Isaiah 1:30
in Isaiah 1For you will become like an oak whose leaves are withered, like a garden without water.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.
KJV
For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.
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This verse in Isaiah 1
Commentary
8 notes on this verseWhose leaf “Whose leaves” - Twenty-six of Kennicott’s, twenty-four of De Rossi’s, one ancient, of my own, and seven editions, read אליה aleyha, in its full and regular form. This is worth remarking, as it accounts for a great number of anomalies of the like kind, which want only the same authority to rectify them.
This site's exposition
Zion shall be redeemed with judgment
on Isaiah 1:27-31
Zion shall be redeemed with judgment pairs two words the chapter has kept apart until now, judgment as the very means of the redemption rather than its opposite, her converts turning back by way of the same righteousness that condemned them. The oaks and gardens named in verse twenty nine point at the groves used in Canaanite worship, planted for the shade and for the god believed to live in it, and the shame promised is the shame of trusting a tree that itself is dying, a leaf fading, a garden without water. The chapter's last image turns the guilty into their own fuel, the strong as tow and the maker of it as a spark, both burning together with nothing to quench them, judgment that needs no outside fire because the sin has already supplied it.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
In the beginning of his whole book, the prophet saw the "vision against Judah and against Jerusalem." After listing all the many transgressions of the Jewish people and warning them about the complete destruction of Jerusalem, he brought to an end the spiritual sayings concerning them.
(Verse 30) For they will be like a terebinth tree with falling leaves; and like a garden, or a paradise, without water. Until today, the Jews reading the holy Scriptures are like terebinth trees or oaks, as Symmachus interpreted. And according to the Gospel (Matthew 21), the withered fig tree, from which the Lord sought fruits and did not find any, he cursed with eternal dryness.
The Medieval Church1 voice
65. When you shall be. Here he places the subtraction of good. And first, of that which pertains to protection and adornment, which is signified by the removal of leaves; second, of that which pertains to fruit, where it says, as a garden, which is …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
oak--Ye shall be like the "oaks," the object of your "desire" (Isa 1:29). People become like the gods they worship; they never rise above their level (Ps 135:18). So men's sins become their own scourges (Jer 2:9).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For ye ... - The mention of the tree in the previous verse, gives the prophet occasion for the beautiful image in this. They had desired the oak, and they should be like it. That, when the frost came, was divested of its beauty, and its leaves faded, and fell; so should their beauty and privileges and happiness, as a people, fade away at the anger of God. A garden that hath no water - That is therefore withered and parched up; where nothing would flourish, but where all would be desolation - a most striking image of the approaching desolation of the Jewish nation. In Eastern countries this image would be more striking than with us. In these hot regions, a constant supply of water is necessary for the cultivation, and even for the very existence and preservation of a garden. Should it lack water for a few days, everything in it would be burned up with neat and totally destroyed. In all gardens, therefore, in those regions; there must be a constant supply of water, either from some neighboring river, or from some fountain or reservoir within it. To secure such a fountain became an object of indispensable importance, not only for the coolness and pleasantness of the garden, but for the very existence of the vegetation. Dr. Russell, in his Natural History of Aleppo, says, that ‘all the gardens of Aleppo are on the banks of the river that runs by that city, or on the sides of the rill that supplies their aqueduct;’ and all the rest of the country he represents as perfectly burned up in the summer months, the gardens only retaining their verdure, on account of the moistness of their situation.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| תִֽהְי֔וּ | tihyu | you will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| כְּאֵלָ֖ה | keelah | like an oak | H424 → | |
| נֹבֶ֣לֶת | novelet | [which is] withering | H5034 → | 25 times |
| עָלֶ֑הָ | ʾaleha | <of> leafage its | H5929 → | 18 times |
| וּֽכְגַנָּ֔ה | ukheganah | and like a garden | H1593 → | 12 times |
| אֲשֶׁר־ | ʾasher- | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| מַ֖יִם | mayim | water | H4325 → | 581 times |
| אֵ֥ין | ʾein | not | H369 → | 789 times |
| לָֽהּ׃ | lah | [belongs] to it |
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
תִֽהְי֔וּyou will be
tihyuH1961 →3559 times
כְּאֵלָ֖הlike an oak
keelahH424 →
נֹבֶ֣לֶת[which is] withering
noveletH5034 →25 times
עָלֶ֑הָ<of> leafage its
ʾalehaH5929 →18 times
וּֽכְגַנָּ֔הand like a garden
ukheganahH1593 →12 times
אֲשֶׁר־which
ʾasher-H834 →5497 times
מַ֖יִםwater
mayimH4325 →581 times
אֵ֥יןnot
ʾeinH369 →789 times
לָֽהּ׃[belongs] to it
lah
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 21:19Seeing a fig tree by the road, He went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. “May you never bear fruit again!” He said. And immediately the tree withered.
it leads to
- Mark 11:14
Then He said to the tree, “May no one ever eat of your fruit again.” And His disciples heard this statement.
- John 15:6
If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned.
- Titus 1:16
They profess to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.
- Luke 3:9
The axe lies ready at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
- Luke 13:6–9
Then Jesus told this parable: “A man had a fig tree that was planted in his vineyard. He went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any.
- Mark 11:14
Through
Ezekiel 17:24Then all the trees of the field will know that I am the LORD. I bring the tall tree down and make the low tree tall. I dry up the green tree and make…
it leads to
- Amos 9:11
“In that day I will restore the fallen tent of David. I will repair its gaps, restore its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old,
- 1 Corinthians 1:27–28
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
- Amos 9:11
Through
Isaiah 5:6I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and thorns and briers will grow up. I will command the clouds that rain shall not fall on it.”
it leads to
- Isaiah 7:23–25
And on that day, in every place that had a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver, only briers and thorns will be found.
- Isaiah 7:23–25
Where this verse is studied
About Isaiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Eusebius of Caesarea, PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 2:3; George Adam Smith, The Book of Isaiah, Expositor's Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.