Isaiah 1:8
in Isaiah 1And the Daughter of Zion is abandoned like a shelter in a vineyard, like a shack in a cucumber field, like a city besieged.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
KJV
And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
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This verse in Isaiah 1
Commentary
13 notes on this verse(Verse 8) The daughter of Zion will be abandoned like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field. The vineyard, which is called the whole of Israel, is testified to by the Prophet in the following, saying: 'The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel; and the man of Judah, a new plant and beloved' (below chapter 5, verse 7); and in the Psalm: 'You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it' (Psalm 80:9).
This site's exposition
Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire
on Isaiah 1:7-9
The desolation is not future but present, your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire, strangers devouring the land while its own people stand and watch, language the older commentators tie to the Assyrian invasions of Isaiah's own lifetime. Zion left standing amid this ruin is pictured as a cottage in a vineyard, a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, the last flimsy shelter after the harvest is gone, a besieged city with nothing left but the siege. Except the Lord of hosts had left a remnant, Judah's fate would already match Sodom and Gomorrah, and that remnant, spared rather than earned, sets up the direct address to Sodom's rulers that opens the next verse.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
Christ ceased to be in them. The Word deserted them.… The Jews were left behind, and salvation passed to the Gentiles. God meant to spur on the Jews with envy. We contemplate God's mysterious plan, how for our salvation he rejected Israel. We ought to be careful. The Jews were rejected for our sake; on our account they were abandoned. We would deserve even greater punishment if we did nothing worthy of our adoption by God and of his mercy. In his mercy God adopted us and made us his sons [children] in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and power for ages of ages.
(Verse 7) Your land is deserted; your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners devour your land before your eyes, and it is desolate like a hostile wasteland. These things were partially fulfilled under the Babylonians, with the temple being burned and Jerusalem being destroyed, when the Samaritans possessed the region of the ten tribes, and the promised land was so desolate that it was ravaged by lions. But a more complete and perfect description of what would happen under Roman captivity is given: when the Roman army devastated all of Judea, and the cities were burned, and their land is currently being devoured by foreigners, and the desolation of the Jews will continue until the end of the world. However, we can interpret these things tropologically about sinners who have fallen from their former holiness, after they have been handed over to contrary powers: that all their goods come to a desert: and God does not remember the former righteousness: and they are consumed by the fire of the devil; and they become food for beasts, of whom it is also written in another place: Do not give the soul confessing to you to beasts (Ps. 73, 19). (Verse 8) The daughter of Zion will be abandoned like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field. The vineyard, which is called the whole of Israel, is testified to by the Prophet in the following, saying: 'The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel; and the man of Judah, a new plant and beloved' (below chapter 5, verse 7); and in the Psalm: 'You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it' (Psalm 80:9). This vine, as long as it brought forth abundant fruits, had God as its guardian, of whom it is written: 'He does not slumber or sleep, who keeps Israel' (Psalm 121:4). […]
And concerning its desolation, and that no one should be permitted to inhabit it, there was the following prophecy by Isaiah: "Their land is desolate, their enemies consume it before them, and none of them shall dwell therein." And that it is guarded by you lest any one dwell in it, and that death is decreed against a Jew apprehended entering it, you know very well.
Isaiah lived almost [two] thousand years ago and saw Zion in a hut. The city was still standing, beautiful with public squares and clothed in honor; yet he says, "Zion shall be plowed like a field," foretelling what has been fulfilled in our day. Observe the exactness of the prophecy; for he said, "Daughter Zion will be left like a hut in a vineyard, like a shed in a melon patch." Now the place is full of melon patches.
Isaiah is not recalling events that have happened but is announcing events in the future. The prophets customarily use fear to demonstrate the truth of what they are saying.
6 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers1 voice
What therefore? Have these things not come to be? Have the things announced by you not come to fruition? Is not their land, Judah, desolate? Is the holy place not burned? Are their ways not thrown down? Are their cities not laid waste? Do strangers not devour their lands? Do the Romans not rule over their land?
The Medieval Church1 voice
Third, as to the captivity of men: hence he says, the daughter of Zion shall be left, that is, Jerusalem or the temple, from which came the protection of the whole province, as it was solitary and as a covert in a vineyard after the …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in the vineyard,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
As a cottage in a vineyard “As a shed in a vineyard” - A little temporary hut covered with boughs, straw, turf, or the like materials, for a shelter from the heat by day, and the cold and dews by night, for the watchman that kept the garden or vineyard during the short season the fruit was ripening, (see Job 27:18), and presently removed when it had served that purpose. See Harmer’s Observ. 1:4
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Metropolis or "mother-city" is the corresponding term. The idea of youthful beauty is included in "daughter." left--as a remnant escaping the general destruction. cottage--a hut, made to give temporary shelter to the caretaker of the vineyard. lodge--not permanent. besieged--rather, as "left," and Isa 1:9 require, preserved, namely, from the desolation all round [MAURER].
