Isaiah 22:3
in Isaiah 22All your rulers have fled together, captured without a bow. All your fugitives were captured together, having fled to a distant place.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
All thy rulers fled away together, they were bound by the archers; all that were found of thee were bound together; they fled afar off.
KJV
All thy rulers are fled together, they are bound by the archers: all that are found in thee are bound together, which have fled from far.
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This verse in Isaiah 22
Commentary
9 notes on this verse(v. 3) All your leaders have fled together and have been harshly bound. In this place, we have followed the Septuagint interpretation, as it does not differ much in meaning from the Hebrew. However, in order to transfer the word from word from Hebrew, it is read among them as follows: All your leaders have migrated together, they have been bound by the bow. This edition has been followed by other interpreters as well.
This site's exposition
All thy rulers are fled together
on Isaiah 22:3-4
The rulers who should have led the defense are gone before the city falls, bound together with the very archers sent to bind others, and even those who fled the farthest are taken. Isaiah's own response breaks into the oracle in the first person, look away from me, I will weep bitterly, a prophet refusing the comfort his hearers might offer because the grief is not performance but real sorrow for his own people. Henry and Gill both read the shift to first person as the mark of a true prophet, one who never delivers judgment on his nation without feeling its weight himself. The spoiling of the daughter of my people names Jerusalem as kin, not merely as a subject of the oracle.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(V. 3.) Your killed ones were not killed by the sword, nor dead in battle. All your princes fled together: and were severely bound. All those who were found, were bound together: they fled far away. If you refer to the times of Sennacherib, when the city was partly captured, it is rightly said that they were not defeated by the sword, nor killed in battle, but by treachery, while some fled from the city; others, whom the enemy oppressed, were bound in chains. But if we speak of the captivity in Babylon, which is truer: we shall say that they were overcome not by battle, but by siege. But if you wish to interpret it tropologically with respect to the coming of Christ, according to Eusebius: you will say that they were killed not by the sword, but by unfaithfulness, and that all their leaders have turned away from God and have been bound by the cords of sins, and that there was no Pharisee who was not bound by the snares of the devil.
The Medieval Church1 voice
As to fugitives, namely the princes who were taken and bound, as it says in Jeremiah 52; all the princes: her princes are become like rams that find no pastures (Lam 1:6); as to those taken in the city, who were similarly captured: all that …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
All thy rulers are fled together,....
The great grief which this should occasion to all serious sensible people among them, which is represented by the prophet's laying the thing to heart himself; he lived to see it, and was resolved to share with the children of his people in their sorrows,
A reproof given them for their misconduct in that distress, in two things:-- (1.) Not having an eye to God in the use of the means of their preservation,
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
All thy rulers - are bound by the archers “All thy leaders - are fled from the bow” - There seems to be somewhat of an inconsistency in the sense according to the present reading. If the leaders were bound, אסרו usseru, how could they flee away? for their being bound, according to the obvious construction and course of the sentence, is a circumstance prior to their flight. I therefore follow Houbigant, who reads הסרו huseru, remoti sunt, “they are gone off.” גלו galu, transmigraverunt, Chaldee; which seems to confirm this emendation.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
All thy rulers are fled together - The general idea in this verse is plain. It is designed to describe the consternation which would take place on the approach of the invader, and especially the timidity and flight of those on whom the city relied for protection and defense. Hence, instead of entering calmly and firmly on the work of defense, no inconsiderable part of the rulers of the city are represented as fleeing from the city, and refusing to remain to protect the capital.
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| קְצִינַ֥יִךְ | ketzinayikh | rulers your | H7101 → | 12 times |
| נָֽדְדוּ־ | nadedu- | they have fled | H5074 → | 28 times |
| יַ֖חַד | yachad | together | H3162 → | 141 times |
| מִקֶּ֣שֶׁת | mikeshet | from a bow | H7198 → | 76 times |
| אֻסָּ֑רוּ | ʾusaru | they have been captured | H631 → | 72 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| נִמְצָאַ֙יִךְ֙ | nimtzaayikh | found [ones] your | H4672 → | 455 times |
| אֻסְּר֣וּ | ʾuseru | they were captured | H631 → | 72 times |
| יַחְדָּ֔ו | yachdav | together | H3162 → | 141 times |
| מֵרָח֖וֹק | merachok | from a distance | H7350 → | 84 times |
| בָּרָֽחוּ׃ | barachu | they had fled | H1272 → |
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
קְצִינַ֥יִךְrulers your
ketzinayikhH7101 →12 times
נָֽדְדוּ־they have fled
nadedu-H5074 →28 times
יַ֖חַדtogether
yachadH3162 →141 times
מִקֶּ֣שֶׁתfrom a bow
mikeshetH7198 →76 times
אֻסָּ֑רוּthey have been captured
ʾusaruH631 →72 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
נִמְצָאַ֙יִךְ֙found [ones] your
nimtzaayikhH4672 →455 times
אֻסְּר֣וּthey were captured
ʾuseruH631 →72 times
יַחְדָּ֔וtogether
yachdavH3162 →141 times
מֵרָח֖וֹקfrom a distance
merachokH7350 →84 times
בָּרָֽחוּ׃they had fled
barachuH1272 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Isaiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); 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.