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Isaiah 40:24

in Isaiah 40

No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner have their stems taken root in the ground, than He blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like stubble.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Yea, they have not been planted; yea, they have not been sown; yea, their stock hath not taken root in the earth: moreover he bloweth upon them, and they wither, and the whirlwind taketh them away as stubble.

KJV

Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.

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This verse in Isaiah 40

Commentary

9 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Isaiah · Written before 420.

(Vers. 21 seqq.) Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been announced to you from the beginning? Have you not understood the foundations of the earth? He sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like locusts. He spreads out the heavens like nothing, and expands them as a tent to dwell in. He makes secret things known as if they were not. He has made the rulers of the earth as nothing. They are not planted, nor are they sown, nor do their roots take hold in the earth.

This site's exposition

He brings the princes to nothing

on Isaiah 40:23-24

The same hand that measures creation reduces rulers, for He brings the princes to nothing. No sooner are they planted, than He blows on them and they wither. Then a whirlwind sweeps them away like stubble, rulers removed at a breath from the God who made them.

This site's exposition

No sooner are they planted

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the planted ones as rulers, pictured as tall trees at Psalm 37:35 and Daniel 4:10. Unsown seed is a royal line cut off (Nahum 1:14). Stems that never root send up no new shoots, so these princes wither and leave no heirs on the earth.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on Isaiah · Written before 1274.

proposed

And he shows the ease of their destruction by a similitude of grass or of a tree, which does not have strong roots in the earth: and surely: against a leaf, that is carried away with the wind, you show your power, and you pursue …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

Yea, they shall not be planted,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

He makes them utterly unable to stand before his judgments, which shall either, [1.] Prevent their settlement in their authority: They shall not be planted; they shall not be sown; and those are the two ways of propagating plants, either by seed or slips.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

And he shall also blow upon them “And if he but blow upon them” - The Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, and MS. Bodl., with another, have גם gam, only, without the conjunction ו vau, and.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Often compared to tall trees (Ps 37:35; Da 4:10). not . . . sown--the seed, that is, race shall become extinct (Na 1:14). stock--not even shall any shoots spring up from the stump when the tree has been cut down: no descendants whatever (Job 14:7; see on Isa 11:1). and . . . also--so the Septuagint.
1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Yea, they shall not be planted - The kings and rulers - especially they who oppose God in the execution of his purposes. The idea in this verse is, that their name and family should become extinct in the same way as a tree does from which no shoot starts up. Although they were great and mighty, like the tree that sends out far-spreading branches, and strikes its roots deep, yet God would so utterly destroy them that they should have no posterity, and their family become extinct. Princes and kings are often compared to lofty and majestic trees of the forest (compare Psa 37:35; Dan 4:7 ff) Vitringa supposes that wicked rulers are particularly intended here, and that the idea is, that the wicked princes that persecuted his people should be entirely extinct on the earth. He refers particularly to Pharaoh, Antiochus Epiphanes, Nero, Domitian, Decius, Gallus, Galerius, Maxenus, Maximus, and some others, as instances of this kind, whose families soon became extinct. It may be remarked, in general, that the families of monarchs and princes become extinct usually much sooner than others. The fact may be owing in part to the usual luxury and vice in the families of the great, and in part to the direct arrangements of God, by which he designs that power shall not be forever perpetuated in one family, or line. The general idea in the passage is, that earthly princes and rulers are as nothing When compared with God, and that he can easily destroy their families and their name. But there is no improbability in the supposition of Vitringa, that the prophet refers particularly to the enemies of God and his cause, and that he intends specifically to affirm that none of these enemies could prevent or embarrass the execution of his purposes - since with infinite ease he could entirely destroy their name. They shall not be sown - The same idea under another figure. […]

The words behind it

18 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.

