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Isaiah 55 · a question people ask

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts" (55:8). Does this mean God can't be understood?

In the text

The verses say how far apart they are: "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (55:9). They don't say that nothing of his thoughts can be known. They stand in the chapter's own order. Just before, the wicked is told to forsake "his way" and "his thoughts" and to return to the LORD, "for he will freely pardon" (55:7), and 55:8 opens with For. Two verses on comes the word that "will not return to me void" (55:11). And the chapter's call is to listen: "Listen diligently to me" (55:2), "Hear, and your soul will live" (55:3). The chapter on Psalm 92 sets 55:8-9 beside "Your thoughts are very deep" (Psalm 92:5). These notes say no more than the verses say.

The verses

“Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which doesn’t satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in richness. Turn your ear, and come to me. Hear, and your soul will live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.”
Isaiah 55:2-3 · World English Bible
“How great are your works, LORD! Your thoughts are very deep.”
Psalm 92:5 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Isaiah 55

Isaiah 55: Come to the waters

Isaiah's last hoy is the WEB's only "Hey!" (55:1), a call to buy "without money" (55:1). The wicked is told to forsake "his way" and "his thoughts" (55:7), the same Hebrew words as the higher ways and thoughts of 55:8-9. And Paul gives 55:3's words, "the holy and sure blessings of David" (Acts 13:34), in speaking of Jesus raised from the dead.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions