Isaiah 24:12
in Isaiah 24The city is left in ruins; its gate is reduced to rubble.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.
KJV
In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.
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This verse in Isaiah 24
Commentary
7 notes on this verseIn the city is left desolation,.... And nothing else, palaces, houses, and temples burnt, and inhabitants destroyed; none but devils, foul spirits, and hateful and unclean birds, inhabiting it, Rev 18:2, and the gate is smitten with destruction; or "gates", the singular for the plural; none passing and repassing through them, as formerly, and themselves utterly destroyed. This, according to Kimchi, shall be in the days of the Messiah, in the times of Gog and Magog.
This site's exposition
The city of chaos is shattered
on Isaiah 24:10-13
The text never names the city it describes: "The city of chaos is shattered; every house is closed to entry". Its gate is "reduced to rubble", and "rejoicing is exiled from the land". Verse 13 leaves a remnant, "like a harvested olive tree, like a gleaning after a grape harvest".
This site's exposition
The city is left in ruins
The ruined gate leaves the city open to every enemy, and Barnes notes that the word for its rubble can mean a crash. The city of chaos from verse 10 now lies in ruins. Gill hears its end again in Revelation 18:2.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 7 and following) The grape harvest has failed, the vine is weakened, all those who rejoiced in their hearts have sighed. The joy of the tambourines has ceased, the sound of the rejoicers has quieted, the sweetness of the lyre has been silenced, as those who do not drink wine with singing, bitter will be the drink for those who drink it. The city of vanity is worn away, every house is closed with no one entering.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Here is mercy remembered in the midst of wrath. In Judah and Jerusalem, and the neighbouring countries, when they are overrun by the enemy, Sennacherib or Nebuchadnezzar, there shall be a remnant preserved from the general ruin, and it shall be a devout and pious remnant. And this method God usually observes when his judgments are abroad; he does not make a full end, ch. vi.
The captives in Babylon hang their harps on the willow trees. In short, All joy is darkened; there is not a pleasant look to be seen, nor has any one power to force a smile; all the mirth of the land is gone (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
And the gate is smitten with destruction - The word rendered ‘destruction’ may denote ‘a crash’ (Gesenius). The idea is, that the gates of the city, once so secure, are how battered down and demolished, so that the enemy ran enter freely. Thus far is a description of the calamities that would come upon the nation. The following verses show that, though the desolation would be general, a few of the inhabitants would be left - circumstance thrown in to mitigate the prospect. of the impending ruin.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Through desolation, the gate is battered Through the desolation of loneliness, that the houses are desolate, without an occupant, the gates shall become battered by demons and destructive creatures.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
For so shall Israel remain in the midst of the peoples, one in a city and two in a family.
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. 1 further source is cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| נִשְׁאַ֥ר | nishar | it has remained | H7604 → | 133 times |
| בָּעִ֖יר | bair | in the city | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| שַׁמָּ֑ה | shamah | desolation | H8047 → | 39 times |
| וּשְׁאִיָּ֖ה | usheiyah | and ruin | H7591 → | |
| יֻכַּת־ | yukat- | it will be crushed | H3807 → | 17 times |
| שָֽׁעַר׃ | shaar | [the] gate | H8179 → | 374 times |
נִשְׁאַ֥רit has remained
nisharH7604 →133 times
בָּעִ֖ירin the city
bairH5892 →1090 times
שַׁמָּ֑הdesolation
shamahH8047 →39 times
וּשְׁאִיָּ֖הand ruin
usheiyahH7591 →
יֻכַּת־it will be crushed
yukat-H3807 →17 times
שָֽׁעַר׃[the] gate
shaarH8179 →374 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 9:11“And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
it leads to
- Isaiah 25:2
Indeed, You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin. The fortress of strangers is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 10:22
Listen! The sound of a report is coming— a great commotion from the land to the north. The cities of Judah will be made a desolation, a haunt for jackals.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 25:2
Through
Lamentations 1:1How lonely lies the city, once so full of people! She who was great among the nations has become a widow. The princess of the provinces has become a slave.
it leads to
- Isaiah 3:26
And the gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.
- Revelation 18:16–17
saying: “Woe, woe to the great city, clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls!
- 1 Kings 4:21
And Solomon reigned over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These kingdoms offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of…
- Ezra 4:20
And mighty kings have ruled over Jerusalem and exercised authority over the whole region west of the Euphrates; and tribute, duty, and toll were paid to them.
- Isaiah 3:26
Through
Micah 1:12For the dwellers of Maroth pined for good, but calamity came down from the LORD, even to the gate of Jerusalem.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 14:19
Have You rejected Judah completely? Do You despise Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing? We hoped for peace, but no good has come, and for the time of…
- Amos 3:6
If a ram’s horn sounds in a city, do the people not tremble? If calamity comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?
- Jeremiah 14:19
About Isaiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.