Isaiah 32:13
in Isaiah 32and for the land of my people, overgrown with thorns and briers—even for every house of merriment in this city of revelry.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city.
KJV
Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city:
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This verse in Isaiah 32
Commentary
11 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Upon the land of my people - A description similar to this, in regard to the consequences of the invasion of Sennacherib, is given in Isa 7:20-25 (see the notes at that passage). Yea, upon all the houses of joy - Margin, ‘Burning upon.’ The marginal readling has originated from the supposition that the word כי kı̂y is derived from כיה kâvâh, “to be burned.” This conjecture has been adopted by Junius and Tremellius, and by some others. But it is evidently mere conjecture, and is not demanded.
This site's exposition
lament for the teats
on Isaiah 32:12-14
The lament runs from pleasant fields and the fruitful vine given up to mourning, to the land itself overrun with thorns and briers, to the city's own houses of joy standing forsaken. The devastation reaches the fortifications themselves, the forts and towers left for dens forever, language the older writers read as total abandonment rather than temporary siege, wild asses and grazing flocks replacing the city's defenders. Barnes locates the language within the Assyrian crisis under Sennacherib, when Judah's countryside and outlying towns suffered exactly this kind of ruin.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 9 and following) Women of wealth, rise up and listen to my voice: confident daughters, hear my words. After days and years, you will be troubled, O confident ones: for the harvest is complete, and there will be no more gathering. O women of wealth, be astounded, be troubled: strip yourselves and be ashamed. As Symmachus interpreted, expose yourselves: it continues. Gird your loins, beat your breasts, over the desirable region, over the fertile vineyard: over the ground of my people, thorns and thistles will grow: how much more over all the houses of the joyful city?
The Medieval Church2 voices
Third, as to the desolation of their cities and houses, he sets out the desolation itself: how much more, namely, to be wept for, the city that rejoiced, namely, Jerusalem, whose lower part was handed over to the Assyrians, above: a populous city, a joyous …
If those very persons, who amid the darkness of the present life shine bright by virtuous attainments—if they also cannot be void of contagion, with what guilt of wickedness are those bound, who still live after the flesh? If those persons cannot be free from sin who are already walking in the way of heavenly desires, what about those who still lie under the loads of sinful habits, who, abandoned to the gratifications of their fleshly part, still bear the yoke of rottenness?
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The foregoing prophecy was delivered, not in the time of Ahaz for he sent to the Assyrian, not the Egyptian, for help; it was Hezekiah, who rebelled against the king of Assyria, and was too prone to trust upon the staff of Egypt. But this seems to have been delivered in the time of Ahaz. A king - Hezekiah, a type of Christ, and Christ typified by him.
They shall be abandoned; the owners shall never return to them; every body shall look upon them to be like Jericho, an anathema; so that, even when peace returns, they shall not be rebuilt, but shall be thrown to the waste: A joy of wild asses and a pasture of flocks. Thus is many a house brought to ruin by sin.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Address to the women of Jerusalem who troubled themselves little about the political signs of the times, but lived a life of self-indulgence (Isa 3:16-23); the failure of food through the devastations of the enemy is here foretold, being what was most likely to affect them as mothers of families, heretofore accustomed to every luxury.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
However, the prophecy, in its full accomplishment, refers to the utter desolation of Judea and its capital by Rome, and subsequently, previous to the second coming of the King (Ps 118:26; 19:38); "the joyous city" is in this view, Jerusalem (Isa 22:2).
Shall come up thorns and briers “The thorn and the brier shall come up” - All the ancient Versions read ושמיר veshamir, with the conjunction. And an ancient MS. has תעלה בו taaleh bo, “shall come up in it, “which seems to be right; or rather בה bah: and there is a rasure in the place of בו bo in another ancient MS. Yea, upon all the houses of joy - For כי ki, the ancient Versions, except the Vulgate, seem to have read ו ve. כי ki may perhaps be a mistake for בו bo, or בה bah, in it, above mentioned. It is not necessary in this place. The description of impending distress which begins at Isa 32:13 belongs to other times than that of Sennacherib’s invasion, from which they were so soon delivered. It must at least extend to the ruin of the country and city by the Chaldeans. And the promise of blessings which follows was not fulfilled under the Mosaic dispensation; they belong to the Kingdom of Messiah. Compare Isa 32:15 with Isa 29:17 (note), and see the note there.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עַ֚ל | ʾal | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| אַדְמַ֣ת | ʾadmat | [the] land of | H127 → | 225 times |
| עַמִּ֔י | ʾami | people my | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| ק֥וֹץ | kotz | thornbush[es] | H6975 → | |
| שָׁמִ֖יר | shamir | thorn[s] | H8068 → | 11 times |
| תַּֽעֲלֶ֑ה | taaleh | it will grow up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| כִּ֚י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| בָּתֵּ֣י | batei | [the] houses of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| מָשׂ֔וֹשׂ | masos | joy | H4885 → | 17 times |
| קִרְיָ֖ה | kiryah | a town | H7151 → | 29 times |
| עַלִּיזָֽה׃ | ʾalizah | jubilant | H5947 → | 7 times |
עַ֚לon
ʾalH5921 →5755 times
אַדְמַ֣ת[the] land of
ʾadmatH127 →225 times
עַמִּ֔יpeople my
ʾamiH5971 →1873 times
ק֥וֹץthornbush[es]
kotzH6975 →
שָׁמִ֖ירthorn[s]
shamirH8068 →11 times
תַּֽעֲלֶ֑הit will grow up
taalehH5927 →890 times
כִּ֚יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
בָּתֵּ֣י[the] houses of
bateiH1004 →2046 times
מָשׂ֔וֹשׂjoy
masosH4885 →17 times
קִרְיָ֖הa town
kiryahH7151 →29 times
עַלִּיזָֽה׃jubilant
ʾalizahH5947 →7 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 7:23And on that day, in every place that had a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver, only briers and thorns will be found.
it leads to
- Isaiah 5:6
I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and thorns and briers will grow up. I will command the clouds that rain shall not fall on it.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 5:6
Through
Hosea 9:6For even if they flee destruction, Egypt will gather them and Memphis will bury them. Their precious silver will be taken over by thistles, and thorns will overrun their tents.
it leads to
- Hosea 10:8
The high places of Aven will be destroyed—it is the sin of Israel; thorns and thistles will overgrow their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall…
- Isaiah 7:23
And on that day, in every place that had a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver, only briers and thorns will be found.
- Hosea 10:8
Through
Isaiah 34:13Her towers will be overgrown with thorns, her fortresses with thistles and briers. She will become a haunt for jackals, an abode for ostriches.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 9:11
“And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
- Jeremiah 10:22
Listen! The sound of a report is coming— a great commotion from the land to the north. The cities of Judah will be made a desolation, a haunt for jackals.
- Malachi 1:3
but Esau I have hated, and I have made his mountains a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
- Psalms 44:19
But You have crushed us in the lair of jackals; You have covered us with deepest darkness.
- Jeremiah 51:37
Babylon will become a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals, an object of horror and scorn, without inhabitant.
- Jeremiah 9:11
About Isaiah
This page draws on 11 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); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job 17.23; Jamieson, Fausset & 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.