Isaiah 33:18
in Isaiah 33Your mind will ponder the former terror: “Where is he who tallies? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers?”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thy heart shall muse on the terror: Where is he that counted, where is he that weighed the tribute? where is he that counted the towers?
KJV
Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
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This verse in Isaiah 33
Commentary
12 notes on this verseAnd as to divine subjection: your heart shall meditate filial fear: the fear of the Lord shall delight the heart (Sir 1:12). 728. Where is the learned? Here he excludes the unworthy as to those who seem especially worthy. And first, the eminent in wisdom: …
This site's exposition
see the King in His beauty
on Isaiah 33:17-19
The righteous are promised, "Your eyes will see the King in His beauty". The mind will "ponder the former terror", and "You will no longer see the insolent, a people whose speech is unintelligible". John Gill read the whole passage as the siege just survived, reversed point for point.
This site's exposition
Your mind will ponder the former terror
The three figures belong to the former terror of the siege. Adam Clarke took the one who tallies as the scribe who counted for tribute, and the one who weighs as the man who collected it. Now the mind ponders only where they went.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Ver. 13 et seq.) Hear, you who are far away, what I have done, and know the strength of my neighbors. Sinners are terrified in Zion, hypocrites are trembling. Who among you can dwell with devouring fire? Who among you can endure everlasting burnings? The one who walks in righteousness and speaks truth, who rejects greed by slander, and keeps his hands away from every gift, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil.
And if you want all these thoughts to diminish in you and not to have power over you, then recite in your heart without ceasing every fruit that is written in the Scriptures, having in yourself the resolution to walk in them, as it is …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Thine heart - This is a thankful acknowledgment of deliverance from their former terrors and miseries. Where - These words they spoke in the time of their distress.
Let him bring in the account of them, that care may be taken to put a competent number of men in each." Or these words may be taken as Jerusalem's triumph over the vanquished army of the Assyrians, and the rather because the apostle alludes to them in his triumphs over the learning of this world, when it was baffled by the gospel of Christ, 1 Cor. i.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
4 And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them. 5 The L ORD is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with judgment and righteousness. 6 And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the L ORD is his treasure.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:93%@v4-6
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Thine heart shall meditate terror,.... shall recollect, and think of with pleasure and thankfulness, the terror they were formerly seized with, when surrounded and oppressed by their enemies, particularly at the time of the slaying of the witnesses, which will be a terrible time to the church and people of God; but when that is over, they will call it to mind with gratitude, for deliverance from it (e).
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Where is the scribe? - The person appointed by the king of Assyria to estimate their number and property in reference to their being heavily taxed. Where is the receiver? - Or he who was to have collected this tribute.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
"The principal scribe of the host" (2Ki 25:19; The Assyrian records are free from the exaggerations of Egyptian records. Two scribes are seen in every Assyrian bas-relief, writing down the various objects brought to them, the heads of the slain, prisoners, cattle, sheep, &c. receiver--"weigher," Margin.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Thine heart - The heart of the people of Jerusalem. Shall meditate terror - This is similar to the expression in Virgil: - forsan et haec olim meminisse jurabit. AEn. ii. 203. The sense here is, ‘You shall hereafter think over all this alarm and distress. When the enemy is destroyed, the city saved, and the king shall reign in magnificence over all the nation then enjoying peace and prosperity, you shall recall these days of terror and alarm, and shall then ask with gratitude and astonishment, Where are they who caused this alarm? Where are now they who so confidently calculated on taking the city? They are all gone - and gone in a manner suited to excite astonishment and adoring gratitude.’ ‘Sweet is the recollection,’ says Rosenmuller, ‘of dangers that are passed.’ Where is the scribe? - How soon, how suddenly has he vanished! The word scribe here (ספר sı̂phēr) evidently refers to some prominent class of officers in the Assyrian army. It is from ספר sâphar, to count, to number, to write; and probably refers to a secretary, perhaps a secretary of state or of war, or an inspector-general, who had the charge of reviewing an army 2Ki 25:19; Jer 37:15; Jer 52:25. Where is the receiver? - Margin, as in Hebrew, ‘Weigher.’ Vulgate, ‘Where is he that ponders the words of the law?’ The Septuagint, ‘Where are the counselors (ουμβουλεύοντες sumbouleuontes)?’ Probably the word refers to him who weighed the tribute, or the pay of the Soldiers; and means, doubtless, some officer in the army of the Assyrian; probably one whose office it was to have charge of the military chest, and to pay the army. Where is he that counted the towers? - That is, who made an estimate of the strength of Jerusalem - either Sennacherib, or someone appointed by him to reconnoitre and report on the means which the city bad of defense (compare Isa 36:4).
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לִבְּךָ֖ | libekha | heart your | H3820 → | 595 times |
| יֶהְגֶּ֣ה | yehgeh | it will meditate on | H1897 → | 25 times |
| אֵימָ֑ה | ʾeimah | terror | H367 → | |
| אַיֵּ֤ה | ʾaiyeh | where? | H346 → | 45 times |
| סֹפֵר֙ | sofer | [is one who] counted | H5608 → | 159 times |
| אַיֵּ֣ה | ʾaiyeh | where? | H346 → | 45 times |
| שֹׁקֵ֔ל | shokel | [is one who] weighed | H8254 → | 22 times |
| אַיֵּ֖ה | ʾaiyeh | where? | H346 → | 45 times |
| סֹפֵ֥ר | sofer | [is one who] counted | H5608 → | 159 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַמִּגְדָּלִֽים׃ | hamigdalim | the towers | H4026 → | 48 times |
לִבְּךָ֖heart your
libekhaH3820 →595 times
יֶהְגֶּ֣הit will meditate on
yehgehH1897 →25 times
אֵימָ֑הterror
ʾeimahH367 →
אַיֵּ֤הwhere?
ʾaiyehH346 →45 times
סֹפֵר֙[is one who] counted
soferH5608 →159 times
אַיֵּ֣הwhere?
ʾaiyehH346 →45 times
שֹׁקֵ֔ל[is one who] weighed
shokelH8254 →22 times
אַיֵּ֖הwhere?
ʾaiyehH346 →45 times
סֹפֵ֥ר[is one who] counted
soferH5608 →159 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַמִּגְדָּלִֽים׃the towers
hamigdalimH4026 →48 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
1 Corinthians 1:20Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
it leads to
- Romans 1:22
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,
- Job 12:17
He leads counselors away barefoot and makes fools of judges.
- Romans 1:22
Through
Psalms 31:22In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from Your sight!” But You heard my plea for mercy when I called to You for help.
it leads to
- Psalms 116:11
In my alarm I said, “All men are liars!”
- Hebrews 5:7
During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His…
- Jonah 2:7–9
As my life was fading away, I remembered the LORD. My prayer went up to You, to Your holy temple.
- Job 35:14
How much less, then, when you say that you do not see Him, that your case is before Him and you must wait for Him,
- Psalms 6:9
The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer.
- Psalms 116:11
Through
2 Kings 18:31Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then every one of you will eat from his own vine…
it leads to
- 1 Kings 4:25
Throughout the days of Solomon, Judah and Israel dwelt securely from Dan to Beersheba, each man under his own vine and his own fig tree.
- 1 Kings 4:25
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
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); 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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Pachomius the Great, LIFE OF PACHOMIUS (SAHIDIC) 4 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.