Isaiah 21:12
in Isaiah 21The watchman replies, “Morning has come, but also the night. If you would inquire, then inquire. Come back yet again.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will inquire, inquire ye: turn ye, come.
KJV
The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come.
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This verse in Isaiah 21
Commentary
10 notes on this verse520. Second, the refusal of their petition is set out: and the watchman, namely, God, said: the morning comes, the time of liberation for the Jews, also the night of captivity still remains for the Idumeans: but over them only was spread a heavy night …
This site's exposition
One calls to me from Seir
on Isaiah 21:11-12
The burden of Dumah is the shortest of the oracles of the book. A voice calls "from Seir", asking twice, "Watchman, what is left of the night", and the watchman replies, "Morning has come, but also the night". He closes with "Come back yet again", leaving Edom to ask again.
This site's exposition
Morning has come, but also the night
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the morning as deliverance for Judah and the night as judgment on Edom, the reading Obadiah 10 to 21 supports. Gesenius, as they report, takes come back as a call to turn to God and then ask again. The door is left open.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Verse 11, 12.) Oracle concerning Dumah. One calls to me from Seir: 'Watchman, what time of the night? Watchman, what time of the night?' The watchman says: 'Morning comes, and also the night. Seek if you will, inquire if you will, come.' For Dumah they set seventy idols, not over the entire Idumean province, but in a certain region that extends towards the south and is twenty miles distant from the city of Palestine, which is now called Eleutheropolis. Near it are the mountains of Seir, taking their name from Seir, the hairy and shaggy one, that is, Esau.
(Verse 11, 12.) The burden of Dumah: he calls to me out of Seir: Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning comes, and also the night: if you will inquire, inquire: turn back, and come. Vision of Edom, he calls to me out of Seir: Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning comes, and also the night: if you will inquire, inquire: and dwell with me. The Hebrew word for Elai (), which all have interpreted for me, if you wish to read Eli, it means my God, or my strong one. And what we have said, he cries out, or calls, that is, καλεῖ, according to the ambiguity of the Hebrew and Greek language, can be called either 'cry out' or 'call'; and the meaning is: God, who is my guardian, calls me day and night to repentance, so that, leaving Seir, which means 'rough and hairy', I may return and dwell with Him. It sounds like thunder or a likeness, or silence. But Edom turns into earth. Therefore, the Lord speaks to the choir of the Apostles and commands him: Call to me those who are from Seir, so that the multitude of the Gentiles may serve me, which, in the likeness of Esau, has nothing soft, light, and shining in itself, but is rough, wild, and untamed. And you, Apostles, after you have called the nations from Seir to me, guard the fortifications of the Church, so that the enemy may not easily break in: let not the roaring and prowling lion, who seeks an entrance by which he may enter, tear apart and scatter the flock enclosed in the Church. And the multitude of the Church responded: not only in prosperity, but also in adversity, that is, both in day and in night, I will keep your commandments, O God. […]
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The night - The night is past without any mischief, and the light of the morning is approaching; but tho' the morning is coming, it will be gone, and the night will return, and your fears with it.
The watchman said, the morning cometh, and also the night,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The watchman said - Or rather “saith;” indicating that this is the answer which the prophet returned to the inquiry from Idumea. The morning cometh - There are signs of approaching day. The ‘morning’ here is an emblem of prosperity; as the light of the morning succeeds to the darkness of the night. This refers to the deliverance from the captivity of Babylon, and is to be supposed as having been spoken near the time when that captivity was at an end - or nearly at break of day after the long night of their bondage.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Is there a hope of the dawn of deliverance? Isaiah replies, The morning is beginning to dawn (to us); but night is also coming (to you). The Hebrew captives would be delivered, and taunting Edom punished.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
This view is favored by Ob 10-21. if ye will inquire, inquire--If ye choose to consult me again, do so (similar phrases occur in Ge 43:14; Es 4:16). return, come--"Be converted to God (and then), come" [GESENIUS]; you will then receive a more favorable answer. PROPHECY THAT ARABIA WOULD BE OVERRUN BY A FOREIGN FOE WITHIN A YEAR.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
The harsh prophecy of Dumah That is Edom, and so does Scripture say (Ezekiel:32): “Who is like Tyre, like Dumah in the midst of the sea?”
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. 3 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
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אָמַ֣ר | ʾamar | he says | H559 → | 5305 times |
| שֹׁמֵ֔ר | shomer | [the] watchman | H8104 → | 468 times |
| אָתָ֥ה | ʾatah | it will come | H857 → | 21 times |
| בֹ֖קֶר | voker | morning | H1242 → | 214 times |
| וְגַם־ | vegam- | and also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| לָ֑יְלָה | layelah | night | H3915 → | 233 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| תִּבְעָי֥וּן | tivayun | you will enquire ! | H1158 → | 5 times |
| בְּעָ֖יוּ | beayu | enquire | H1158 → | 5 times |
| שֻׁ֥בוּ | shuvu | return | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| אֵתָֽיוּ׃ ס | ʾetayu | come | H857 → | 21 times |
אָמַ֣רhe says
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
שֹׁמֵ֔ר[the] watchman
shomerH8104 →468 times
אָתָ֥הit will come
ʾatahH857 →21 times
בֹ֖קֶרmorning
vokerH1242 →214 times
וְגַם־and also
vegam-H1571 →769 times
לָ֑יְלָהnight
layelahH3915 →233 times
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
תִּבְעָי֥וּןyou will enquire !
tivayunH1158 →5 times
בְּעָ֖יוּenquire
beayuH1158 →5 times
שֻׁ֥בוּreturn
shuvuH7725 →1056 times
אֵתָֽיוּ׃ סcome
ʾetayuH857 →21 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 55:7Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely…
it leads to
- Proverbs 28:13
He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
- James 4:8–10
Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
- Ezekiel 18:21–23
But if the wicked man turns from all the sins he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die.
- Isaiah 44:22
I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.
- Luke 15:10
In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”
- Proverbs 28:13
Through
Isaiah 17:14In the evening, there is sudden terror! Before morning, they are no more! This is the portion of those who loot us and the lot of those who plunder us.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 19:35
And that very night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the…
- Proverbs 22:23
for the LORD will take up their case and will plunder those who rob them.
- Ezekiel 39:10
They will not gather wood from the countryside or cut it from the forests, for they will use the weapons for fuel. They will loot those who looted them and plunder those who plundered…
- 2 Kings 19:35
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Isaiah
This page draws on 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 (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.