Isaiah 31:5
in Isaiah 31Like birds hovering overhead, so the LORD of Hosts will protect Jerusalem. He will shield it and deliver it; He will pass over it and preserve it.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
As birds hovering, so will Jehovah of hosts protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver it, he will pass over and preserve it.
KJV
As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.
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This verse in Isaiah 31
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
As birds flying - This is another comparison indicating substantially the same thing as the former, that Yahweh would protect Jerusalem. The idea here is, that He would do it in the same manner as birds defend their young by hovering over them, securing them under their wings, and leaping forward, if they are suddenly attacked, to defend them. Our Saviour has used a similar figure to indicate his readiness to have defended and saved the same city Mat 23:27, and it is possible that he may have had this passage in his eye.
This site's exposition
Like a lion roaring
on Isaiah 31:4-5
The LORD of Hosts comes down "to do battle on Mount Zion" like a lion over its prey that "is not terrified by their shouting". "Like birds hovering overhead", He will "protect Jerusalem". Franz Delitzsch noted the pairing of fierceness toward the enemy and gentleness toward the city.
This site's exposition
He will pass over it
He will pass over it recalls the Passover night of Exodus 12. John Wesley reads it of the destroying angel passing over Jerusalem to preserve it while the Assyrian camp fell. Like birds hovering over their young, the LORD of Hosts will shield and deliver the city.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verses 4, 5.) For thus says the Lord to me: Just as when a lion roars, and a lion cub over its prey, when a multitude of shepherds come against it, it will not be afraid of their voices, nor terrified by their numbers; so the Lord of hosts will come down to fight upon Mount Zion and its hill. Like birds hovering, so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem, protecting and delivering, passing over and saving. In manifestis unam ponimus editionem, maxime ubi nulla diversitas sensuum est.
The Medieval Church1 voice
And under the likeness of a protecting bird: as birds: how often would I have gathered together your children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and you wouldst not? (Matt 23:37); as the eagle enticing her young to fly, and hovering …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
As birds - Which come from above, and so cannot be kept off; which fly swiftly, and engage resolutely, when their young ones are in danger. Passing over - The destroying angel shall pass over Jerusalem.
As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem,.... As the preceding metaphor expresses the mighty power of God, this his tenderness and affection, as well as his speed and swiftness in the deliverance of his people.
9 And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the L ORD , whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem. This explains the foregoing promise of the deliverance of Jerusalem; she shall be fitted for deliverance, and then it shall be wrought for her; for in that method God delivers.
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)
As in the image of "the lion," the point of comparison is the fearless might of Jehovah; so in that of the birds, it is His solicitous affection (De 32:11; Mt 23:37). flying--Rather, "which defend" their young with their wings; "to fly" is a secondary meaning of the Hebrew word [MAURER].
Passing over “Leaping forward” - The generality of interpreters observe in this place an allusion to the deliverance which God vouchsafed to his people when he destroyed the first-born of the Egyptians, and exempted those of the Israelites sojourning among them by a peculiar interposition. The same word is made use of here which is used upon that occasion, and which gave the name to the feast which was instituted in commemoration of that deliverance, פסח pesach. But the difficulty is to reconcile the commonly received meaning of that word with the circumstances of the similitude here used to illustrate the deliverance represented as parallel to the deliverance in Egypt. “As the mother birds hovering over their young, So shall Jehovah God of hosts protect Jerusalem; Protecting and delivering, passing over, and rescuing her.” This difficulty is, I think, well solved by Vitringa, whose remark is the more worthy of observation, as it leads to the true meaning of an important word, which hitherto seems greatly to have been misunderstood, though Vitringa himself, as it appears to me, has not exactly enough defined the precise meaning of it. He says, “פסח pasach signifies to cover, to protect by covering: σκεπασω ὑμας, Septuagint. Jehovah obteget ostium; ‘The Lord will cover or protect the door:’” whereas it means that particular action or motion by which God at that time placed himself in such a situation as to protect the house of the Israelite against the destroying angel; to spring forward, to throw one’s self in the way, in order to cover and protect. Cocceius comes nearer to the true meaning than Vitringa, by rendering it gradum facere, to march, to step forward; Lexicon in voc. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
passing over (פָּסוֹחַ) passing over. Alternatively, it may be interpreted as an expression of sparing.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Return To the One about Whom you have thought deeply how to turn away from Him, now return to Him.
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. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כְּצִפֳּרִ֣ים | ketziporim | like birds | H6833 → | |
| עָפ֔וֹת | afot | flying | H5774 → | 26 times |
| כֵּ֗ן | ken | so | H3651 → | 771 times |
| יָגֵ֛ן | yagen | he will defend | H1598 → | 8 times |
| יְהוָ֥ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| צְבָא֖וֹת | tzevaot | of hosts | H6635 → | 485 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | <on> | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יְרֽוּשָׁלִָ֑ם | yerushalim | Jerusalem | H3389 → | 643 times |
| גָּנ֥וֹן | ganon | he will defend [it] | H1598 → | 8 times |
| וְהִצִּ֖יל | vehitzil | and he will rescue [it] | H5337 → | 212 times |
| פָּסֹ֥חַ | pasoach | he will pass over [it] | H6452 → | |
| וְהִמְלִֽיט׃ | vehimlit | and he will deliver [it] | H4422 → | 95 times |
כְּצִפֳּרִ֣יםlike birds
ketziporimH6833 →
עָפ֔וֹתflying
afotH5774 →26 times
כֵּ֗ןso
kenH3651 →771 times
יָגֵ֛ןhe will defend
yagenH1598 →8 times
יְהוָ֥הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
צְבָא֖וֹתof hosts
tzevaotH6635 →485 times
עַל־<on>
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
יְרֽוּשָׁלִָ֑םJerusalem
yerushalimH3389 →643 times
גָּנ֥וֹןhe will defend [it]
ganonH1598 →8 times
וְהִצִּ֖ילand he will rescue [it]
vehitzilH5337 →212 times
פָּסֹ֥חַhe will pass over [it]
pasoachH6452 →
וְהִמְלִֽיט׃and he will deliver [it]
vehimlitH4422 →95 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
Psalms 91:4He will cover you with His feathers; under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and rampart.
it leads to
- Psalms 61:4
Let me dwell in Your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. Selah
- Psalms 57:1
Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy, for in You my soul takes refuge. In the shadow of Your wings I will take shelter until the danger has passed.
- Psalms 17:8
Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings
- Deuteronomy 32:11
As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, He spread His wings to catch them and carried them on His pinions.
- Isaiah 43:1–2
Now this is what the LORD says— He who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your…
- Psalms 61:4
Through
Deuteronomy 32:11As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, He spread His wings to catch them and carried them on His pinions.
it leads to
- Isaiah 46:4
Even to your old age, I will be the same, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will sustain you and…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 46:4
Through
Isaiah 37:35‘I will defend this city and save it for My own sake and for the sake of My servant David.’”
it leads to
- 2 Kings 20:6
I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for My sake and for…
- Isaiah 38:6
And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.
- 2 Kings 20:6
Where this verse is studied
About Isaiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 10 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); 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; 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.