What does Isaiah 55:9 mean?

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:9, King James Version

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The verse in its chapter

Isaiah 55:7-11

  1. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
  2. 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
  3. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
  4. 10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
  5. 11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Study note

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871) (public domain).

(Psa 57:10; Psa 89:2; Psa 103:11). "For" is repeated from Isa 55:8. But MAURER, after the negation, translates, "but."

Cross references

Other Bible passages linked to this one, most cited first.

About the book of Isaiah

Author
Isaiah son of Amoz (the book's unity is debated) (Isaiah 1:1)
When
prophesied c. 740 to 700 BC
Period
Reino dividido, c. 930 a 586 a.C. (in Portuguese)

Authorship: the book itself or Christian tradition. Approximate dates, as in Carson and Moo, An Introduction to the New Testament, and Longman and Dillard, An Introduction to the Old Testament.

In the Mercy Bible Atlas (in Portuguese)

More verses from Isaiah