancestor, and to Sarah, from whom you are descended. When I called Abraham, he was childless. I blessed him and gave him many descendants.

Good News Translation
Think of your ancestor, Abraham, and of Sarah, from whom you are descended. When I called Abraham, he was childless, but I blessed him and gave him children; I made his descendants numerous.

International Standard Version
Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave you birth. For when he was only one person I called him, but I made him fruitful and made him many.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Look unto Abraham your father, And unto Sarah that bore you; For when he was but one I called him, And I blessed him, and made him many.

Literal Standard Version
Look attentively to your father Abraham, | And to Sarah—she brings you forth, | For—one—I have called him, | And I bless him, and multiply him.”

Majority Standard Bible
Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave you birth. When I called him, he was but one; then I blessed him and multiplied him.

New American Bible
Look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth; Though he was but one when I called him, I blessed him and made him many.

NET Bible
Look at Abraham, your father, and Sarah, who gave you birth. When I summoned him, he was a lone individual, but I blessed him and gave him numerous descendants.

New Revised Standard Version
Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, but I blessed him and made him many.

New Heart English Bible
Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many.

Webster's Bible Translation
Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah that bore you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.

World English Bible
Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, I blessed him, and made him many.

Young's Literal Translation
Look attentively unto Abraham your father, And unto Sarah -- she bringeth you forth, For -- one -- I have called him, And I bless him, and multiply him.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Salvation for Zion
1“Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut, and to the quarry from which you were hewn. 2Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave you birth. When I called him, he was but one; then I blessed him and multiplied him. 3For the LORD will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.…

Cross References
Romans 4:17
As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the presence of God, in whom he believed, the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being what does not yet exist.

Genesis 12:1
Then the LORD said to Abram, "Leave your country, your kindred, and your father's household, and go to the land I will show you.

Genesis 15:5
And the LORD took him outside and said, "Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able." Then He told him, "So shall your offspring be."

Deuteronomy 1:10
The LORD your God has multiplied you, so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Isaiah 29:22
Therefore the LORD who redeemed Abraham says of the house of Jacob: "No longer will Jacob be ashamed and no more will his face grow pale.

Isaiah 41:8
"But you, O Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham My friend--

Isaiah 43:27
Your first father sinned, and your spokesmen rebelled against Me.


Treasury of Scripture

Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah that bore you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.

unto Abraham

Genesis 15:1,2
After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward…

Genesis 18:11-13
Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women…

Joshua 24:3
And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac.

for

Genesis 12:1-3
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: …

Genesis 13:14-17
And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: …

Genesis 15:4,5
And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir…

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Abraham Alone Attentively Bare Birth Bless Blessed Blessing Bore Great Increased Multiplied Multiply Pain Sarah Thoughts Turned Voice
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Abraham Alone Attentively Bare Birth Bless Blessed Blessing Bore Great Increased Multiplied Multiply Pain Sarah Thoughts Turned Voice
Isaiah 51
1. An exhortation after the pattern of Abraham, to trust in Christ
3. By reason of his comfortable promises,
4. Of his righteous salvation
7. And man's mortality
9. Christ by his sanctified arm defends his from the fear of man
17. He bewails the afflictions of Jerusalem
21. And promises deliverance














(2) I called him alone.--Literally, as one. If so great a nation had sprung from one man (Hebrews 11:12), so would God out of the faithful remnant once more create a people. (Comp. Ezekiel 33:24, where the exiles arc represented as boastfully inverting the argument: "Abraham was one, and we are many; therefore we shall prosper, the chances are in our favour.")

Verse 2. - I called him alone; or, I called him when he was but ode; i.e. before he had any children (comp. Ezekiel 33:24, "Abraham was one, and he inherited the land"). And blessed him (see Genesis 24:1, 35). And increased him; i.e. "made him a father of many nations" (Genesis 17:5). If God could multiply the progeny of ode man, much more could he make a flourishing nation out of the exiles, who, though but a "remnant" of the pro-Captivity Israel, were yet many thousands in number (see Ezra 2:64).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Look
הַבִּ֙יטוּ֙ (hab·bî·ṭū)
Verb - Hifil - Imperative - masculine plural
Strong's 5027: To scan, look intently at, to regard

to
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

Abraham
אַבְרָהָ֣ם (’aḇ·rā·hām)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 85: Abraham -- 'exalted father', the father of the Jewish nation

your father,
אֲבִיכֶ֔ם (’ă·ḇî·ḵem)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine plural
Strong's 1: Father

and to
וְאֶל־ (wə·’el-)
Conjunctive waw | Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

Sarah
שָׂרָ֖ה (śā·rāh)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 8283: Sarah -- 'princess', a wife of Abraham

who bore you.
תְּחוֹלֶלְכֶ֑ם (tə·ḥō·w·lel·ḵem)
Verb - Piel - Imperfect - third person feminine singular | second person masculine plural
Strong's 2342: To twist, whirl, to dance, to writhe in pain, fear, to wait, to pervert

When
כִּי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

I called him,
קְרָאתִ֔יו (qə·rā·ṯîw)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular | third person masculine singular
Strong's 7121: To call, proclaim, read

he was but one;
אֶחָ֣ד (’e·ḥāḏ)
Number - masculine singular
Strong's 259: United, one, first

then I blessed him
וַאֲבָרְכֵ֖הוּ (wa·’ă·ḇā·rə·ḵê·hū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Piel - Conjunctive imperfect - first person common singular | third person masculine singular
Strong's 1288: To kneel, to bless God, man, to curse

and multiplied him.
וְאַרְבֵּֽהוּ׃ (wə·’ar·bê·hū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive imperfect - first person common singular | third person masculine singular
Strong's 7235: To be or become much, many or great


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OT Prophets: Isaiah 51:2 Look to Abraham your father (Isa Isi Is)
Isaiah 51:1
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