  • אַ֣ףeven

    ʾafH637 →134 times

  • בַּל־not

    bal-H1077 →73 times

  • נִטָּ֗עוּthey have been planted

    nitauH5193 →58 times

  • אַ֚ףeven

    ʾafH637 →134 times

  • בַּל־not

    bal-H1077 →73 times

  • זֹרָ֔עוּthey have been sown

    zorauH2232 →56 times

  • אַ֛ףeven

    ʾafH637 →134 times

  • בַּל־not

    bal-H1077 →73 times

  • שֹׁרֵ֥שׁit has taken root

    shoreshH8327 →

  • בָּאָ֖רֶץin the ground

    baaretzH776 →2504 times

  • גִּזְעָ֑םrootstock their

    gizamH1503 →

  • וְגַם־and also

    vegam-H1571 →769 times

  • נָשַׁ֤ףhe blows

    nashafH5398 →

  • בָּהֶם֙on them

    bahem

  • וַיִּבָ֔שׁוּand they have dried up

    vaiyivashuH3001 →59 times

  • וּסְעָרָ֖הand a tempest

    usearahH5591 →24 times

  • כַּקַּ֥שׁlike <the> chaff

    kakashH7179 →16 times

  • תִּשָּׂאֵֽם׃ סit carries off them

    tisaemH5375 →656 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

18 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Isaiah 41:16You will winnow them, and a wind will carry them away; a gale will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the LORD; you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.5 worksIsaiah 41:2Who has aroused one from the east and called him to his feet in righteousness? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow.5 worksProverbs 10:25When the whirlwind passes, the wicked are no more, but the righteous are secure forever.4 worksPsalms 83:13Make them like tumbleweed, O my God, like chaff before the wind.4 worksJeremiah 23:19Behold, the storm of the LORD has gone out with fury, a whirlwind swirling down upon the heads of the wicked.3 worksHaggai 1:9You expected much, but behold, it amounted to little. And what you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the LORD of Hosts. Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.3 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
Isaiah 17:13The nations rage like the rush of many waters. He rebukes them, and they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweeds before a gale.3 worksMalachi 4:1“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of Hosts. “Not a root or branch will be left to them.”3 worksJeremiah 22:30This is what the LORD says: “Enroll this man as childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime. None of his descendants will prosper to sit on the throne of David or to rule again in Judah.”2 worksHosea 13:3Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff blown from a threshing floor, like smoke through an open window.2 worksIsaiah 14:21–22Prepare a place to slaughter his sons for the iniquities of their forefathers. They will never rise up to possess a land or cover the earth with their cities.2 worksIsaiah 40:7The grass withers and the flowers fall when the breath of the LORD blows on them; indeed, the people are grass.2 worksJob 15:30–33He will not escape from the darkness; the flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away.2 worksJob 18:16–19The roots beneath him dry up, and the branches above him wither away.2 worksJob 4:9By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.2 worksPsalms 58:9Before your pots can feel the burning thorns— whether green or dry— He will sweep them away.2 worksProverbs 1:27when your dread comes like a storm, and your destruction like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish overwhelm you.2 worksHosea 13:15Although he flourishes among his brothers, an east wind will come—a wind from the LORD rising up from the desert. His fountain will fail, and his spring will run dry. The wind will plunder his treasury of every precious article.2 works

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

    Jeremiah 22:30

    This is what the LORD says: “Enroll this man as childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime. None of his descendants will prosper to sit on the throne of David or…

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 36:30

      Therefore this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David’s throne, and his body will be thrown out and exposed to heat by…

  • Through

    Jeremiah 23:19

    Behold, the storm of the LORD has gone out with fury, a whirlwind swirling down upon the heads of the wicked.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 30:23

      Behold, the storm of the LORD has gone out with fury, a whirlwind swirling down upon the heads of the wicked.

    • Jeremiah 25:32

      This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Behold! Disaster is spreading from nation to nation; a mighty storm is rising from the ends of the earth.”

    • Amos 1:14

      So I will kindle a fire in the walls of Rabbah to consume its citadels amid war cries on the day of battle and a violent wind on the day of tempest.

  • Through

    Isaiah 41:16

    You will winnow them, and a wind will carry them away; a gale will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the LORD; you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 51:2

      I will send strangers to Babylon to winnow her and empty her land; for they will come against her from every side in her day of disaster.

    • Isaiah 61:10–11

      I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom…

  • Through

    Haggai 1:9

    You expected much, but behold, it amounted to little. And what you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the LORD of Hosts. Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you…

    it leads to

    • Haggai 1:4

      “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”

  • Through

    Isaiah 17:13

    The nations rage like the rush of many waters. He rebukes them, and they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweeds before a gale.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 9:5

      You have rebuked the nations; You have destroyed the wicked; You have erased their name forever and ever.

Where this verse is studied

About Isaiah

The Prophet Isaiah, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Prophet Isaiah, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Isaiah: the study guide →Read Isaiah 40 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); 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.

Read on in Isaiah 40 →