Isaiah 30:22
in Isaiah 30So you will desecrate your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, saying to them, “Be gone!”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And ye shall defile the overlaying of thy graven images of silver, and the plating of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as an unclean thing; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.
KJV
Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.
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This verse in Isaiah 30
Commentary
9 notes on this verse(Verse 23.) And you shall defile the plates of your carved silver, and the garment of your molded gold, and scatter them like the impurity of a menstruating woman: go forth, you shall say to it. LXX: And you shall defile the silver and the gold idols: you shall break them and scatter them like the water of a menstruating woman, and you shall cast them away like feces.
This site's exposition
throw them away like menstrual cloths
Once the people turn to the LORD, they desecrate their "silver-plated idols" and "gold-plated images" and throw them away "like menstrual cloths", saying, "Be gone". John Gill noted that the figure takes its force from the uncleanness the law attached to such cloths. So the idols are treated with revulsion.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
And also as to due worship of God: and you shall defile the plates of your graven things of silver, reducing them to common use: he defiled the high places, and demolished them (2 Kgs 23:8); the garment, every adornment of an idol. Second, as …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Defile - To shew your contempt of it. Covering - The leaves or plates wherewith their images were frequently covered. Ornament - It was a costly and glorious robe.
It was fulfilled in the body of the Jewish nation at their return from their captivity in Babylon, for they abhorred idols ever after; and it is accomplished daily in the conversion of souls, by the power of divine grace, from spiritual idolatry to the fear and love of God. Those that join themselves to the Lord must abandon every sin, and say unto it, Get thee hence.
), and many of these promises are very applicable to gospel grace. A prophecy of the total rout and ruin of the Assyrian army, which should be an occasion of great joy and an introduction to those happy times,
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Ye shall defile “Ye shall treat as defiled” - The very prohibition of Moses, Deu 7:25, only thrown out of the prose into the poetical form: “The graven images of their gods ye shall burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or the gold that is on them; nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein; for it is an abomination to Jehovah thy God.”
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Ye shall defile also - That is, you shall regard them as polluted and abominable. This is language which is often used respecting their treatment of the images and altars of idolatry when they became objects of abomination, and when they were induced to abandon them (see 2Ki 23:8, 2Ki 23:10, 2Ki 23:16). It is not improbable that before destroying them they would express their abhorrence of them by some act of polluting or defiling them, as significant of their contempt for the objects of degraded idolatry (see the note at Isa 2:20). The sense of the whole passage is, that the effect of the judgments which God was about to bring upon the nation would be, to turn them from idolatry, to which as a nation they had been signally prone. The covering - The images of idols were usually made of wood or clay, and overlaid with gold. That gold and silver were used “to plate” them is apparent from Deu 7:25; and the whole process of making them from wood, and then of overlaying them with plates of gold and silver is described with graphic power and severity of irony in Isa 40:19-20; Isa 41:6-7. Thy graven images of silver - Margin, ‘The graven images of thy silver.’ Probably the construction in the text is correct, as meaning that the images were not made of entire silver, but of wood or clay, plated with silver. And the ornament - The golden plates or the covering of the images. Thy molten images - The word ‘molten’ refers to those which were made by “casting” (see the notes at Isa 40:19-20). Thou shalt cast them away - (see the note at Isa 2:20). This would be in accordance with the express direction of Moses; Deu 7:25: ‘The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire; thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein, for it is an abomination unto the Lord thy God.’
The words behind it
15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְטִמֵּאתֶ֗ם | vetimetem | and you will make unclean | H2930 → | |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| צִפּוּי֙ | tzipui | [the] plating of | H6826 → | |
| פְּסִילֵ֣י | pesilei | [the] images of | H6456 → | 23 times |
| כַסְפֶּ֔ךָ | khaspekha | silver your | H3701 → | 403 times |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אֲפֻדַּ֖ת | ʾafudat | [the] sheathing of | H642 → | |
| מַסֵּכַ֣ת | masekhat | [the] molten image of | H4541 → | 28 times |
| זְהָבֶ֑ךָ | zehavekha | gold your | H2091 → | 389 times |
| תִּזְרֵם֙ | tizrem | you will throw away them | H2219 → | 39 times |
| כְּמ֣וֹ | kemo | like | H3644 → | 143 times |
| דָוָ֔ה | davah | a menstrual [rag] | H1739 → | |
| צֵ֖א | tze' | filth | H6627 → | |
| תֹּ֥אמַר | tomar | you will say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| לֽוֹ׃ | lo | to it |
וְטִמֵּאתֶ֗םand you will make unclean
vetimetemH2930 →
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
צִפּוּי֙[the] plating of
tzipuiH6826 →
פְּסִילֵ֣י[the] images of
pesileiH6456 →23 times
כַסְפֶּ֔ךָsilver your
khaspekhaH3701 →403 times
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
אֲפֻדַּ֖ת[the] sheathing of
ʾafudatH642 →
מַסֵּכַ֣ת[the] molten image of
masekhatH4541 →28 times
זְהָבֶ֑ךָgold your
zehavekhaH2091 →389 times
תִּזְרֵם֙you will throw away them
tizremH2219 →39 times
כְּמ֣וֹlike
kemoH3644 →143 times
דָוָ֔הa menstrual [rag]
davahH1739 →
צֵ֖אfilth
tze'H6627 →
תֹּ֥אמַרyou will say
tomarH559 →5305 times
לֽוֹ׃to it
lo
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
Zechariah 13:2And on that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, I will erase the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered. I will also remove the prophets and…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 36:25
I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Kings 22:22
And he replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ ‘You will surely entice him and prevail,’ said the LORD. ‘Go and do it.’
- Jeremiah 23:14–15
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.…
- Hosea 2:17
For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals; no longer will their names be invoked.
- Exodus 23:13
Pay close attention to everything I have said to you. You must not invoke the names of other gods; they must not be heard on your lips.
- Ezekiel 36:25
Through
Isaiah 31:7For on that day, every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold that your own hands have sinfully made.
it leads to
- Isaiah 2:20
In that day men will cast away to the moles and bats their idols of silver and gold—the idols they made to worship.
- Hosea 14:8
O Ephraim, what have I to do anymore with idols? It is I who answer and watch over him. I am like a flourishing cypress; your fruit comes from Me.
- Isaiah 2:20
Through
Isaiah 46:6They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.
it leads to
- Acts 17:29
Therefore, being offspring of God, we should not think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by man’s skill and imagination.
- Acts 17:29
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
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); 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.