Isaiah 5:18
in Isaiah 5Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and sin as it were with a cart rope;
KJV
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
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This verse in Isaiah 5
Commentary
11 notes on this verse(Verse 18, 19.) Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as if with a cart rope. Those who say: let his work speed up and come quickly, so that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel approach and come, so that we may know it. As for the cart rope, the Septuagint translated it as a strap of the yoke of a heifer or a cow. And it is more commonly read that the ropes are called sins.
This site's exposition
cords of vanity
on Isaiah 5:18-19
The third woe pictures sin as a beast of burden being harnessed, drawing iniquity with cords of vanity and pulling sin along like a loaded cart, an image of habitual wrongdoing so practiced it no longer feels like effort. Verse nineteen quotes the mockers directly, let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it, daring the prophet's warnings to arrive faster, and naming the title at the center of their taunt: the counsel of the Holy One of Israel. It is one of the twenty-five occurrences of that title across the book, the seraphim's Holy, holy, holy of chapter six standing behind every one of them, and here the mockers use it as a dare rather than a confession.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
A commentator
Augustine of HippoTRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10:5 · Written in the 5th century.
proposed
For each and every person braids a rope for himself in his sins.… Who makes the rope long? Who adds sin to sin? How are sins added to sins? When the sins that have been committed are combined with other sins. He committed a theft; that no one may find out that he committed it, he seeks out an astrologer. It would be enough to have committed the theft; why do you want to join a sin to a sin? Look, two sins. When you are prevented from approaching the astrologer, you blaspheme the bishop. Look, three sins. When you hear, "Send him outside the church," you say, "I'm taking myself to Donatus's group." Look, you add a fourth sin.
The Medieval Church2 voices
Our Lord shows what reward awaits hypocritical workers when he made a scourge of cords and drove them all out of the temple. They are cast out as sharers of the inheritance of the saints if, after they are chosen to be among the saints, …
185. Woe to you that draw. Here he denounces the pertinacity of their sinning: and first, he denounces their fault, second, he threatens punishment, where it says, therefore as the tongue of the fire devours the stubble (Isa 5:24). Concerning the first, he does two …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
For the righteous Lord will cut in sunder the cords of the wicked, Ps. cxxix. They are by long custom and confirmed habits so hardened in sin that they cannot get clear of it. Those that sin through infirmity are drawn away by sin; those that sin presumptuously draw iniquity to them, in spite of the oppositions of Providence and the checks of conscience.
That draw - That are not only drawn to sin by the allurements of the world; but are active and illustrious in drawing sin to themselves. Cords - Or, with cords of lying, as the last word frequently signifies, with vain and deceitful arguments and pretenses, whereby sinners generally draw themselves to sin.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
With a cart-rope “As a long cable” - The Septuagint, Aquila, Sym., and Theod., for בחבלי bechabley, read כחבלי kechahley, ὡς σχοινιῳ, or σχοινιοις; and the Septuagint, instead of שוא shau, read some other word signifying long; ὡς σχοινιῳ μακρῳ; and so likewise the Syriac, אריכא arecha. Houbigant conjectures that the word which the Septuagint had in their copies was שרוע sarua, which is used Lev 21:18, Lev 22:23, for something in an animal body superfluous, lengthened beyond its natural measure.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Job 8:14), with which one sin draws on another, until they at last bind themselves with great guilt as with a cart-rope. They strain every nerve in sin. vanity--wickedness. sin--substantive, not a verb: they draw on themselves "sin" and its penalty recklessly.