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And the daughter of Zion - Zion, or Sion, was the name of one of the hills on which the city of Jerusalem was built. On this hill formerly stood the city of the Jebusites, and when David took it from them he transferred to it his court, and it was called the city of David, or the holy hill. It was in the southern part of the city. As Zion became the residence of the court, and was the most important part of the city, the name was often used to denote the city itself, and is often applied to the whole of Jerusalem. The phrase ‘daughter of Zion’ here means Zion itself, or Jerusalem. The name daughter is given to it by a personification in accordance with a common custom in Eastern writers, by which beautiful towns and cities are likened to young females. The name mother is also applied in the same way. Perhaps the custom arose from the fact that when a city was built, towns and villages would spring up round it - and the first would be called the mother-city (hence, the word metropolis). The expression was also employed as an image of beauty, from a fancied resemblance between a beautiful town and a beautiful and well-dressed woman. Thus Psa 45:13, the phrase daughter of Tyre, means Tyre itself; Psa 137:8, daughter of Babylon, that is, Babylon; Isa 37:22, ‘The virgin, the daughter of Zion;’ Jer 46:2; Isa 23:12; Jer 14:17; Num 21:23, Num 21:32, (Hebrew); Jdg 11:26. Is left. נותרה nôtherâh. The word used here denotes left as a part or remnant is left - not left entire, or complete, but in a weakened or divided state. As a cottage - literally, “a shade,” or “shelter” - כסכה kesûkkâh, a temporary habitation erected in vineyards to give shelter to the grape gatherers, and to those who were uppointed to watch the vineyard to guard it from depredations; compare the note at Mat 21:33. The following passage from Mr. […]
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְנוֹתְרָ֥ה | venotrah | and she has been left | H3498 → | 106 times |
| בַת־ | vat- | [the] daughter of | H1323 → | 588 times |
| צִיּ֖וֹן | tziyon | Zion | H6726 → | 154 times |
| כְּסֻכָּ֣ה | kesukah | like a shelter | H5521 → | |
| בְכָ֑רֶם | vekharem | in a vineyard | H3754 → | 92 times |
| כִּמְלוּנָ֥ה | kimlunah | like a watchman's hut | H4412 → | |
| בְמִקְשָׁ֖ה | vemikshah | in a cucumber field | H4750 → | |
| כְּעִ֥יר | keir | like a city | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| נְצוּרָֽה׃ | netzurah | besieged | H5341 → | 63 times |
וְנוֹתְרָ֥הand she has been left
venotrahH3498 →106 times
בַת־[the] daughter of
vat-H1323 →588 times
צִיּ֖וֹןZion
tziyonH6726 →154 times
כְּסֻכָּ֣הlike a shelter
kesukahH5521 →
בְכָ֑רֶםin a vineyard
vekharemH3754 →92 times
כִּמְלוּנָ֥הlike a watchman's hut
kimlunahH4412 →
בְמִקְשָׁ֖הin a cucumber field
vemikshahH4750 →
כְּעִ֥ירlike a city
keirH5892 →1090 times
נְצוּרָֽה׃besieged
netzurahH5341 →63 times
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
Isaiah 62:11Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the ends of the earth, “Say to Daughter Zion: See, your Savior comes! Look, His reward is with Him, and His recompense goes before Him.”
it leads to
- Zechariah 9:9
Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of…
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Matthew 21:5
“Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your King comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”
- John 12:15
“Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion. See, your King is coming, seated on the colt of a donkey.”
- Revelation 22:12
“Behold, I am coming soon, and My reward is with Me, to give to each one according to what he has done.
- Isaiah 40:9–10
Go up on a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Raise your voice loudly, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, do not be afraid! Say to the cities of…
- Zechariah 9:9
Through
Zechariah 9:9Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of…
it leads to
- Zephaniah 3:14–15
Sing for joy, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem!
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Matthew 21:4–7
This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
- John 12:13–16
They took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting: “Hosanna!” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the King of Israel!”
- Zephaniah 3:14–15
Where this verse is studied
About Isaiah

Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 13 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lecture 16:18; Hippolytus of Rome, ON THE ANTICHRIST 30; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 1:3; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Justin Martyr, The First Apology, Chapter XLVII; Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 5:4 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.
