Isaiah 30:7
in Isaiah 30Egypt’s help is futile and empty; therefore I have called her Rahab Who Sits Still.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For Egypt helpeth in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I called her Rahab that sitteth still.
KJV
For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.
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This verse in Isaiah 30
Commentary
10 notes on this verse(Verse 6a) The burden of the beasts of the south. In Hebrew it is called Massa Beemoth (Al. Behemoth) of the Negeb, which the Septuagint translated as 'The Vision of the Quadrupeds in the Desert'.
This site's exposition
The burden of the beasts of the south
on Isaiah 30:6-7
The caravan's route is drawn as a burden in its own right, laden asses and camels carrying tribute through a land of lion, viper and fiery flying serpent to buy help from a nation that will not profit them. Clarke reads the danger of the route itself as part of the folly, treasure risked through a wilderness for an alliance already judged worthless. Egypt's help is called vain and to no purpose, and the Lord names her Rahab, sit still, a power all name and no strength for the fight Judah needed.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Vers. 6, 7.) In the land of trouble and distress there will be a lioness and a lion: there will also be venomous snakes and flying serpents. They will carry their riches on the backs of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels to a people who cannot help them. Egypt will be useless and in vain for assistance. LXX: In trouble and distress there will be a lion and a lion's cub: then there will be asps and flying snake offspring. They will carry their riches on donkeys and camels to a nation that will not help them. The Egyptians will be empty and useless for your benefit. For the lion, in Hebrew it is written Leis () (also Lehis), and for the flying ruler, which the Seventy translated as flying asps, in Hebrew it is called ἐμπρηστὴς and flying, which we can call the burner, and in Hebrew it is called Saraph (). Again, in that place where we have translated, carrying on the shoulders of the beasts, they have uniformly translated all the animals as foals, that is, the young of donkeys. But the land of tribulation and anguish signifies the very wide desert, through which the remnants of Jerusalem, along with John the son of Careah and the daughters of King Zedekiah, having taken away all they could have, fled to Egypt. Likewise, understand metaphorically the lioness and the lion cub as Jerusalem and its people, as Balaam says in Numbers: Behold the people shall rise up as a lioness, and shall lift itself up as a lion; it shall not rest until it devour the prey, and drink the blood of the slain (Num. XXIII, 24). In Ezekiel it is also written: Take up a lamentation for the prince of Israel, and say: Why has your mother the lioness lain down among lions, and reared her whelps in the midst of young lions? (Ezek. 19:1-2). […]
The Medieval Church1 voice
671. Therefore have I cried. Here he denounces their contempt of the divine command. And first, he shows how they despised the divine command; in the second part, how they despised salutary counsel: for thus says the Lord God (Isa 30:15). Concerning the first, he …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose,....
A terrible threatening against those who slighted the good advice which God by his prophets gave them for the repose of their minds in that distress, assuring them that whatever became of others the judgment would certainly overtake them,
When we have tired ourselves by seeking for help from creatures we shall find it the best way of recruiting ourselves to repose in the Creator. Here I am, let him do with me as he pleases. Doom of Incorrigible Sinners.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
For the Egyptians shall help in vain - That is, if they enter into the alliance, they shall not be able to defend you from the invader. The other member of the sentence would seem to imply that they would make promises of aid, and would even boast of being able to deliver them, but that they would fail in their promises. Therefore have I cried - Therefore have I the prophet cried, that is, I do call her so. Concerning this - Concerning this country; that is, Egypt.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
"Egypt is vanity, and to no purpose will they help" [G. SMITH]. strength--Hebrew, Rabah, a designation for Egypt (Isa 51:9; Ps 87:4), implying her haughty fierceness; translate, "Therefore I call her Arrogance that sitteth still." She who boasted of the help she would give, when it came to the test, sat still (Isa 36:6).
Their strength is to sit still “Rahab the Inactive” - The two last words, הם שבת hem shabeth, joined into one, make the participle pihel המשבת hammeshabbeth. I find the learned Professor Doederlein, in his version of Isaiah, and note on this place, has given the same conjecture; which he speaks of as having been formerly published by him. A concurrence of different persons in the same conjecture adds to it a greater degree of probability.
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּמִצְרַ֕יִם | umitzrayim | and Egypt | H4714 → | 641 times |
| הֶ֥בֶל | hevel | futility | H1892 → | 73 times |
| וָרִ֖יק | varik | and vanity | H7385 → | 12 times |
| יַעְזֹ֑רוּ | ya'zoru | they will help | H5826 → | 81 times |
| לָכֵן֙ | lakhen | <to> therefore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| קָרָ֣אתִי | karati | I call | H7121 → | 733 times |
| לָזֹ֔את | lazot | <to> this [one] | H2063 → | 603 times |
| רַ֥הַב | rahav | Rahab | H7293 → | |
| הֵ֖ם | hem | they | H1992 → | 553 times |
| שָֽׁבֶת׃ | shavet | a sitting still | H7674 → |
וּמִצְרַ֕יִםand Egypt
umitzrayimH4714 →641 times
הֶ֥בֶלfutility
hevelH1892 →73 times
וָרִ֖יקand vanity
varikH7385 →12 times
יַעְזֹ֑רוּthey will help
ya'zoruH5826 →81 times
לָכֵן֙<to> therefore
lakhenH3651 →771 times
קָרָ֣אתִיI call
karatiH7121 →733 times
לָזֹ֔את<to> this [one]
lazotH2063 →603 times
רַ֥הַבRahab
rahavH7293 →
הֵ֖םthey
hemH1992 →553 times
שָֽׁבֶת׃a sitting still
shavetH7674 →
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
Lamentations 3:26It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
it leads to
- Psalms 37:7
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men prosper in their ways, when they carry out wicked schemes.
- Psalms 37:34
Wait for the LORD and keep His way, and He will raise you up to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.
- Psalms 130:5
I wait for the LORD; my soul does wait, and in His word I put my hope.
- Hebrews 10:35
So do not throw away your confidence; it holds a great reward.
- Genesis 49:18
I await Your salvation, O LORD.
- Psalms 37:7
Through
Isaiah 2:22Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?
it leads to
- Jeremiah 17:5
This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes the flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.
- Psalms 146:3
Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save.
- James 4:14
You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
- Jeremiah 17:5
About Isaiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
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 (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.