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Isaiah 29:8

in Isaiah 29

as when a hungry man dreams he is eating, then awakens still hungry; as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking, then awakens faint and parched. So will it be for all the many nations who go to battle against Mount Zion.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And it shall be as when a hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.

KJV

It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.

This verse in Isaiah 29

Commentary

9 notes on this verse
It shall even be ... - This is a most striking figure representing the earnest desire of the Assyrian to possess the city of Jerusalem, and his utter disappointment. The comparison is elegant and beautiful in the highest degree. It is performed up to great perfection; and is perfectly suited to illustrate the object in view. The same image substantially is found in the classic writers; and this, says Lowth, may, for beauty and ingenuity, fairly come in competition with one of the most elegant of Virgil (greatly improved from Homer, “Iliad” xxii.

This site's exposition

will be like a dream

on Isaiah 29:7-8

All the nations that war against Ariel "will be like a dream, like a vision in the night", gone when one wakes. The picture is doubled, for "a hungry man dreams he is eating, then awakens still hungry". So it will be "for all the many nations".

This site's exposition

as when a hungry man dreams

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown set the hungry man who dreams beside Psalm 73:20, where the wicked vanish like a dream when one awakens. The armies marching on Mount Zion dream of eating the city. They awaken hungry and parched.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers3 voices

A commentator

Origen of Alexandria

COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 10 · Written before 253.

proposed

And those who sleep are those who, when they ought to be taking heed and watching with the soul, are not doing this. But by reason of great want of attention they are nodding in resolution and are drowsy in their reflections, such as "in their dreaming defile the flesh, and set at nothing that which is highest in authority, and rail at dignities." And these, because they are asleep, live in an atmosphere of vain and dreamlike fancies concerning realities. [They do not admit] the things that are actually true, but [they are] deceived by what appears in their vain imaginations. In regard to [them] it is said in Isaiah, "Like as when a thirsty man dreams that he is drinking, but when he has risen up is still thirsty, and his soul has cherished a vain hope, so shall be the wealth of all the nations, as many as have warred in Jerusalem."

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Isaiah · Written before 420.

proposed

(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.

A commentator

Jerome

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 9 (PSALM 75) · Written before 420.

proposed

Truly, this life is a dream, a dream of riches; for when we seem to have them within our grasp, immediately they slip away. Isaiah expresses this same thought: "As when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking and awakens faint and dry," so indeed are the riches of this world; while we are reaching out for them they are gone.

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on Isaiah · Written before 1274.

proposed

656. And the multitude of all nations that have fought against Ariel, shall be as the dream. Here he adds some consolation from the punishment of the enemy, for like a vain thing, they will go into nothing, not carrying back anything advantageous from the …

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

It shall be even as when a hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth,....
1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Their disappointment in the very height of their confident expectation of taking Jerusalem shall be as great as that of the hungry man who in a dream fancies he eats, but awakes to hunger still (Ps 73:20); their dream shall be dissipated on the fatal morning (Isa 37:36). soul--simply his appetite: he is still thirsty.

The words behind it

28 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וְהָיָ֡הand it will be

    vehayahH1961 →3559 times

  • כַּאֲשֶׁר֩just as

    kaasherH834 →5497 times

  • יַחֲלֹ֨םhe dreams

    yachalomH2492 →29 times

  • הָרָעֵ֜בthe hungry [person]

    haraevH7457 →20 times

  • וְהִנֵּ֣הand there!

    vehinehH2009 →843 times

  • אוֹכֵ֗ל[he is] eating

    ʾokhelH398 →810 times

  • וְהֵקִיץ֮and he awakes

    vehekitzH6974 →22 times

  • וְרֵיקָ֣הand [is] empty

    vereikahH7386 →

  • נַפְשׁוֹ֒appetite his

    nafshoH5315 →754 times

  • וְכַאֲשֶׁ֨רand just as

    vekhaasherH834 →5497 times

  • יַחֲלֹ֤םhe dreams

    yachalomH2492 →29 times

  • הַצָּמֵא֙the thirsty [person]

    hatzame'H6771 →9 times

  • וְהִנֵּ֣הand there!

    vehinehH2009 →843 times

  • שֹׁתֶ֔ה[he is] drinking

    shotehH8354 →217 times

  • וְהֵקִיץ֙and he awakes

    vehekitzH6974 →22 times

  • וְהִנֵּ֣הand there!

    vehinehH2009 →843 times

  • עָיֵ֔ף[he is] faint

    ʾayefH5889 →17 times

  • וְנַפְשׁ֖וֹand throat his

    venafshoH5315 →754 times

  • שׁוֹקֵקָ֑ה[is] longing

    shokekahH8264 →

  • כֵּ֣ןso

    kenH3651 →771 times

  • יִֽהְיֶ֗הit will be

    yihyehH1961 →3559 times

  • הֲמוֹן֙[the] multitude of

    hamonH1995 →83 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • הַגּוֹיִ֔םthe nations

    hagoyimH1471 →561 times

  • הַצֹּבְאִ֖יםwhich wage war

    hatzoeimH6633 →14 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • הַ֥ר[the] mountain of

    harH2022 →546 times

  • צִיּֽוֹן׃ סZion

    tziyonH6726 →154 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Psalms 73:20

    Like one waking from a dream, so You, O Lord, awaken and despise their form.

    it leads to

    • Job 20:8

      He will fly away like a dream, never to be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.

    • Psalms 78:65

      Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty warrior overcome by wine.

  • Through

    Isaiah 44:12

    The blacksmith takes a tool and labors over the coals; he fashions an idol with hammers and forges it with his strong arms. Yet he grows hungry and loses his strength; he fails to…

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 40:19

      To an idol that a craftsman casts and a metalworker overlays with gold and fits with silver chains?

    • Isaiah 41:6–7

      Each one helps the other and says to his brother, “Be strong!”

    • Isaiah 46:6–7

      They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.

  • Through

    2 Chronicles 32:21

    and the LORD sent an angel who annihilated every mighty man of valor and every leader and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he withdrew to his own land in…

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 37:36–38

      Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!

    • Psalms 76:5

      The valiant lie plundered; they sleep their last sleep. No men of might could lift a hand.

    • Acts 12:23

      Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

Where this verse is studied

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); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; Jerome, HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 9 (PSALM 75); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 10 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.