---
title: Isaiah 42:8
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/isaiah-42-8/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/isaiah-42-8.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Isaiah 42:8
testament: OT
section: Prophets
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Isaiah 42:8

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> I am the LORD; that is My name! I will not yield My glory to another or My praise to idols.

## JW Usage

JWs accept Isaiah 42:8 ("I am Jehovah. That is my name; I give my glory to no one else, nor my praise to graven images") as a foundational monotheism text and use it to argue that worship and divine glory belong exclusively to Jehovah, never to Jesus. The verse is enlisted to defend the Watchtower's two-tier honour system: Jesus may receive "respect" or "obeisance" as God's chief representative, but anything approaching divine worship would violate Isaiah 42:8 by giving Jehovah's exclusive glory to a creature. The Watchtower has stated that "any who use Jesus' name in their worship but fail to give the greater honour to Jehovah do not manifest a genuine love of the light," and Isaiah 42:8 is the proof-text behind that "greater honour" claim.

## Protestant Usage

Isaiah 42:8 is a logical fork the Watchtower cannot escape. Jehovah declares his glory non-transferable: he gives it "to no one else." Yet in John 17:5, Jesus prays to receive back "the glory I had with you before the world was" — pre-existent shared glory between Father and Son. The two statements are only consistent if Jesus is Jehovah; any other reading forces Jehovah to violate his own oath. Isaiah 48:11 doubles the point ("for my own sake I will act, for how could I let myself be profaned? I will not give my glory to anyone else"). Then Isaiah 42:8 turns into a hammer when paired with Revelation 5:13, where every creature in heaven and earth gives "blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever" jointly to "the One sitting on the throne and to the Lamb." Either John saw the universe commit cosmic idolatry, or Jesus is the same Jehovah whose glory cannot be given to another. The same fork appears in John 5:23: the Father "has given all the judging to the Son, so that all may honour the Son just as (kathōs) they honour the Father." Equal honour to a creature would breach Isaiah 42:8; equal honour to Jesus is mandated. Only Trinitarian Christology resolves the tension without making Jehovah a liar.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Jesus Shared Jehovah's Glory](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/john17-glory.md) — John 17:5 [Deity of Christ]
- [The Incarnation Framework](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/philippians2.md) — Philippians 2:5–8 [Deity of Christ]
- [The Law of Agency Doesn't Work](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/law-of-agency.md) — Agents Are Never Called God [Deity of Christ]
- [Jehovah Alone Is Saviour — Yet Jesus Saves](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/isaiah43-saviour.md) — Isaiah 43:11 / Acts 4:12 / Titus 2:13 [Deity of Christ]
- [Honour the Son Just As You Honour the Father](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/john5-equal-honour.md) — John 5:22-23 / Isaiah 42:8 / Revelation 5:13-14 [Deity of Christ]
- [The Lamb Receives Identical Worship to God](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/revelation5-lamb-worship.md) — Revelation 5:12-14 / Revelation 22:8-9 / Isaiah 42:8 [Deity of Christ]
- [The Salvation-Name Dilemma](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/salvation-name-dilemma.md) — Old Testament — only Jehovah's name saves. New Testament — only Jesus' name saves. [Deity of Christ]
- [Until Now You Have Not Asked in My Name](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/john-16-23-26-prayer-trap.md) — John 16:23-26 — the unitarian collapse on prayer [Deity of Christ]
- [Sharing a Role Is Not Sharing Who God Is](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/god-alone-shared-or-identity.md) — Isaiah 44:24 / 1 Corinthians 6:2-3 / Job 38:7 — when 'God alone' texts allow others in, and when they don't [Deity of Christ]
- [David's Son, David's Lord](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/psalm-110-my-lord.md) — Psalm 110:1 / Matthew 22:41-46 — the question Jesus asked that nobody could answer [Deity of Christ]