Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.

ISAIAH 45:8KJV
Know the Bible

Isaiah 45:8 (KJV)

What does Isaiah 45:8 mean?

Isaiah 45:8 pictures the LORD bringing about what is right and bringing rescue to his people. The verse presents these as things God creates, rather than merely human achievements. “Righteousness” means what is right and just; “salvation” means rescue or deliverance.

The verse uses the picture of rain falling from the sky and plants growing from the ground. Heaven and earth are called on to produce a harvest, but the final words identify the LORD as its creator: “I the LORD have created it.”

The Hebrew behind Isaiah 45:8

  • “righteousness” — צֶדֶק (tsedeq): This word often means what is right or just. Here, it is pictured as rain pouring from the skies, suggesting something given in abundance.

  • “salvation” — יֶשַׁע (yeshaʿ): This word means deliverance or rescue. In the image of the earth opening, rescue appears like a crop coming up from the ground.

  • “created” — בָּרָא (baraʾ): This word means to create or bring something into being. Its use at the end gives weight to the LORD’s claim that the harvest comes from him.

Why Isaiah 45:8 matters

  • The verse joins rescue with what is right. “Salvation” and “righteousness” spring up “together,” so the picture presents them as belonging to the same harvest.

  • The picture connects the LORD’s rule over nature with his actions in history. After verse 7 names light, darkness, peace, and evil, verse 8 turns to rain and growth as images of what the LORD brings about.

  • The surrounding passage gives the promise a particular setting. Isaiah 45 names Cyrus as the ruler the LORD will use, and verse 13 says Cyrus will let God’s exiled people go free.

Where else these words appear

“down” Hebrew H7491 · used in 5 verses

  • Job 36:28 Which the clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly.
  • Psalms 65:11 Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.
  • Psalms 65:12 They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: and the little hills rejoice on every side.

“down” Hebrew H5140 · used in 16 verses

  • Exodus 15:8 And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
  • Psalms 78:16 He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
  • Song of Solomon 4:16 Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.

“skies” Hebrew H7834 · used in 21 verses

  • Deuteronomy 33:26 There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.
  • Job 38:37 Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,
  • Psalms 89:6 For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?

“forth” Hebrew H6509 · used in 28 verses

  • Genesis 1:22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
  • Genesis 35:11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;
  • Psalms 105:24 And he increased his people greatly; and made them stronger than their enemies.