Isaiah 41:15
in Isaiah 41Behold, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Behold, I have made thee to be a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
KJV
Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
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This verse in Isaiah 41
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Behold, I will make thee ... - The object of the illustration in this verse and the following is, to show that God would clothe them with power, and that all difficulties in their way would vanish. To express this idea, the prophet uses an image derived front the mode of threshing in the East, where the heavy wain or sledge was made to pass over a large pile of sheaves, and to bruise out the grain, and separate the chaff, so that the wind would drive it away.
This site's exposition
Do not fear, O worm of Jacob
on Isaiah 41:14-16
Do not fear, O worm, a title of weakness set beside a strong one, Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah carries that title in twenty five of the thirty one verses that use it. Israel becomes a threshing sledge, a figure Gill takes from the farm.
This site's exposition
a threshing sledge, new and sharp
Barnes describes the threshing sledge of the East. Dragged over a heap of sheaves, it crushed out the grain and left chaff for the wind. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown explain the teeth as serrations that cut the straw, and read the mountains and hills as hostile kingdoms great and small.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verses 15-16) I have made you like a new threshing sledge, with sharp teeth. You will crush the mountains and reduce them to dust; you will make them like fine dust. You will scatter them to the wind, and a whirlwind will blow them away. Then you will rejoice in the Lord; you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
The Medieval Church1 voice
He also sets out the benefit of exaltation as to the subjugation of enemies: I have made you as a new thrashing wain, above: Moab shall be trodden down under him, as straw is broken in pieces with the wain (Isa 25:10); which perhaps was …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument, having teeth,....
He will help them, for he is their Redeemer, who is wont to redeem them, who has undertaken to do it. Christ is the Redeemer, from him is our help found. He will help them, for he is the Holy One of Israel, worshipped among them in the beauty of holiness and engaged by promise to them.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
God will make Israel to destroy their enemies as the Eastern corn-drag (Isa 28:27, 28) bruises out the grain with its teeth, and gives the chaff to the winds to scatter. teeth--serrated, so as to cut up the straw for fodder and separate the grain from the chaff. mountains . . . hills--kingdoms more or less powerful that were hostile to Israel (Isa 2:14).
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A new sharp threshing instrument having teeth “A threshing wain; a new corn-drag armed with pointed teeth” - See note on Isa 28:27-28. Thou shalt thresh the mountains - Mountains and hills are here used metaphorically for the kings and princes of the Gentiles. - Kimchi.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הִנֵּ֣ה | hineh | here! | H2009 → | 843 times |
| שַׂמְתִּ֗יךְ | samtikh | I will make you | H7760 → | 584 times |
| לְמוֹרַג֙ | lemorag | <into> a threshing-sledge | H4173 → | |
| חָר֣וּץ | charutz | sharp | H2742 → | |
| חָדָ֔שׁ | chadash | new | H2319 → | 53 times |
| בַּ֖עַל | baal | an owner of | H1167 → | 84 times |
| פִּֽיפִיּ֑וֹת | pifiyot | teeth | H6374 → | |
| תָּד֤וּשׁ | tadush | you will thresh | H1758 → | 16 times |
| הָרִים֙ | harim | mountains | H2022 → | 546 times |
| וְתָדֹ֔ק | vetadok | so you may crush [them] | H1854 → | 13 times |
| וּגְבָע֖וֹת | ugevaot | and hills | H1389 → | 68 times |
| כַּמֹּ֥ץ | kamotz | like <the> chaff | H4671 → | 8 times |
| תָּשִֽׂים׃ | tasim | you will make | H7760 → | 584 times |
הִנֵּ֣הhere!
hinehH2009 →843 times
שַׂמְתִּ֗יךְI will make you
samtikhH7760 →584 times
לְמוֹרַג֙<into> a threshing-sledge
lemoragH4173 →
חָר֣וּץsharp
charutzH2742 →
חָדָ֔שׁnew
chadashH2319 →53 times
בַּ֖עַלan owner of
baalH1167 →84 times
פִּֽיפִיּ֑וֹתteeth
pifiyotH6374 →
תָּד֤וּשׁyou will thresh
tadushH1758 →16 times
הָרִים֙mountains
harimH2022 →546 times
וְתָדֹ֔קso you may crush [them]
vetadokH1854 →13 times
וּגְבָע֖וֹתand hills
ugevaotH1389 →68 times
כַּמֹּ֥ץlike <the> chaff
kamotzH4671 →8 times
תָּשִֽׂים׃you will make
tasimH7760 →584 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
Zechariah 4:7What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain. Then he will bring forth the capstone accompanied by shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 51:25
“Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, you who devastate the whole earth, declares the LORD. I will stretch out My hand against you; I will roll you over the cliffs and turn…
- Zechariah 4:9
“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will complete it. Then you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent me to you.
- Micah 4:1
In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to…
- Psalms 118:22
The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
- Jeremiah 51:25
Through
Isaiah 21:10O my people, crushed on the threshing floor, I tell you what I have heard from the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 51:33
For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled. In just a little while her…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Micah 4:13
Rise and thresh, O Daughter of Zion, for I will give you horns of iron and hooves of bronze to break to pieces many peoples. Then you will devote their gain to the LORD,…
- Jeremiah 51:33
Through
Micah 4:13Rise and thresh, O Daughter of Zion, for I will give you horns of iron and hooves of bronze to break to pieces many peoples. Then you will devote their gain to the LORD,…
it leads to
- Isaiah 41:15–16
Behold, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Daniel 2:44
In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will shatter all these kingdoms…
- Isaiah 41:15–16
Where this verse is studied
About Isaiah
This page draws on 9 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); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.