Isaiah 28:20 BSB — MannaFest

Isaiah 28:20

Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket too small to wrap around you.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it; and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.

KJV

For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.

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Commentary

3 voices

Jerome

Commentary on Isaiah (420)

(Verse 20). For the bed is too narrow for one to stretch out on, and the covering is too small to wrap oneself in. And what follows: For the bed is made narrow, so that one falls out, and the short cloak cannot cover both, it has the sense which we read in the Apostle: You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons (2 Corinthians 10:20, 21); and elsewhere: What fellowship does righteousness have with iniquity?

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Those that do not build upon Christ as their foundation, but rest in a righteousness of their own, will prove in the end thus to have deceived themselves; they can never be easy, safe, nor warm; the bed is too short, the covering is too narrow; like our first parents' fig-leaves, the shame of their nakedness will still appear. [2.] God will be glorified in the accomplishment of his counsels,

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible (1832)

For the bed is shorter - A mashal or proverbial saying, the meaning of which is, that they will find all means of defense and protection insufficient to secure them, and cover them from the evils coming upon them. מסך massek, Isa 22:8, the covering, is used for the outworks of defense, the barrier of the country; and here, in the allegorical sense, it means much the same thing. Their beds were only mattresses laid on the floor; and the coverlet a sheet, or in the winter a carpet, laid over it, in which the person wrapped himself.

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

7 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
כִּֽי־	ki-	for	H3588 →
קָצַ֥ר	ka.Tzar	it is [too] short	H7114 →
הַמַּצָּ֖ע	ha.ma.Tza'	the bed	H4702 →
מֵֽהִשְׂתָּרֵ֑עַ	me.his.ta.Re.a'	for stretching oneself	H8311 →
וְהַמַּסֵּכָ֥ה	ve.ham.ma.se.Khah	and the blanket	H4541 →
צָ֖רָה	Tza.rah	it is narrow	H6887 →
כְּהִתְכַּנֵּֽס׃	ke.hit.ka.Nes	when wraps oneself up	H3664 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The walk

The walk5

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Isaiah 64:6
Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
leads to
- Romans 7:18
  I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
- Romans 7:24
  What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
- Ephesians 2:1–2
  And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
- Zechariah 3:3
  Now Joshua was dressed in filthy garments as he stood before the angel.
- Revelation 3:17–18
  You say, ‘I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.

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About Isaiah

The Prophet Isaiah — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Isaiah: the study guide →Read chapter 28 →The featured study →

Continue: Isaiah 28 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About Isaiah

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About Isaiah