Isaiah 15:7
in Isaiah 15So they carry their wealth and belongings over the Brook of the Willows.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, shall they carry away over the brook of the willows.
KJV
Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows.
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This verse in Isaiah 15
Commentary
10 notes on this verse(Verse 7) Finally, they will be led to the valley or torrent of willows, so that no fruit remains in them. For they say that this is the nature of the seeds of these trees, that whoever drinks it in a cup will be barren. Hence the holy ones who, because of their sins, began to be in the confusion of this world, hang their organs in the willows of the Babylonian rivers (Ps. CXXXVI).
This site's exposition
the abundance they have gotten
on Isaiah 15:7-9
The abundance they have gotten describes refugees carrying what wealth they can to the brook of the willows, traditionally placed at the boundary stream between Moab and Edom, real geography marking the edge of escape. The cry of ruin is heard at both ends of Moab's territory, Eglaim and Beer-elim, naming the whole land rather than one city. Dimon's waters running full of blood, with more judgment and lions still promised on the remnant that escapes, closes the burden on an intensifying note, the wordplay between Dimon and the Hebrew word for blood noted by the philological commentators.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 7.) According to the magnitude of the work and the visitation of them: lead them to the river of willows. Concerning the willows, we read in Hebrew Arabim (), which can be understood both as Arabs and as Orvim (), that is, a village situated on their borders, of which it is said by many inhabitants that it provided sustenance to the prophet Elijah on Mount Horeb: this name is transferred due to ambiguity to both crows and the West, and to open places. The meaning, however, is: the visitation will correspond to the magnitude of the illness. Receive this visitation not for healing, but for punishment. I will visit, He says, with a rod their iniquities, and with stripes their sins (Ps. 88:33). Receive the rivers of Babylon, like a torrent of willows, concerning which David said, In the midst thereof we have hung up our organs on the willows (Ps. 136:2); or the valley of Arabia, through which one must pass to the Assyrians.
The Medieval Church1 voice
442. According to the greatness. Here the reckoning of the magnitude of their punishment is set out: their work, of sin; their visitation, vengeance: according to the measure of the sin shall the measure also of the stripes be (Deut 25:2). 443. They shall lead …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Naomi went to sojourn there when there was a famine in Canaan. This is the country which (it is here foretold) should be wasted and grievously harassed, not quite ruined, for we find another prophecy of its ruin ( Jer. xlviii. ), which was accomplished by Nebuchadnezzar. This prophecy here was to be fulfilled within three years ( ch. xvi.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
In times of distress great riches are often great burdens, and do but increase the owner's care or the enemies' strength. Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator--The penniless traveller will exult, when accosted by a robber, in having nothing about him. The waters of Dimon are turned into blood (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up,....
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Therefore, the abundance they have gotten - Their wealth they shall remove from a place that is utterly burned up with drought, where the waters and the grass fail, to another place where they may find water. To the brook of willows - Margin, ‘The valley of the Arabians.’ The Septuagint renders it, ‘I will lead them to the valley of the Arabians, and they shall take it.’ So Saadias. It might, perhaps, be called the valley of the Arabians, because it was the boundary line between them and Arabia on the south.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Therefore--because of the devastation of the land. abundance--literally, "that which is over and above" the necessaries of life. brook of . . . willows--The fugitives flee from Nimrim, where the waters have failed, to places better watered. Margin has "valley of Arabians"; that is, to the valley on the boundary between them and Arabia-Petræa; now Wady-el Arabah.
“Shall perish” - אבדו abadu or אבדה abadeh. This word seems to have been lost out of the text: it is supplied by the parallel place, Jer 48:36. The Syriac expresses it by עבר aber, praeteriit, “he hath passed;” and the Chaldee by יתבזזון yithbazezun, diripientur. To the brook of the willows “To the valley of willows” - That is, to Babylon. Hieron. and Jarchi in loc., both referring to Psa 137:2. So likewise Prideaux, Le Clerc, etc.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עַל־ | ʾal- | there- | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כֵּ֖ן | ken | -fore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| יִתְרָ֣ה | yitrah | [the] wealth | H3502 → | |
| עָשָׂ֑ה | ʾasah | [which] it has made | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| וּפְקֻדָּתָ֔ם | ufekudatam | and store their | H6486 → | 32 times |
| עַ֛ל | ʾal | over | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| נַ֥חַל | nachal | [the] wadi of | H5158 → | 141 times |
| הָעֲרָבִ֖ים | haaravim | the poplars | H6155 → | |
| יִשָּׂאֽוּם׃ | yisaum | they carry off them | H5375 → | 656 times |
עַל־there-
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
כֵּ֖ן-fore
kenH3651 →771 times
יִתְרָ֣ה[the] wealth
yitrahH3502 →
עָשָׂ֑ה[which] it has made
ʾasahH6213 →2628 times
וּפְקֻדָּתָ֔םand store their
ufekudatamH6486 →32 times
עַ֛לover
ʾalH5921 →5755 times
נַ֥חַל[the] wadi of
nachalH5158 →141 times
הָעֲרָבִ֖יםthe poplars
haaravimH6155 →
יִשָּׂאֽוּם׃they carry off them
yisaumH5375 →656 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 10:6I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the…
it leads to
- Isaiah 9:17
Therefore the Lord takes no pleasure in their young men; He has no compassion on their fatherless and widows. For every one of them is godless and wicked, and every mouth speaks folly. Despite…
- Zechariah 10:5
They will be like mighty men in battle, trampling the enemy in the mire of the streets. They will fight because the LORD is with them, and they will put the horsemen to shame.
- Jeremiah 47:6–7
‘Alas, O sword of the LORD, how long until you rest? Return to your sheath; cease and be still!’
- Isaiah 9:17
Through
Isaiah 5:29Their roaring is like that of a lion; they roar like young lions. They growl and seize their prey; they carry it away from deliverance.
it leads to
- Isaiah 42:22
But this is a people plundered and looted, all trapped in caves or imprisoned in dungeons. They have become plunder with no one to rescue them, and loot with no one to say, “Send…
- Isaiah 49:24–25
Can the plunder be snatched from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be delivered?
- Zechariah 11:3
Listen to the wailing of the shepherds, for their glory is in ruins. Listen to the roaring of the young lions, for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed.
- Micah 5:8
Then the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which…
- Isaiah 42:22
Through
Jeremiah 48:36Therefore My heart laments like a flute for Moab; it laments like a flute for the men of Kir-heres, because the wealth they acquired has perished.
it leads to
- Isaiah 16:11
Therefore my heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir-heres.
- Isaiah 16:11
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 on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.