Isaiah 49:17
in Isaiah 49Your builders hasten back; your destroyers and wreckers depart from you.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thy children make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth from thee.
KJV
Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.
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This verse in Isaiah 49
Commentary
10 notes on this verseAnd the manner of its fulfillment: your builders are come, that is, the rebuilders, namely, Zorobabel and Jesus and others already before my eyes; they that destroy you, the Chaldeans: the hands of Zorobabel have laid the foundations of this house (Zech 4:9).
This site's exposition
Thy children shall make haste
on Isaiah 49:17-21
The children Zion thought lost make haste to return while her destroyers depart, and the land once too empty for its inhabitants will be too narrow for the crowd that comes back to it. Zion herself will be astonished at the increase, who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro, the numbers outrunning anything she could have counted on when she spoke her complaint. Albert Barnes reads the whole unit as the answer to the complaint carried out in detail rather than left as a promise only.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
(Verse 14 and following) And Zion said: The Lord has abandoned me, and the Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman forget her nursing child, so as not to have compassion on the son of her womb? Even if she forgets, I will not forget you. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are always before my eyes. Your builders have come, and those who destroyed and devastated you will depart from you. Lift up your eyes all around and see; all these have gathered together, they have come to you.
It is the king of Babylon who has destroyed Jerusalem and the king of the Persians who has ordained its reconstruction. But as these last were formerly subjects of the Assyrians, they also joined with them in taking the city. Thus, he can say that …
A commentator
Augustine of HippoLETTER TO THE CATHOLICS ON THE SECT OF THE DONATISTS 7:16 · Written in the 5th century.
proposed
Since by the command of the apostle we are not allowed to understand this as about the Jewish people but about Christians, what are we to understand in that which Isaiah says here, "you will quickly be built up by those from whom you fled," except the kings of the earth who formerly persecuted the church and later would help it as much as previously foretold.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Thy children shall make haste,.... Regenerate persons, young converts, such as are born again of incorruptible seed by the word; these shall flock to the church, as doves to the windows; join themselves to her, and submit to Gospel ordinances, and make haste, and delay not, to keep the Lord's commandments; which is no small pleasure, joy, and comfort to the church of God.
By Christ the prince of this world, the great destroyer, is cast out, is dispossessed, has his power broken and his attempts quite baffled. (2.) Now by this it will appear that Zion's suggestions were altogether groundless, that God has not forsaken her, nor forgotten her, nor ever will.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
) that her children should make haste; that promise is here enlarged upon, and is made very encouraging. That multitudes shall flock to the church from all parts.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Thy children - The children of Zion - the true people of God. But there is here considerable variety in the interpretation. The Hebrew of the present text is בניך bânâyı̂k (“thy sons”). But Jerome reads it, Structores tui - ‘Thy builders;’ as if it were בונין.
Thy children shall make haste “They that destroyed thee shall soon become thy builders” - Auctor Vulgatae pro בניך banayich, videtur legisse בוניך bonayich, unde vertit, structores tui; cui et Septuaginta fere consentiunt, qui verterunt ῳκοδομηθης, aedificata es, prout in Plantiniana editione habetur; in Vaticana sive Romana legitur, οικοδομηθησῃ, aedificaberis. Hisce etiam Targum Jonathanis aliquatenus consentit, ubi, et aedificabunt. Confer infra Esai. Isa 54:13, ad quem locum rabbini quoque notarunt en tractatu Talmudico Berachot, c. ix., quod non legendum sit בניך banayich, id est. filii tui; sed בניך bonayich, aedificatores tui. Confer not. ad librum Prec. Jud. part ii., p. 226, ut et D Wagenseil Sot. p. 253, n. 9. “The author of the Vulgate appears to have read בוניך bonayich for בניך banayich, as he translates it by structures tui, ‘thy builders.’ The Septuagint is almost the same with the Vulgate, having ῳκοδομηθης, art built, as in the Plantin edition: but the Vatican or Roman copy reads οικοδομηθησῃ, those shalt be built. To these readings the Targum of Jonathan has some sort of correspondence, translating et aedificabunt, ‘and they shall build.’ See Isa 54:13; on which place the rabbins also remark, in the Talmudic tract Berachoth, c. 9, that we should not read בניך banayich, thy sons, but בניך bonayich, thy builders. See the note in Prae. Jud. part ii., p. 226, and also D. Wagenseil, Sot. p. 253, n. 9. “See also Breithaupt. not. ad Jarchi in loc.; and the note on this place in De Sac. Poes. Hebr. Praelect. 31. Instead of בוניך or בניך bonayich, thy builders, several MSS. read בניך baneycha, thy sons. So also the Syriac: see the above note. Shall go forth of thee “Shall become thine offspring” - ממך יצאו mimmech yetseu, shall proceed, spring, issue, from thee, as thy children. […]
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מִֽהֲר֖וּ | miharu | they have made haste | H4116 → | 68 times |
| בָּנָ֑יִךְ | banayikh | children your | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| מְהָֽרְסַ֥יִךְ | meharesayikh | [those who] tear down you | H2040 → | 43 times |
| וּמַחֲרִבַ֖יִךְ | umacharivayikh | and [those who] make desolate you | H2717 → | 40 times |
| מִמֵּ֥ךְ | mimekh | from you | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| יֵצֵֽאוּ׃ | yetzeu | they will go out | H3318 → | 1067 times |
מִֽהֲר֖וּthey have made haste
miharuH4116 →68 times
בָּנָ֑יִךְchildren your
banayikhH1121 →4930 times
מְהָֽרְסַ֥יִךְ[those who] tear down you
meharesayikhH2040 →43 times
וּמַחֲרִבַ֖יִךְand [those who] make desolate you
umacharivayikhH2717 →40 times
מִמֵּ֥ךְfrom you
mimekhH4480 →1188 times
יֵצֵֽאוּ׃they will go out
yetzeuH3318 →1067 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
Ezekiel 28:24For the people of Israel will no longer face a pricking brier or a painful thorn from all around them who treat them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord…
it leads to
- Numbers 33:55
But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides; they will harass you…
- Joshua 23:13
know for sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become for you a snare and a trap, a scourge in your sides and…
- Numbers 33:55
Through
Isaiah 62:5For as a young man marries a young woman, so your sons will marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so your God will rejoice over you.
it leads to
- Isaiah 62:4
No longer will you be called Forsaken, nor your land named Desolate; but you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will…
- Isaiah 65:19
I will rejoice in Jerusalem and take delight in My people. The sounds of weeping and crying will no longer be heard in her.
- Hebrews 12:2
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand…
- Isaiah 62:4
Through
Isaiah 51:13But you have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. You live in terror all day long because of the fury of the oppressor…
it leads to
- Psalms 104:2
He wraps Himself in light as with a garment; He stretches out the heavens like a tent,
- Isaiah 40:22
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
- Isaiah 17:10
For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and failed to remember the Rock of your refuge. Therefore, though you cultivate delightful plots and set out cuttings from exotic vines—
- Psalms 104:2
Where this verse is studied
About Isaiah
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
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); Augustine of Hippo, LETTER TO THE CATHOLICS ON THE SECT OF THE DONATISTS 7:16; 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; Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 15:49.17 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.