Skip to content
mannafest.faith

Isaiah 30:14

in Isaiah 30

It will break in pieces like a potter’s jar, shattered so that no fragment can be found. Not a shard will be found in the dust large enough to scoop the coals from a hearth or to skim the water from a cistern.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And he shall break it as a potter’s vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing; so that there shall not be found among the pieces thereof a sherd wherewith to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.

KJV

And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters’ vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.

This verse in Isaiah 30

Commentary

8 notes on this verse
And he shall break it as the breaking - That is, its breaking shall be like the breaking of a potter’s vessel. The Septuagint reads it, ‘And its fall (τὸ πτῶμα to ptōma) shall be like the breaking of an earthen vessel,’ As the breaking of the potter’s vessel - That is, as an earthen, fragile vessel, which is easily dashed to pieces. The image here is all drawn from the bursting forth, or the complete ruin of the swelling wall; but the sense is, that the Jewish republic would be entirely broken, scattered, demolished.

This site's exposition

trust in oppression and perverseness

on Isaiah 30:12-14

The Holy One of Israel answers the demand for smooth things by naming what was actually trusted, oppression and perverseness, and the judgment matches the image: this iniquity becomes a breach ready to fall, swelling in a high wall until it breaks suddenly at an instant. The wall's collapse is then figured as a potter's vessel shattered so completely that not a sherd remains fit to take fire from the hearth or water from the pit. Delitzsch reads the double figure, sudden collapse and total breakage, as answering the false security of verse 10 point for point.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Isaiah · Written before 420.

proposed

(vv. 12-14) Therefore thus says the Holy Lord of Israel: Because you have rejected this word and have put your trust in oppression and in deceit, and have relied on it, therefore this iniquity shall be for you like a breach in a high wall that is sought after and cannot be found, like a jar of clay that is broken beyond repair, so that no fragment of it is found for taking fire from the hearth or for drawing water from the cistern.

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on Isaiah · Written before 1274.

proposed

And he shows the strong punishment: and it shall be broken small, under the likeness of the breaking of a vessel, of which no fragment remains whole for any use, namely, for carrying fire and drawing water, above: with breaking shall the earth be broken …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

A gracious promise to those who trusted in God, that they should not only see through the trouble, but should see happy days after it, times of joy and reformation, plenty of the means of grace, and therewith plenty of outward good things and increasing joys and triumphs (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

And he shall break it as the breaking of the potter's vessel,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

he--the enemy; or rather, God (Ps 2:9; It--the Jewish state. potter's vessel--earthen and fragile. sherd--a fragment of the vessel large enough to take up a live coal, &c. pit--cistern or pool. The swell of the wall is at first imperceptible and gradual, but at last it comes to the crisis; so the decay of the Jewish state.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens

1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

He shall not spare “And spareth it not” - Five MSS. add the conjunction ו vau to the negative; ולא velo.

The words behind it

17 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.

  • וּ֠שְׁבָרָהּand someone will break it

    ushevarahH7665147 times

  • כְּשֵׁ֨בֶרlike [the] breaking of

    kesheverH766745 times

  • נֵ֧בֶלa jar of

    nevelH503538 times

  • יוֹצְרִ֛יםpotters

    yotzrimH333562 times

  • כָּת֖וּתcrushed

    katutH380717 times

  • לֹ֣א[which] not

    lo'H38085168 times

  • יַחְמֹ֑לanyone will spare

    yachmolH2550

  • וְלֹֽא־and not

    velo'-H38085168 times

  • יִמָּצֵ֤אit will be found

    yimatze'H4672455 times

  • בִמְכִתָּתוֹ֙among fragment[s] its

    vimkhitatoH4386

  • חֶ֔רֶשׂa potsherd

    cheresH278917 times

  • לַחְתּ֥וֹתto snatch up

    lachtotH2846

  • אֵשׁ֙fire

    ʾeshH784378 times

  • מִיָּק֔וּדfrom a fireplace

    miyakudH33449 times

  • וְלַחְשֹׂ֥ףand to scoop

    velachsofH283411 times

  • מַ֖יִםwater

    mayimH4325581 times

  • מִגֶּֽבֶא׃ פfrom a cistern

    migeve'H1360

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 2:9

    You will break them with an iron scepter; You will shatter them like pottery.”

    it leads to

    • Revelation 12:5

      And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Revelation 2:26–27

      And to the one who overcomes and continues in My work until the end, I will give authority over the nations.

    • Psalms 89:23

      I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him.

  • Through

    Revelation 2:27

    He will rule them with an iron scepter and shatter them like pottery—just as I have received authority from My Father.

    it leads to

    • Revelation 19:15

      And from His mouth proceeds a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Psalms 2:8–9

      Ask Me, and I will make the nations Your inheritance, the ends of the earth Your possession.

    • Matthew 11:27

      All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses…

    • Psalms 149:5–9

      Let the saints exult in glory; let them shout for joy upon their beds.

  • Through

    Ezekiel 24:14

    I, the LORD, have spoken; the time is coming, and I will act. I will not refrain or show pity, nor will I relent. I will judge you according to your ways and deeds,’…

    it leads to

    • Matthew 16:27

      For the Son of Man will come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done.

About Isaiah

The Prophet Isaiah, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Prophet Isaiah, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
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.