Isaiah 24:10
in Isaiah 24The city of chaos is shattered; every house is closed to entry.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The waste city is broken down; every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
KJV
The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
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This verse in Isaiah 24
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The city of confusion - That Jerusalem is here intended there can be no doubt. The name ‘city of confusion.’ is probably given to it by anticipation of what it would be; that is, as it appeared in prophetic vision to Isaiah (see the note at Isa 1:1). He gave to it a name that would describe its state when these calamities should have come upon it. The word rendered ‘confusion’ (תהו tôhû) does not denote disorder or anarchy, but is a word expressive of emptiness, vanity, destitution of form, waste.
This site's exposition
The city of chaos is shattered
on Isaiah 24:10-13
The text never names the city it describes: "The city of chaos is shattered; every house is closed to entry". Its gate is "reduced to rubble", and "rejoicing is exiled from the land". Verse 13 leaves a remnant, "like a harvested olive tree, like a gleaning after a grape harvest".
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 7 and following) The grape harvest has failed, the vine is weakened, all those who rejoiced in their hearts have sighed. The joy of the tambourines has ceased, the sound of the rejoicers has quieted, the sweetness of the lyre has been silenced, as those who do not drink wine with singing, bitter will be the drink for those who drink it. The city of vanity is worn away, every house is closed with no one entering.
The Medieval Church1 voice
The city of vanity is broken down, against the vanity of games, all things are vanity (Ps 39:5); vanity of vanities, and all is vanity (Eccl 1:2); the city, of Babylon, any soul.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
): The city of confusion is broken, is broken down (so we read it); it lies exposed to invading powers, not only by the breaking down of its walls, but by the confusion that the inhabitants are in.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
The city - Jerusalem, and other cities; for the singular word may be here taken collectively. A city of confusion or disorder, breaking all the laws and orders which God had established among them. Shut up - Because the inhabitants are either dead, or gone into captivity.
The city of confusion is broken down,....
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
city of confusion--rather, "desolation." What Jerusalem would be; by anticipation it is called so. HORSLEY translates, "The city is broken down; it is a ruin." shut up--through fear; or rather, "choked up by ruins."
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
The wasted city is broken When it is broken, it will be called the wasted city.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Their city is broken down, and laid desolate: all their houses are shut up, so that no one can enter.
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. 1 further source is cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| נִשְׁבְּרָ֖ה | nishberah | it has been broken | H7665 → | 147 times |
| קִרְיַת־ | kiryat- | [the] town of | H7151 → | 29 times |
| תֹּ֑הוּ | tohu | formlessness | H8414 → | 20 times |
| סֻגַּ֥ר | sugar | it has been shut up | H5462 → | 91 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| בַּ֖יִת | bayit | house | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| מִבּֽוֹא׃ | mibo' | from entering | H935 → | 2568 times |
נִשְׁבְּרָ֖הit has been broken
nishberahH7665 →147 times
קִרְיַת־[the] town of
kiryat-H7151 →29 times
תֹּ֑הוּformlessness
tohuH8414 →20 times
סֻגַּ֥רit has been shut up
sugarH5462 →91 times
כָּל־every
kol-H3605 →5413 times
בַּ֖יִתhouse
bayitH1004 →2046 times
מִבּֽוֹא׃from entering
mibo'H935 →2568 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
Revelation 18:2And he cried out in a mighty voice: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a lair for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, and every detestable…
it leads to
- Revelation 14:8
Then a second angel followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, who has made all the nations drink the wine of the passion of her immorality.”
- Jeremiah 51:8
Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been shattered. Wail for her; get her balm for her pain; perhaps she can be healed.
- Jeremiah 51:37
Babylon will become a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals, an object of horror and scorn, without inhabitant.
- Jeremiah 50:39–40
So the desert creatures and hyenas will live there and ostriches will dwell there. It will never again be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation.
- Revelation 14:8
Through
Luke 19:43For the days will come upon you when your enemies will barricade you and surround you and hem you in on every side.
it leads to
- Luke 21:20–24
But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you will know that her desolation is near.
- Isaiah 29:1–4
Woe to you, O Ariel, the city of Ariel where David camped! Year upon year let your festivals recur.
- Luke 21:20–24
Through
Isaiah 34:11The desert owl and screech owl will possess it, and the great owl and raven will dwell in it. The LORD will stretch out over Edom a measuring line of chaos and a plumb…
it leads to
- Lamentations 2:8
The LORD determined to destroy the wall of the Daughter of Zion. He stretched out a measuring line and did not withdraw His hand from destroying. He made the ramparts and walls lament; together…
- 2 Kings 21:13
I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab, and I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes out a bowl—wiping…
- Lamentations 2:8
About Isaiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; 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.