Isaiah 29:4
in Isaiah 29You will be brought low, you will speak from the ground, and out of the dust your words will be muffled. Your voice will be like a spirit from the ground; your speech will whisper out of the dust.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust; and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.
KJV
And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.
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This verse in Isaiah 29
Commentary
10 notes on this verseSecond, the humiliation of the besieged: you shall be humbled; and the sign of their humiliation, you shall speak out of the earth, that is, just as if you were under the earth, so shall you humbly be heard, bearing the words of the python, …
This site's exposition
I will camp in a circle around you
on Isaiah 29:3-4
The LORD takes the besieger's part: "I will camp in a circle around you". The city will "speak from the ground", the whisper of a medium calling up the dead. Gill and Delitzsch note that Jerusalem is brought to the kind of voice her law forbade in a medium.
This site's exposition
you will speak from the ground
Adam Clarke notes that Jews and pagans held the dead spoke from the ground in a thin, feeble voice, and he cites the ancient poets. Isaiah 8:19 names spiritists who whisper and mutter. Jerusalem, brought low into the dust, will speak like one of those spirits.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Chapter 19, verse 1, and following) Woe to Ariel, Ariel the city that David besieged. Year after year is added, the appointed feasts have come to an end. I will besiege Ariel, and she will be sad and mournful; she will be like an Ariel to me. I will encircle you like a sphere, and I will throw up a mound against you, and I will set up siege works against you.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
): " Thou shalt be brought down from the height of arrogancy and insolence to which thou hast arrived: the proud looks and the proud language shall be brought down by one humbling providence after another." Those that despise God's judgments shall be humbled by them; for the proudest sinners shall either bend or break before him.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
7 ); they shall pass away, yea it shall be in an instant, suddenly: the enemy shall be surprised with the destruction, and you with the salvation." The army of the Assyrians was by an angel laid dead upon the spot, in an instant, suddenly. Such will be the destruction of the enemies of the gospel Jerusalem. In one hour shall their judgment come, Rev. xviii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
And thou shalt be brought down,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
And thy speech shall be low out of the dust “And from out of the dust thou shalt utter a feeble speech” - That the souls of the dead uttered a feeble stridulous sound, very different from the natural human voice, was a popular notion among the heathens as well as among the Jews. This appears from several passages of their poets; Homer, Virgil, Horace.
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)
Jerusalem shall be as a captive, humbled to the dust. Her voice shall come from the earth as that of the spirit-charmers or necromancers (Isa 8:19), faint and shrill, as the voice of the dead was supposed to be. Ventriloquism was doubtless the trick caused to make the voice appear to come from the earth (Isa 19:3).
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And shalt speak out of the ground - (see the note at Isa 8:19). The sense here is, that Jerusalem, that had been accustomed to pride itself on its strength I would be greatly humbled and subdued. Its loud and lofty tone would be changed. It would use the suppressed language of fear and alarm as if it spoke from the dust, or in a shrill small voice, like the pretended conversers with the dead. And thy speech shall whisper out of the dust - Margin, ‘Peep,’ or ‘Chirp,’ (see the note at Isa 8:19).
The words behind it
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְשָׁפַלְתְּ֙ | veshafalt | and you will become low | H8213 → | 31 times |
| מֵאֶ֣רֶץ | meeretz | from [the] ground | H776 → | 2504 times |
| תְּדַבֵּ֔רִי | tedaberi | you will speak | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| וּמֵֽעָפָ֖ר | umeafar | and from [the] dust | H6083 → | 110 times |
| תִּשַּׁ֣ח | tishach | it will be humbled | H7817 → | 21 times |
| אִמְרָתֵ֑ךְ | ʾimratekh | utterance your | H565 → | 37 times |
| וְֽ֠הָיָה | vehayah | and it will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| כְּא֤וֹב | keov | like a necromancer | H178 → | 17 times |
| מֵאֶ֙רֶץ֙ | meeretz | from [the] ground | H776 → | 2504 times |
| קוֹלֵ֔ךְ | kolekh | voice your | H6963 → | 506 times |
| וּמֵעָפָ֖ר | umeafar | and from [the] dust | H6083 → | 110 times |
| אִמְרָתֵ֥ךְ | ʾimratekh | utterance your | H565 → | 37 times |
| תְּצַפְצֵֽף׃ | tetzaftzef | it will whisper | H6850 → | 4 times |
וְשָׁפַלְתְּ֙and you will become low
veshafaltH8213 →31 times
מֵאֶ֣רֶץfrom [the] ground
meeretzH776 →2504 times
תְּדַבֵּ֔רִיyou will speak
tedaberiH1696 →1141 times
וּמֵֽעָפָ֖רand from [the] dust
umeafarH6083 →110 times
תִּשַּׁ֣חit will be humbled
tishachH7817 →21 times
אִמְרָתֵ֑ךְutterance your
ʾimratekhH565 →37 times
וְֽ֠הָיָהand it will be
vehayahH1961 →3559 times
כְּא֤וֹבlike a necromancer
keovH178 →17 times
מֵאֶ֙רֶץ֙from [the] ground
meeretzH776 →2504 times
קוֹלֵ֔ךְvoice your
kolekhH6963 →506 times
וּמֵעָפָ֖רand from [the] dust
umeafarH6083 →110 times
אִמְרָתֵ֥ךְutterance your
ʾimratekhH565 →37 times
תְּצַפְצֵֽף׃it will whisper
tetzaftzefH6850 →4 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 8:19When men tell you to consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who whisper and mutter, shouldn’t a people consult their God instead? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?
it leads to
- 1 Chronicles 10:13
So Saul died for his unfaithfulness to the LORD, because he did not keep the word of the LORD and even consulted a medium for guidance,
- Leviticus 20:6
Whoever turns to mediums or spiritists to prostitute himself with them, I will also set My face against that person and cut him off from his people.
- 2 Chronicles 33:6
He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking…
- Psalms 106:28
They yoked themselves to Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods.
- Leviticus 19:31
You must not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out, or you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.
- 1 Chronicles 10:13
Through
Psalms 44:25For our soul has sunk to the dust; our bodies cling to the earth.
it leads to
- Psalms 119:25
My soul cleaves to the dust; revive me according to Your word.
- Psalms 119:25
Through
Isaiah 51:23I 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…
it leads to
- Joshua 10:24
When they had brought the kings to Joshua, he summoned all the men of Israel and said to the army commanders who had accompanied him, “Come here and put your feet on the necks…
- Joshua 10:24
Through
Isaiah 3:8For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen because they spoke and acted against the LORD, defying His glorious presence.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 9:9
He replied, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of bloodshed, and the city is full of perversity. For they say, ‘The LORD has forsaken…
- Ezekiel 9:9
Where this verse is studied
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, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); 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; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.