---
title: Isaiah 45:23
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/isaiah-45-23/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/isaiah-45-23.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Isaiah 45:23
testament: OT
section: Prophets
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Isaiah 45:23

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> 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.

## JW Usage

JWs cite Isaiah 45:23 freely as a Jehovah text — every knee bowing and every tongue swearing belongs to Jehovah alone, the Almighty God who has sworn by himself. They use it to underline the exclusive worship of Jehovah and the impossibility of divided allegiance. The conversation becomes uncomfortable only when Philippians 2:10-11 is brought into the picture, because Paul applies this same Jehovah-only homage to Jesus Christ — at which point JWs typically retreat to "Jesus is the agent through whom this honour reaches Jehovah," reframing the verse as pointing past Jesus rather than to him.

## Protestant Usage

Isaiah 45:23 is one of the most jealous monotheistic texts in Scripture. Jehovah swears by himself ("I have sworn by myself") that every knee will bow to him and every tongue swear allegiance to him. In its original context this honour cannot be shared with any creature — verses 21-22 explicitly deny that there is "any other God besides me." Paul then takes precisely this passage and applies it to Jesus at Philippians 2:10-11: "every knee should bow… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." The vocabulary is identical to the LXX of Isaiah 45:23. Paul cannot be giving to Jesus what Isaiah's Jehovah refuses to share with any creature unless Jesus is included within the identity of Jehovah. The same Pauline move appears at Romans 14:11, where Paul again quotes Isaiah 45:23 in a context that drives toward Christ's lordship over the dead and the living. Isaiah 44:24 ("I am Jehovah, who made everything… by myself") and Isaiah 45:23 form a matched pair the apostles repeatedly load onto Jesus.

## NWT Issue

The NWT renders Isaiah 45:23 itself with "Jehovah" — the verse is OT Hebrew and contains the Tetragrammaton, so this is unremarkable. The divergence appears at the cross-reference: when Paul quotes Isaiah 45:23 at Philippians 2:10-11, the NWT's stated rule is that kyrios in NT quotations of YHWH passages should be rendered "Jehovah." But doing so at Philippians 2:11 would yield "Jesus Christ is Jehovah," so the NWT retains "Lord." At the parallel quotation in Romans 14:11 — where the immediate referent is less explicitly Christ — the NWT does insert "Jehovah." Same OT source, two different treatments, divided along whether the result would identify Jesus as YHWH. The master divergence table flags Philippians 2:11 as a "High" doorstep-utility verse for exactly this reason; Isaiah 45:23 is the Old Testament half of the same case.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Incarnation Framework](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/philippians2.md) — Philippians 2:5–8 [Deity of Christ]
- [The 237 Additions — Zero Manuscript Evidence](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/tetragrammaton-insertion.md) — Not one Greek NT manuscript contains Jehovah's name — so why does the NWT insert it 237 times? [NWT Translation]
- [The Christian Shema — Paul Splits the Shema to Include Jesus](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/christian-shema.md) — 1 Corinthians 8:6 / Deuteronomy 6:4 / Isaiah 44:24 [Deity of Christ]
- [The Son Hands Over the Kingdom — 1 Corinthians 15:24-28](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/1corinthians15-subjection.md) — 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 / John 17:5 / Philippians 2:9-11 [Deity of Christ]
- [Proskuneo — Same Word, Different Translation](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/proskuneo-worship-obeisance.md) — Hebrews 1:6, Matthew 14:33, Revelation 5:14 [NWT Translation]
- [No New Testament Command to Use 'Jehovah'](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/jehovah-name-no-NT-mandate.md) — The NT's only command about the saving name redirects it to Jesus [Deity of Christ]
- [Every Title For Yahweh Is Given To Jesus](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/yahweh-titles-applied-to-jesus.md) — Isaiah 44:6 / Acts 4:12 / Romans 10:9 / Hosea 13:4 / Revelation 22:13 [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]
- [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]