Isaiah 55:11

God's word God's faithfulness God's power and sovereignty

⁹ “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

¹⁰ For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, making it bud and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat,

so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.

¹² You will indeed go out with joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

¹³ Instead of the thornbush, a cypress will grow, and instead of the brier, a myrtle will spring up; they will make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign, never to be destroyed.”

Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.
KJV: 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.
WEB: so is my word that goes out of my mouth: it will not return to me void, but it will accomplish that which I please, and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do.
ASV: 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.
DARBY: so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall do that which I please, and it shall accomplish that for which I send it.
BLB: so is My word that goes forth from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty until it has done that which I delight, and it will prosper for that which I send it.

ÅB: slik skal mitt ord være, som går ut av min munn; det skal ikke vende tomt tilbake til meg, men det skal gjøre det jeg vil, og lykkelig utføre det som jeg sender det til.
OTB: slik er mitt ord som går ut fra min munn: det vil ikke vende tilbake til meg tomt, men vil utføre det jeg ønsker og lykkes med det jeg sendte det til.
B1930: således skal mitt ord være, som går ut av min munn; det skal ikke vende tomt tilbake til mig, men det skal gjøre det jeg vil, og lykkelig utføre det som jeg sender det til.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Matthew 24:35
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
Read in context
Isaiah 46:10
I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’
Read in context
Romans 10:17
Consequently, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
Read in context
John 6:63
The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
Read in context
Isaiah 45:23
By Myself I have sworn; truth has gone out from My mouth, a word that will not be revoked: Every knee will bow before Me, every tongue will swear allegiance.
Read in context
Luke 8:11–16
Now this is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.
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1 Corinthians 1:18
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Read in context
1 Thessalonians 2:13
And we continually thank God because, when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as the true word of God—the word which is now at work in you who believe.
Read in context