Isaiah 18:5
in Isaiah 18For before the harvest, when the blossom is gone and the flower becomes a ripening grape, He will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife and remove and discard the branches.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becometh a ripening grape, he will cut off the sprigs with pruning-hooks, and the spreading branches will he take away and cut down.
KJV
For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.
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This verse in Isaiah 18
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
For afore the harvest - This verse is evidently figurative, and the image is drawn from that which is commenced in the previous verse. There, God is represented as calmly regarding the plans of the people here referred to - as the sun shines serenely on the herb, or the dew falls on the grass. “That” figure supposes that they had “formed” plans, and that they were advancing to maturity, like a growing harvest, while God surveyed them without interposition.
This site's exposition
I will take my rest
on Isaiah 18:4-7
The Lord answers the alarm of the ensign with a picture of undisturbed watching, taking his rest and considering from his dwelling place like clear heat upon herbs or a cloud of dew in harvest heat, waiting rather than rushing to intervene. Before harvest, while the bud still forms and the grape only begins to ripen, he cuts off the sprigs and takes away the branches himself, leaving them to mountain birds and beasts through summer and winter, judgment pictured as a vinedresser's own pruning rather than an enemy's invasion. The oracle ends where these burdens increasingly point, a present brought to the Lord of hosts from this same scattered and peeled people to the place of his name, mount Zion, which Matthew Henry and Franz Delitzsch both read toward a future ingathering of nations without pressing the identification onto any single people of their own day.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Vs. 4 and following) Because this is what the Lord says to me, I will rest and observe in my place: just as the bright midday light is, and like the clouds of dew in the day of harvest. Before the harvest, the whole field has blossomed, and the immature perfection will sprout, and its branches will be cut off by the sickle: and what has been left behind will be cut off, shaken off.
(Verse 5, 6.) For before the harvest it had flowered entirely, and immature perfection had sprouted, and its small branches will be cut with sickles, and whatever has been left behind will be cut off and shaken off. And they will be left with the birds of the mountains and the animals of the earth, and they will have perpetual summer over them, and all the animals of the earth will winter upon it.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Third, where it says, before the harvest, he describes a metaphor of the punishment, namely through the destruction of fruit in the field, and he sets out three things. First, as to the ruin of the fruit which is ruined in the flower, when it …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
For - Before they receive the end of their hopes. When - When the bud or flower is turned into a grape, which gives hopes of good vintage. The branches - Instead of gathering the grapes, shall cut down the tree, and throw it into the fire.
And they shall be left to the fowls of the mountains, and the beasts of the earth, to prey upon, both winter and summer; for as God's people are protected all seasons of the year, both in cold and heat (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
For afore the harvest,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
God will not only disconcert their present plans, but prevent them forming any future ones. HORSLEY takes the "harvest" and vintage here as referring to purifying judgments which cause the excision of the ungodly from the earth, and the placing of the faithful in a state of peace on the earth: not the last judgment (Joh 15:2;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The flower “The blossom” - Hebrews her blossom; נצה nitstsah, that is, the blossom of the vine, גפן gephen, vine, understood, which is of the common gender. See Gen 40:10. Note, that by the defective punctuation of this word, many interpreters, and our translators among the rest, have been led into a grievous mistake, (for how can the swelling grape become a blossom?) taking the word נצה nitstsah for the predicate; whereas it is the subject of the proposition, or the nominative case to the verb.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
For before the ripening of the harvest of Amalek and of Gog, when he has not yet filled his desire and his hope, that he plans to destroy his brothers.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
I will rest from paying Esau his just deserts; I will turn away from all My affairs and I will look down upon My dwelling-place to do good to it.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 2 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| לִפְנֵ֤י | lifnei | <to> before | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| קָצִיר֙ | katzir | harvest | H7105 → | 54 times |
| כְּתָם־ | ketom- | when is finished | H8552 → | 63 times |
| פֶּ֔רַח | perach | bud[s] | H6525 → | |
| וּבֹ֥סֶר | uvoser | and unripe grape[s] | H1155 → | |
| גֹּמֵ֖ל | gomel | ripening | H1580 → | 37 times |
| יִֽהְיֶ֣ה | yihyeh | it will become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| נִצָּ֑ה | nitzah | blossom | H5328 → | |
| וְכָרַ֤ת | vekharat | and he will cut off | H3772 → | 288 times |
| הַזַּלְזַלִּים֙ | hazalzalim | the shoots | H2150 → | |
| בַּמַּזְמֵר֔וֹת | bamazmerot | with <the> pruning knives | H4211 → | |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַנְּטִישׁ֖וֹת | hanetishot | the tendrils | H5189 → | |
| הֵסִ֥יר | hesir | he will remove | H5493 → | 299 times |
| הֵתַֽז׃ | hetaz | he will cut away | H8456 → |
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
לִפְנֵ֤י<to> before
lifneiH6440 →2123 times
קָצִיר֙harvest
katzirH7105 →54 times
כְּתָם־when is finished
ketom-H8552 →63 times
פֶּ֔רַחbud[s]
perachH6525 →
וּבֹ֥סֶרand unripe grape[s]
uvoserH1155 →
גֹּמֵ֖לripening
gomelH1580 →37 times
יִֽהְיֶ֣הit will become
yihyehH1961 →3559 times
נִצָּ֑הblossom
nitzahH5328 →
וְכָרַ֤תand he will cut off
vekharatH3772 →288 times
הַזַּלְזַלִּים֙the shoots
hazalzalimH2150 →
בַּמַּזְמֵר֔וֹתwith <the> pruning knives
bamazmerotH4211 →
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
הַנְּטִישׁ֖וֹתthe tendrils
hanetishotH5189 →
הֵסִ֥ירhe will remove
hesirH5493 →299 times
הֵתַֽז׃he will cut away
hetazH8456 →
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
Song of Solomon 2:15Catch for us the foxes—the little foxes that ruin the vineyards—for our vineyards are in bloom.
it leads to
- Luke 13:32
But Jesus replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘Look, I will keep driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach My goal.’
- 2 Peter 2:1–3
Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on…
- Song of Solomon 7:12
Let us go early to the vineyards to see if the vine has budded, if the blossom has opened, if the pomegranates are in bloom—there I will give you my love.
- Psalms 80:13
The boar from the forest ravages it, and the creatures of the field feed upon it.
- Ezekiel 13:4–16
Your prophets, O Israel, are like foxes among the ruins.
- Luke 13:32
Through
Song of Solomon 2:13The fig tree ripens its figs; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come away, my darling; come away with me, my beautiful one.”
it leads to
- Song of Solomon 2:10
My beloved calls to me, “Arise, my darling. Come away with me, my beautiful one.
- Luke 13:6–7
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.
- Isaiah 55:10–11
For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, making it bud and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat,
- Song of Solomon 2:10
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); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.