Isaiah 65:20
in Isaiah 65No longer will a nursing infant live but a few days, or an old man fail to live out his years. For the youth will die at a hundred years, and he who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days; for the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed.
KJV
There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.
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This verse in Isaiah 65
Commentary
15 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
There shall be no more thence - The Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Vulgate, read this, ‘There shall not be there.’ The change requires the omission of a single letter in the present Hebrew text, and the sense seems to demand it. The design of the prophet here is, to describe the times of happiness and prosperity which would succeed the calamities under which the nation had been suffering. This he does by a great variety of images, all denoting substantially the same thing.
This site's exposition
the child shall die an hundred years old
on Isaiah 65:20-23
The child shall die an hundred years old describes death itself as a rarity rather than an infant's common fate, length of days pictured as the ordinary case and a shortened life as the sinner's exception. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the picture as necessarily describing an order still touched by death and sin, since a sinner can still die at a hundred years, an intermediate age between this present one and the eternal state where Revelation twenty-one pictures no more death at all: the millennial reading, the site's own, and the one the verses' plain arithmetic supports. Calvin reads the same verses as figurative for the security of the whole gospel age, and the note names that reading while stating its cost, that it must dissolve the passage's own numbers into figure and leaves the hundred-year sinner with nothing to count. The promise stands either way at its plainest: they shall build houses and inhabit them, they shall not labour in vain, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands, a reversal of the curse named in Deuteronomy twenty-eight where another eats what a man plants.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
It is usual for the prophets thus to mingle metaphorical and literal expressions. Yet, anyone with serious purpose and a little useful and salutary effort can discern the prophet's spiritual sense; it is only a lazy and worldly person or one who is ignorant or uneducated who will rest content with the literal and superficial sense and refuse to penetrate the deeper meaning.
Long age will be given generously to them with nobody who died an untimely death … for he who has reached one hundred years will be just as the one who has died prematurely as a youth. But the sinner will be prone to judgment …
"The young" means the people from among the Gentiles … and all will be mature, having grown into the measure of the fullness of Christ.
The heaven became new and the earth new for those who once erred and divinized these things. For they recognize the Creator of these things and learn that the things are not gods but the creations of God. They are new for those who see …
(Verse 20) And there shall no longer be heard in her (in him) the voice of weeping, and the voice of crying. There shall no longer be an infant of days, nor an old man who has not filled his days. For the child shall die at a hundred years old, and the sinner at a hundred years old shall be accursed. LXX: And there shall no longer be heard in her the voice of weeping, and the voice of crying. Neither shall there be any more premature and old person who does not fulfill their time.
8 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church3 voices
"For the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed." Some authors understand these words as referring to the time after the return from exile. For a hundred years their prosperity lasted, and then the Macedonian …
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 19 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
The second aspect of the zeal of wisdom is control of the passions, which are the seven affective dispositions of the soul — four principal and three consequent: fear, sorrow, hope and joy; shame and hatred. It is characteristic of these that they go to …
Second, as to length of life: there shall no more be an infant of days there, nor an old man that shall not fill up his days, dying before his time, but the child shall die a hundred years old, that is, when he will …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
There shall be no more thence an infant of days,....
But these things are here prophesied of under the type and figure of the difference God would make between some and others of the Jews after their return out of captivity, between those that feared God and those that did not, with reproofs of the sins then found among them and promises of the blessings then in reserve for them.
The Jerusalem that is from above is free and is the mother of us all. In the graces and comforts which believers have in and from Christ we are to look for this new heaven and new earth. It is in the gospel that old things have passed away and all things have become new, and by it that those who are in Christ are new creatures, 2 Cor. v. 17 .
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
This passage proves that the better age to come on earth, though much superior to the present will not be a perfect state; sin and death shall have place in it (compare Re 20:7, 8), but much less frequently than now.
Thence “There” - For משם mishsham, thence, the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read שם sham, there.
The words behind it
23 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִֽהְיֶ֨ה | yihyeh | it will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| מִשָּׁ֜ם | misham | from there | H8033 → | 834 times |
| ע֗וֹד | od | again | H5750 → | 490 times |
| ע֤וּל | ʾul | a sucking child of | H5764 → | |
| יָמִים֙ | yamim | days | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| וְזָקֵ֔ן | vezaken | and an old [person] | H2205 → | 178 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | who | H834 → | 5497 times |
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יְמַלֵּ֖א | yemale' | he will complete | H4390 → | 249 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| יָמָ֑יו | yamav | days his | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| הַנַּ֗עַר | hanaar | the young man | H5288 → | 239 times |
| בֶּן־ | ben- | a son of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| מֵאָ֤ה | meah | one hundred | H3967 → | 581 times |
| שָׁנָה֙ | shanah | year[s] | H8141 → | 877 times |
| יָמ֔וּת | yamut | he will die | H4191 → | 839 times |
| וְהַ֣חוֹטֶ֔א | vehachote' | and the [one who] misses | H2398 → | 238 times |
| בֶּן־ | ben- | a son of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| מֵאָ֥ה | meah | one hundred | H3967 → | 581 times |
| שָׁנָ֖ה | shanah | year[s] | H8141 → | 877 times |
| יְקֻלָּֽל׃ | yekulal | he will be cursed | H7043 → | 82 times |
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יִֽהְיֶ֨הit will be
yihyehH1961 →3559 times
מִשָּׁ֜םfrom there
mishamH8033 →834 times
ע֗וֹדagain
odH5750 →490 times
ע֤וּלa sucking child of
ʾulH5764 →
יָמִים֙days
yamimH3117 →2304 times
וְזָקֵ֔ןand an old [person]
vezakenH2205 →178 times
אֲשֶׁ֥רwho
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יְמַלֵּ֖אhe will complete
yemale'H4390 →249 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
יָמָ֑יוdays his
yamavH3117 →2304 times
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
הַנַּ֗עַרthe young man
hanaarH5288 →239 times
בֶּן־a son of
ben-H1121 →4930 times
מֵאָ֤הone hundred
meahH3967 →581 times
שָׁנָה֙year[s]
shanahH8141 →877 times
יָמ֔וּתhe will die
yamutH4191 →839 times
וְהַ֣חוֹטֶ֔אand the [one who] misses
vehachote'H2398 →238 times
בֶּן־a son of
ben-H1121 →4930 times
מֵאָ֥הone hundred
meahH3967 →581 times
שָׁנָ֖הyear[s]
shanahH8141 →877 times
יְקֻלָּֽל׃he will be cursed
yekulalH7043 →82 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
Job 5:26You will come to the grave in full vigor, like a sheaf of grain gathered in season.
it leads to
- Psalms 91:16
With long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 42:16–17
After this, Job lived 140 years and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.
- Proverbs 9:11
For through wisdom your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life.
- Genesis 15:15
You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.
- Proverbs 10:27
The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be cut short.
- Psalms 91:16
Through
Psalms 34:12Who is the man who delights in life, who desires to see good days?
it leads to
- 1 Peter 3:10–12
For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.
- Deuteronomy 30:20
and that you may love the LORD your God, obey Him, and hold fast to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land that the LORD swore…
- 1 Peter 3:10–12
Through
Deuteronomy 4:40Keep His statutes and commandments, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may live long in the land that the LORD your…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 6:3
Hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe them, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers,…
- Deuteronomy 6:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
About Isaiah
This page draws on 15 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, City of God 20.21; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 19; Ishodad of Merv, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 65:20; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Procopius of Gaza, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 65:13-25; Theodore of Heraclea, FRAGMENTS ON ISAIAH; Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 20:65.17-18 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.