Isaiah 24:22
in Isaiah 24They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit. They will be confined to a dungeon and punished after many days.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison; and after many days shall they be visited.
KJV
And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
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This verse in Isaiah 24
Commentary
9 notes on this verseAnd they shall be gathered together, at the same time in hell: which was prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt 25:41); as in the gathering of one bundle: bind it into bundles to burn (Matt 13:30), that they may be alike in punishment …
This site's exposition
the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones
on Isaiah 24:21-23
The judgment falls on two ranks at once, the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth, a heavenly tier and an earthly tier punished together in one sentence. Henry and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the host of the high ones as the proud princes set over the nations, language they connect to the angelic princes named in Daniel 10 without pressing further, while modern readings of the unseen world, Michael Heiser among them, take the phrase as the rebellious spiritual powers standing behind those same kings, cite-only as his own contribution to a debated text. Both readings hold that the prisoners gathered in the pit and shut up in the prison are visited after many days, a delayed reckoning rather than an immediate one. The apocalyptic sweep lands on a throne at last, the moon confounded and the sun ashamed when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 21 onwards) And it will happen in that day, the Lord will visit upon the host of heaven on high, and upon the kings of the earth who are on the earth. And they will be gathered together into one assembly, into a pit, and will be shut up there in prison, and after many days they will be visited. And the moon will be ashamed, and the sun will be confounded, when the Lord of hosts shall reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and shall show forth his glory before his ancients.
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Shut up - As malefactors, which are taken in several places, are usually brought to one common prison. After - After the apostate Jews shall have been shut up in unbelief, and in great tribulations for many ages together, they shall be convinced of their sin in crucifying the Messiah, and brought home to God and Christ by true repentance.
Let not the free man glory in his freedom, any more than the strong man in his strength, for he knows not what restraints he is reserved for. But after many days they shall be visited, either, [1.] They shall be visited in wrath; it is the same word, in another form, that is used (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
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
And they shall be gathered together,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
And they shall be gathered together - That is, those who occupy posts of honor and influence in the ecclesiastical and civil polity of the land. “As prisoners.” Margin, as in the Hebrew, ‘With the gathering of prisoners.’ The reference is to the custom of collecting captives taken in war, and chaining them together by the hands and feet, and thrusting them in large companies into a prison. In the pit - Margin, ‘Dungeon.’ The sense is, that he rulers of the land should be made captive, and treated as prisoners of war.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
HORSLEY takes "visited" in a bad sense, namely, in wrath, as in Isa 26:14; compare Isa 29:6; the punishment being the heavier in the fact of the delay. Probably a double visitation is intended, deliverance to the elect, wrath to hardened unbelievers; as Isa 24:23 plainly contemplates judgments on proud sinners, symbolized by the "sun" and "moon."
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאֻסְּפ֨וּ | veusefu | and they will be gathered | H622 → | 200 times |
| אֲסֵפָ֤ה | ʾasefah | a gathering | H626 → | |
| אַסִּיר֙ | ʾasir | prisoner[s] | H616 → | 5 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | to | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| בּ֔וֹר | bor | a pit | H953 → | 66 times |
| וְסֻגְּר֖וּ | vesugeru | and they will be shut up | H5462 → | 91 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | at | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| מַסְגֵּ֑ר | masger | a prison | H4525 → | |
| וּמֵרֹ֥ב | umero | and from an abundance of | H7230 → | 149 times |
| יָמִ֖ים | yamim | days | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| יִפָּקֵֽדוּ׃ | yipakedu | they will be visited | H6485 → | 303 times |
וְאֻסְּפ֨וּand they will be gathered
veusefuH622 →200 times
אֲסֵפָ֤הa gathering
ʾasefahH626 →
אַסִּיר֙prisoner[s]
ʾasirH616 →5 times
עַל־to
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
בּ֔וֹרa pit
borH953 →66 times
וְסֻגְּר֖וּand they will be shut up
vesugeruH5462 →91 times
עַל־at
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
מַסְגֵּ֑רa prison
masgerH4525 →
וּמֵרֹ֥בand from an abundance of
umeroH7230 →149 times
יָמִ֖יםdays
yamimH3117 →2304 times
יִפָּקֵֽדוּ׃they will be visited
yipakeduH6485 →303 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
Zechariah 9:11As for you, because of the blood of My covenant, I will release your prisoners from the waterless pit.
it leads to
- Isaiah 51:14
The captive will soon be freed; he will not die in the dungeon, and his bread will not be lacking.
- Exodus 24:8
So Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
- Psalms 102:19–21
For He looked down from the heights of His sanctuary; the LORD gazed out from heaven to earth
- Isaiah 42:7
to open the eyes of the blind, to bring prisoners out of the dungeon and those sitting in darkness out from the prison house.
- Matthew 26:28
This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
- Isaiah 51:14
Through
Isaiah 42:22But this is a people plundered and looted, all trapped in caves or imprisoned in dungeons. They have become plunder with no one to rescue them, and loot with no one to say, “Send…
it leads to
- Psalms 102:20
to hear a prisoner’s groaning, to release those condemned to death,
- Jeremiah 50:17
Israel is a scattered flock, chased away by lions. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”
- Isaiah 51:23
I will place it in the hands of your tormentors, who told you: ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you,’ so that you made your back like the ground, like a street to…
- Psalms 102:20
About Isaiah

This page draws on 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; Jamieson, Fausset and 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.
