Isaiah 24:17
in Isaiah 24Terror and pit and snare await you, O dweller of the earth.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
KJV
Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
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This verse in Isaiah 24
Commentary
9 notes on this verse(Verse 17, 18.) The treacherous have dealt treacherously; indeed, they have dealt treacherously with treachery. Fear, the pit, and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall be that he who flees from the noise of fear shall fall into the pit, and he who comes up from the midst of the pit shall be caught in the snare. LXX: woe to the treacherous who deal treacherously! Fear, the pit, and the snare are upon you, O inhabitants of the earth.
This site's exposition
Fear, and the pit, and the snare
on Isaiah 24:17-20
The three-fold trap, fear, and the pit, and the snare, upon every inhabitant of the earth, is close to the formula Jeremiah later applies to Moab, a shared oracle of inescapable judgment, one danger leading straight into the next with no path around it. He that fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit, and he that cometh up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare, judgment layered so that escaping one stage only delivers a man to the next. The windows from on high are open and the foundations of the earth shake, cosmic language matching the scope already named at the chapter's opening, the earth reeling to and fro like a drunkard and removed like a cottage. It shall fall, and not rise again, the chapter's flattest sentence, judgment total enough that the bench reads no recovery written into these particular verses.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Second, he threatens a multitude of dangers. And first, he sets out this multitude: fear. He speaks in likeness to those who flee pursuers because of fear, above: they shall fall, and shall be broken in pieces (Isa 8:15); a voice of terror (Jer 30:5).
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. This is to be understood not of the land of Judea only, and the inhabitants of it, but of all the earth; Kimchi interprets it of the nations of the world, particularly the Greeks and Turks; but the whole world, and the inhabitants of it, are meant, as the following verses show.
5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
): Fear, and the pit, and the snare (fear of the pit and the snare) are upon them wherever they are; for the sons of men know not what evil they may suddenly be snared in, Eccl. ix. These three words seem to be chosen for the sake of an elegant paranomasia, or, as we now scornfully call it, a jungle of words: Pachad, and Pachath, and Pach; but the meaning is plain (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Fear, and the pit - This verse is an explanation of the cause of the wretchedness referred to in the previous verse. The same expression is found in Jer 48:43, in his account of the destruction that would come upon Moab, a description which Jeremiah probably copied from Isaiah - There is also here in the original a “paronomasia” that cannot be retained in a translation - פחד ופחת ופח pachad vâpachath vâpach - where the form פח pach occurs in each word.
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)
Jeremiah (Jer 48:43, 44) uses the same words. Isa 24:18 expressing that the inhabitants were nowhere safe; if they escaped one danger, they fell into another, and worse, on the opposite side (Am 5:19). "Fear" is the term applied to the cords with feathers of all colors which, when fluttered in the air, scare beasts into the pitfall, or birds into the snare.
Fear, and the pit “The terror, the pit” - If they escape one calamity, another shall overtake them. “As if a man should flee from a lion, and a bear should overtake him: Or should betake himself to his house, and lean his hand on the wall, And a serpent should bite him.” Amo 5:19. “For,” as our Savior expressed it in a like parabolical manner, “wheresoever the carcass is there shall the eagles be gathered together,” Mat 24:28. The images are taken from the different methods of hunting and taking wild beasts, which were anciently in use. The terror was a line strung with feathers of all colors which fluttering in the air scared and frightened the beasts into the toils, or into the pit which was prepared for them. Nec est mirum, cum maximos ferarum greges linea pennis distincta contineat, et in insidias agat, ab ipso effectu dicta formido. Seneca de Ira, 2:12. The pit or pitfall, fovea; digged deep in the ground, and covered over with green boughs, turf, etc., in order to deceive them, that they might fall into it unawares. The snare, or toils, indago; a series of nets, inclosing at first a great space of ground, in which the wild beasts were known to be; and then drawn in by degrees into a narrower compass, till they were at last closely shut up, and entangled in them. - L. For מכול mikkol, a MS. reads מפני mippeney, as it is in Jer 48:44, and so the Vulgate and Chaldee. But perhaps it is only, like the latter, a Hebraism, and means no more than the simple preposition מ mem. See Psa 102:6. For it does not appear that the terror was intended to scare the wild beasts by its noise. The paronomasia is very remarkable; פחד pachad, פחת pachath, פך pach: and that it was a common proverbial form, appears from Jeremiah’s repeating it in the same words, Jer 48:43, Jer 48:44.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| פַּ֥חַד | pachad | dread | H6343 → | 49 times |
| וָפַ֖חַת | vafachat | and pit | H6354 → | 10 times |
| וָפָ֑ח | vafach | and snare | H6341 → | 27 times |
| עָלֶ֖יךָ | ʾaleikha | [are] on you | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יוֹשֵׁ֥ב | yoshev | O inhabitant of | H3427 → | 1079 times |
| הָאָֽרֶץ׃ | haaretz | the earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
פַּ֥חַדdread
pachadH6343 →49 times
וָפַ֖חַתand pit
vafachatH6354 →10 times
וָפָ֑חand snare
vafachH6341 →27 times
עָלֶ֖יךָ[are] on you
ʾaleikhaH5921 →5755 times
יוֹשֵׁ֥בO inhabitant of
yoshevH3427 →1079 times
הָאָֽרֶץ׃the earth
haaretzH776 →2504 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
Jeremiah 8:3And wherever I have banished them, the remnant of this evil family will choose death over life,” declares the LORD of Hosts.
it leads to
- Revelation 9:6
In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will escape them.
- Jeremiah 29:14
I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore you from captivity and gather you from all the nations and places to which I have banished you, declares the LORD.…
- Revelation 9:6
Through
Amos 5:19It will be like a man who flees from a lion, only to encounter a bear, or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall, only to be bitten by a…
it leads to
- Isaiah 24:17–18
Terror and pit and snare await you, O dweller of the earth.
- Isaiah 24:17–18
Through
Ezekiel 14:21For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem My four dire judgments—sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague—in order to cut off from it…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 5:17
I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, the LORD, have…
- Ezekiel 33:27
Tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘As surely as I live, those in the ruins will fall by the sword, those in the open field I will give to be…
- Ezekiel 5:17
Through
1 Kings 19:17Then Jehu will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Jehu.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 13:22
And Hazael king of Aram oppressed Israel throughout the reign of Jehoahaz.
- 2 Kings 8:12
“Why is my lord weeping?” asked Hazael. “Because I know the evil you will do to the Israelites,” Elisha replied. “You will set fire to their fortresses, kill their young men with the sword,…
- 2 Kings 13:3
So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He delivered them continually into the hands of Hazael king of Aram and his son Ben-hadad.
- 2 Kings 13:22
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 (1748-1763); Joseph Addison Alexander, Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.