Isaiah 33:8
in Isaiah 33The highways are deserted; travel has ceased. The treaty has been broken, the witnesses are despised, and human life is disregarded.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: the enemy hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth not man.
KJV
The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.
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This verse in Isaiah 33
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The highways lie waste - This verse contains a description of the desolations that had been caused by the invasion of Sennacherib. Some have understood it as containing the account which the ambassadors sent by Hezekiah gave of the effects of the invasion. Thus Grotius interprets it. But it is probably a description made by the prophet himself, and is designed to state one cause why the messengers that had been sent out wept bitterly. They had not only failed of inducing Sennacherib to abandon his purpose of attacking Jerusalem, but they had witnessed the effects of his invasion already.
This site's exposition
their valiant ones shall cry without
on Isaiah 33:7-9
The scene turns to Judah's own collapse under siege: valiant men cry in the open, ambassadors sent to negotiate peace weep bitterly, and the highways lie waste because no traveler dares them. A covenant is broken and cities despised, language the older commentators connect to Sennacherib's violation of Hezekiah's tribute agreement in 2 Kings 18, and the land itself joins the mourning, Lebanon ashamed and hewn down, Sharon like a wilderness, Bashan and Carmel shaking off their fruit. Delitzsch reads the four place names as marking the whole length of the land, from the far north to the coastal plain, so that no region is exempt from the devastation named.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 7 and following) Behold, those who see will cry out: The angels of peace will weep bitterly. The roads are abandoned, the passer-by has ceased on the path, the pact has become void, cities have been thrown down, men have not been regarded. The land has mourned and languished, Lebanon is confused and darkened, Sharon has become like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel have been shaken.
The Medieval Church1 voice
As to the loneliness of the ways: the ways are made desolate: the ways of Zion mourn, because there are none that come to the solemn feast (Lam 1:4); as to the breaking of covenants: the covenant is made void, namely, the covenant by which …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The covenant - Sennacherib broke his faith, given to Hezekiah, of departing for a sum of money, 2 Kings xviii, 14, 17. Cities - The defensed cities of Judah, which he contemned, and easily took.
He makes himself master of them so easily (though they are called fenced cities ), and meets with so little resistance, that he despises them, and has no relentings when he puts all to the sword; for he regards no man, has no pity or concern, no, not for those that he is under particular obligations to.
The highways lie waste,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
From the vision of future glory Isaiah returns to the disastrous present; the grief of "the valiant ones" (parallel to, and identical with, "the ambassadors of peace"), men of rank, sent with presents to sue for peace, but standing "without" the enemy's camp, their suit being rejected (2Ki 18:14, 18, 37).
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
broken . . . covenant--When Sennacherib invaded Judea, Hezekiah paid him a large sum to leave the land; Sennacherib received the money and yet sent his army against Jerusalem (2Ki 18:14, 17). despised--make slight of as unable to resist him (Isa 10:9;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| נָשַׁ֣מּוּ | nashamu | they have been made desolate | H8074 → | 86 times |
| מְסִלּ֔וֹת | mesilot | highways | H4546 → | 27 times |
| שָׁבַ֖ת | shavat | he has ceased | H7673 → | 71 times |
| עֹבֵ֣ר | ʾover | [one who] passes by of | H5674 → | 556 times |
| אֹ֑רַח | ʾorach | a path | H734 → | 58 times |
| הֵפֵ֤ר | hefer | someone has broken | H6565 → | 50 times |
| בְּרִית֙ | berit | a covenant | H1285 → | 284 times |
| מָאַ֣ס | maas | someone has rejected | H3988 → | 76 times |
| עָרִ֔ים | ʾarim | cities | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| חָשַׁ֖ב | chashav | anyone has valued | H2803 → | 124 times |
| אֱנֽוֹשׁ׃ | ʾenoosh | humankind | H582 → | 566 times |
נָשַׁ֣מּוּthey have been made desolate
nashamuH8074 →86 times
מְסִלּ֔וֹתhighways
mesilotH4546 →27 times
שָׁבַ֖תhe has ceased
shavatH7673 →71 times
עֹבֵ֣ר[one who] passes by of
ʾoverH5674 →556 times
אֹ֑רַחa path
ʾorachH734 →58 times
הֵפֵ֤רsomeone has broken
heferH6565 →50 times
בְּרִית֙a covenant
beritH1285 →284 times
מָאַ֣סsomeone has rejected
maasH3988 →76 times
עָרִ֔יםcities
ʾarimH5892 →1090 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
חָשַׁ֖בanyone has valued
chashavH2803 →124 times
אֱנֽוֹשׁ׃humankind
ʾenooshH582 →566 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 35:8And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it—only those who walk in the Way—and fools will not stray onto it.
it leads to
- Matthew 7:13–14
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
- Isaiah 42:16
I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on unfamiliar paths. I will turn darkness into light before them and rough places into level ground. These…
- John 14:6
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
- 1 Peter 1:14–15
As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance.
- Revelation 21:27
But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices an abomination or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
- Matthew 7:13–14
Through
Judges 5:6In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were deserted and the travelers took the byways.
it leads to
- Judges 3:31
After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath. And he too saved Israel, striking down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad.
- Judges 3:31
Through
Lamentations 1:4The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gates are deserted; her priests groan, her maidens grieve, and she herself is bitter with anguish.
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.”
- Joel 1:8–13
Wail like a virgin dressed in sackcloth, grieving for the husband of her youth.
- Jeremiah 9:11
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
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); 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 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.