And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou hast lied, and hast not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart? have not I held my peace even of old, and thou fearest me not?
And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou hast lied, and hast not remembered me? Israel wished not to seem altogether to have denied God. Therefore they "lied" to Him. God asks, Why dost thou do so? 'Whom dost thou fear? Certainly not me. Thy feeling it needful to dissemble and play the hypocrite to me would seem to imply fear of me: but real fear me is out of the question in thy case; because thou hast not remembered me.
Nor laid (it) to thy heart - rather, 'nor hast Me at heart.
Have not I held my peace even of old, and thou fearest me not? Thou hast no regard for me: and that because I have been long silent, and have not punished thee. Literally, 'have I not held my peace, and that for long? and so thou fearest me not' (Psalms 50:21; Ecclesiastes 8:11). It would be better openly to renounce God than to 'flatter Him' with lies of false profession (Psalms 78:36) (DeDieu). However, Isaiah 51:12-13 ("who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall all die ... and forgettest the Lord thy Maker?") favours the English version of the whole verse: God's "silent" long-suffering, which was intended to lead them to repentance (Romans 2:4-5) caused them to fear man (for instance, the neighbouring idolatrous nations, whose idols they adopted in order to conciliate them), and so 'not to fear Him.'