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Wo unto them ... - This is a new denunciation. It introduces another form of sin, and threatens its appropriate punishment. That draw iniquity with cords of vanity - The general idea in this verse and the next, is, doubtless, that of plunging deeper and deeper into sin. The word “sin” here, has been sometimes supposed to mean “the punishment” for sin. The word has that meaning sometimes, but it seems here to be taken in its usual sense. The word “cords” means strings of any kind, larger or smaller; and the expression “cords of vanity,” is supposed to mean “small, slender, feeble” strings, like the web of a spider. The word vanity שׁוא shâv', May, perhaps, have the sense here of falsehood or deceit; and the cords of deceit may denote the schemes of evil, the plans for deceiving people, or of bringing them into a snare, as the fowler springs his deceitful snare upon the unsuspecting bird. The Chaldee translates it, ‘Woe to those who begin to sin by little and little, drawing sin by cords of vanity; these sins grow and increase until they are strong, and are like a cart-rope.’ The Septuagint renders it, ‘Woe to those who draw sin with a long cable;’ that is,” one sin is added to another, until it comes to an enormous length, and the whole is drawn along together. Probably the true idea is that of the ancient interpretation of the rabbis, ‘An evil inclination is at first like a fine hair string, but the finishing like a cart-rope.’ At first, they draw sin with a slender cord, then they go on to greater deeds of iniquity that urge them on, and draw them with their main strength, as with a cart-rope. They make a strong “effort” to commit iniquity.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ה֛וֹי | ho | woe to! | H1945 → | 51 times |
| מֹשְׁכֵ֥י | moshekhei | [those who] draw along | H4900 → | 36 times |
| הֶֽעָוֹ֖ן | heavon | <of the> iniquity | H5771 → | 233 times |
| בְּחַבְלֵ֣י | bechavlei | with [the] cords of | H2256 → | 62 times |
| הַשָּׁ֑וְא | hashav' | <the> emptiness | H7723 → | 53 times |
| וְכַעֲב֥וֹת | vekhaavot | and like [the] rope of | H5688 → | |
| הָעֲגָלָ֖ה | haagalah | <the> cart | H5699 → | 25 times |
| חַטָּאָֽה׃ | chataah | sin | H2403 → | 295 times |
ה֛וֹיwoe to!
hoH1945 →51 times
מֹשְׁכֵ֥י[those who] draw along
moshekheiH4900 →36 times
הֶֽעָוֹ֖ן<of the> iniquity
heavonH5771 →233 times
בְּחַבְלֵ֣יwith [the] cords of
bechavleiH2256 →62 times
הַשָּׁ֑וְא<the> emptiness
hashav'H7723 →53 times
וְכַעֲב֥וֹתand like [the] rope of
vekhaavotH5688 →
הָעֲגָלָ֖ה<the> cart
haagalahH5699 →25 times
חַטָּאָֽה׃sin
chataahH2403 →295 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
Jeremiah 5:31The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?
it leads to
- Ezekiel 13:6
They see false visions and speak lying divinations. They claim, ‘Thus declares the LORD,’ when the LORD did not send them; yet they wait for the fulfillment of their message.
- Jeremiah 14:14
“The prophets are prophesying lies in My name,” replied the LORD. “I did not send them or appoint them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a false vision, a worthless divination,…
- Micah 2:11
If a man of wind were to come and say falsely, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be just the preacher for this people!
- Ezekiel 13:6
Through
Ezekiel 13:22Because you have disheartened the righteous with your lies, even though I have caused them no grief, and because you have encouraged the wicked not to turn from their evil ways to save their…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 23:14
And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns his back on wickedness.…
- Jeremiah 23:14
Through
Jeremiah 23:10For the land is full of adulterers—because of the curse, the land mourns and the pastures of the wilderness have dried up—their course is evil and their power is misused.
it leads to
- Hosea 4:2–3
Cursing and lying, murder and stealing, and adultery are rampant; one act of bloodshed follows another.
- Psalms 107:34
and fruitful land into fields of salt, because of the wickedness of its dwellers.
- Hosea 4:2–3
Through
Psalms 36:2For his eyes are too full of conceit to detect or hate his own sin.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 29:19
because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself, saying, ‘I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.’ This…
- Deuteronomy 29:19
Through
Jeremiah 23:14And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns his back on wickedness.…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 29:23
For they have committed an outrage in Israel by committing adultery with the wives of their neighbors and speaking lies in My name, which I did not command them to do. I am He…
- Jeremiah 29:23
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah
This page draws on 11 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); Augustine of Hippo, TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10:5; Bede, Homilies on the Gospels 2:1; 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.