Isaiah 42:15
in Isaiah 42I will lay waste the mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation. I will turn the rivers into dry land and drain the marshes.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and will dry up the pools.
KJV
I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.
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This verse in Isaiah 42
Commentary
7 notes on this verseFourth, he sets out the punishment as to men: I will lay waste the mountains, the great, hills, the middle ranks, grass, the common people: and I will make mount Seir waste and desolate (Ezek 35:7); and as to the removal of every teaching or …
This site's exposition
The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man
on Isaiah 42:13-15
The gentle servant of the opening verses gives way to a warrior figure, the Lord going forth as a mighty man, crying and roaring like one stirred to battle, prevailing against his enemies, a deliberate contrast the bench notes rather than a contradiction to resolve. The Lord describes his own long restraint, I have long time holden my peace, I have been still, and refrained myself, now broken with the violence of a travailing woman's cry. The devastation named is drawn in creation vocabulary, waste mountains and hills, dried herbs, rivers turned to islands and pools dried up, the same terms the chapter opened with turned now to judgment.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verses 14-15) I have always kept silent, I have been quiet, I have been patient: like a woman in labor, I will speak. I will scatter and devour together. I will make mountains and hills desolate, and I will dry up all their vegetation, and I will turn rivers into islands, and I will dry up ponds. LXX: Have I been silent from the beginning, will I always be silent and endure?
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
I will make waste mountains and hills,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
I will make waste mountains - This verse denotes the utter desolation which God would bring upon his foes in his anger. The meaning of this part of the verse is, that he would spread desolation over the hills and mountains that were well watered and laid out in gardens and orchards.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
I will destroy all My foes. mountains--in Palestine usually planted with vines and olives in terraces, up to their tops. islands--rather, "dry lands." God will destroy His foes, the heathen, and their idols, and "dry up" the fountains of their oracles, their doctrines and institutions, the symbol of which is water, and their schools which promoted idolatry [VITRINGA].
I wilt make the rivers islands “I will make the rivers dry deserts” - Instead of איים iyim, islands, read ציים tsiim; a very probable conjecture of Houbigant.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
I was silent from time immemorial Already for a long time I have been silent about the destruction of My Temple, and always..
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַחֲרִ֤יב | ʾachariv | I will lay waste | H2717 → | 40 times |
| הָרִים֙ | harim | mountains | H2022 → | 546 times |
| וּגְבָע֔וֹת | ugevaot | and hills | H1389 → | 68 times |
| וְכָל־ | vekhol | and all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| עֶשְׂבָּ֖ם | ʾesbam | vegetation their | H6212 → | |
| אוֹבִ֑ישׁ | ʾovish | I will dry up | H3001 → | 59 times |
| וְשַׂמְתִּ֤י | vesamti | and I will make | H7760 → | 584 times |
| נְהָרוֹת֙ | neharot | rivers | H5104 → | 119 times |
| לָֽאִיִּ֔ים | laiyim | <into> <the> islands | H339 → | 36 times |
| וַאֲגַמִּ֖ים | vaagamim | and pools | H98 → | 9 times |
| אוֹבִֽישׁ׃ | ʾovish | I will dry up | H3001 → | 59 times |
אַחֲרִ֤יבI will lay waste
ʾacharivH2717 →40 times
הָרִים֙mountains
harimH2022 →546 times
וּגְבָע֔וֹתand hills
ugevaotH1389 →68 times
וְכָל־and all
vekholH3605 →5413 times
עֶשְׂבָּ֖םvegetation their
ʾesbamH6212 →
אוֹבִ֑ישׁI will dry up
ʾovishH3001 →59 times
וְשַׂמְתִּ֤יand I will make
vesamtiH7760 →584 times
נְהָרוֹת֙rivers
neharotH5104 →119 times
לָֽאִיִּ֔ים<into> <the> islands
laiyimH339 →36 times
וַאֲגַמִּ֖יםand pools
vaagamimH98 →9 times
אוֹבִֽישׁ׃I will dry up
ʾovishH3001 →59 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
Revelation 20:11Then I saw a great white throne and the One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them.
it leads to
- Revelation 21:1
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
- 2 Peter 3:7
And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
- Daniel 2:35
Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were shattered and became like chaff on the threshing floor in summer. The wind carried them away, and not a trace of them could be found.…
- Matthew 25:31
When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne.
- Revelation 21:1
Through
Isaiah 50:2Why was no one there when I arrived? Why did no one answer when I called? Is My hand too short to redeem you? Or do I lack the strength to deliver you? Behold,…
it leads to
- Isaiah 59:1
Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear.
- Isaiah 66:4
So I will choose their punishment and I will bring terror upon them, because I called and no one answered, I spoke and no one listened. But they did evil in My sight and…
- Numbers 11:23
The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not My word will come to pass.”
- Joshua 3:16
the flowing water stood still. It backed up as far upstream as Adam, a city in the area of Zarethan, while the water flowing toward the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was…
- Isaiah 59:1
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
On this chapter
About Isaiah
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 (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.