---
title: Isaiah 8:13
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/isaiah-8-13/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/isaiah-8-13.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Isaiah 8:13
testament: OT
section: Prophets
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Isaiah 8:13

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> The LORD of Hosts is the One you shall regard as holy. Only He should be feared; only He should be dreaded.

## JW Usage

Isaiah 8:13 — "Jehovah of armies, he is the One you should regard as holy" — is read by the Watchtower as a clear command to sanctify Jehovah, the Father, in the heart. The JW reading does not engage 1 Peter 3:15's New Testament citation, where the same command is applied to Christ.

## Protestant Usage

Isaiah 8:13's command to "regard as holy" Jehovah of armies is quoted by Peter at 1 Peter 3:15 — and Peter applies it directly to Christ: "but sanctify the Christ as Lord in your hearts." The sanctifying-Jehovah-in-the-heart command of Isaiah 8:13 becomes, in apostolic application, the sanctifying-Christ-as-Lord command of 1 Peter 3:15. The transposition is not loose — it is one of the New Testament's clearest applications of an Old Testament Jehovah-text to Jesus. The NWT's selective Tetragrammaton- insertion practice is most exposed here: the NWT does not insert "Jehovah" at 1 Peter 3:15 (where it would identify Jesus as Jehovah), even though the verse echoes Isaiah 8:13. Pair with Romans 10:13 (where Joel 2:32's "calling on Jehovah" is applied to calling on Jesus, but the NWT inserts "Jehovah" because the surrounding context is ambiguous) for the documented selectivity pattern.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [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]