Isaiah 24:4
in Isaiah 24The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and fades; the exalted of the earth waste away.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the lofty people of the earth do languish.
KJV
The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.
⋯
This verse in Isaiah 24
Commentary
9 notes on this verse(Verse 4, 5.) The earth mourned and declined, and became weak: the world declined, the height of the people of the earth became weak, and the earth was destroyed by its inhabitants. (LXX: The earth mourns, the world is corrupted, the lofty ones of the earth mourn, but the earth acts wickedly due to its inhabitants. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).
This site's exposition
The earth mourns and withers
on Isaiah 24:4-9
The mourning spreads from the land to the vine and the harp: "The earth mourns and withers". The people "have transgressed the laws" and "broken the everlasting covenant", and Henry sets that covenant beside the one made with Noah in Genesis 9. So "a curse has consumed the earth".
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
As to the downfall of power, the earth mourned, and faded away, using the past tense for the future, that is, it shall fade away, mourning for its weakness; and this is: is weakened, that this may be said as to the common people; but …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The earth mourneth, and fadeth away,....
The promises that are mixed with the threatenings are intended for the support and comfort of the people of God in those very calamitous times. And, since here are no particular nations names either by whom or on whom those desolations should be brought, I see not but it may refer to both these events.
It is, at the best, like a flower, which withers in the hands of those that please themselves too much with it, and lay it in their bosoms. And, as the earth itself grows old, so those that dwell therein are desolate; men carry crazy sickly bodies along with them, are often solitary, and confined by affliction,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The world languisheth - The world is the same with the land; that is, the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, orbis Israeliticus. See note on Isa 13:11 (note).
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
world--the kingdom of Israel; as in Isa 13:11, Babylon. haughty--literally, "the height" of the people: abstract for concrete, that is, the high people; even the nobles share the general distress.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The earth mourneth - The word ‘earth’ here, as in Isa 24:1, means the land of Judea, or that and so much of the adjacent countries as would be subject to the desolation described. The figure here is taken from flowers when they lose their beauty and languish; or when the plant that lacks moisture, or is cut down, loses its vigor and its vitality, and soon withers (compare the note at Isa 1:30; Isa 34:4; Psa 1:3). The world - (תבל têbêl). Literally, the inhabitable world, but used here as synonymous with the ‘land,’ and denoting the kingdoms of Judah and Israel (compare the note at Isa 13:11) The haughty people - Margin, as in the Hebrew, ‘Height of the people.’ It denotes the great, the nobles, the princes of the land. The phrase is expressive of rank, not of their moral character.
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אָבְלָ֤ה | ʾavelah | it has dried up | H56 → | 39 times |
| נָֽבְלָה֙ | navelah | it has withered | H5034 → | 25 times |
| הָאָ֔רֶץ | haaretz | the earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
| אֻמְלְלָ֥ה | ʾumlelah | it has languished | H535 → | 16 times |
| נָבְלָ֖ה | navelah | it has withered | H5034 → | 25 times |
| תֵּבֵ֑ל | tevel | [the] world | H8398 → | 36 times |
| אֻמְלָ֖לוּ | ʾumlalu | they have languished | H535 → | 16 times |
| מְר֥וֹם | merom | [the] noble[s] of | H4791 → | 54 times |
| עַם־ | ʾam- | [the] people of | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| הָאָֽרֶץ׃ | haaretz | the earth | H776 → | 2504 times |
אָבְלָ֤הit has dried up
ʾavelahH56 →39 times
נָֽבְלָה֙it has withered
navelahH5034 →25 times
הָאָ֔רֶץthe earth
haaretzH776 →2504 times
אֻמְלְלָ֥הit has languished
ʾumlelahH535 →16 times
נָבְלָ֖הit has withered
navelahH5034 →25 times
תֵּבֵ֑ל[the] world
tevelH8398 →36 times
אֻמְלָ֖לוּthey have languished
ʾumlaluH535 →16 times
מְר֥וֹם[the] noble[s] of
meromH4791 →54 times
עַם־[the] people of
ʾam-H5971 →1873 times
הָאָֽרֶץ׃the earth
haaretzH776 →2504 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
Hosea 4:3Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea disappear.
it leads to
- Nahum 1:4
He rebukes the sea and dries it up; He makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon wilts.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Zephaniah 1:3
“I will sweep away man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, and the idols with their wicked worshipers. I will cut off mankind…
- Isaiah 24:4–12
The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and fades; the exalted of the earth waste away.
- Amos 5:16
Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says: “There will be wailing in all the public squares and cries of ‘Alas! Alas!’ in all the streets. The farmer will…
- Nahum 1:4
Through
Jeremiah 12:4How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field be withered? Because of the evil of its residents, the animals and birds have been swept away, for the people have said,…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 9:10
I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness pasture, for they have been scorched so no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not…
- Psalms 107:34
and fruitful land into fields of salt, because of the wickedness of its dwellers.
- Hosea 4:3
Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea disappear.
- Jeremiah 4:25
I looked, and no man was left; all the birds of the air had fled.
- Jeremiah 9:10
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.