Isaiah 32:11
in Isaiah 32Shudder, you ladies of leisure; tremble, you daughters of complacency. Strip yourselves bare and put sackcloth around your waists.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones; strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.
KJV
Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.
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This verse in Isaiah 32
Commentary
9 notes on this verseSecond, as to the devastation of the fields, he prescribes mourning, be astonished: I have put off the robe of peace (Bar 4:20), above: and the Lord in that day shall call to weeping (Isa 22:12).
This site's exposition
Stand up, you complacent women
on Isaiah 32:9-11
The prophet turns to the women of Jerusalem, "complacent women", "overconfident daughters", and tells them to tremble and "put sackcloth around your waists". Trouble is near, "In a little more than a year you will tremble". The older commentators tie this to the Assyrian ruin of Judah’s countryside.
This site's exposition
put sackcloth around your waists
The complacent women of verse 9 are told to strip off their fine clothing and put on the sackcloth of mourning. Barnes sent the reader back to Isaiah 3:24. Their leisure ends when the harvest fails.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 9 and following) Women of wealth, rise up and listen to my voice: confident daughters, hear my words. After days and years, you will be troubled, O confident ones: for the harvest is complete, and there will be no more gathering. O women of wealth, be astounded, be troubled: strip yourselves and be ashamed. As Symmachus interpreted, expose yourselves: it continues. Gird your loins, beat your breasts, over the desirable region, over the fertile vineyard: over the ground of my people, thorns and thistles will grow: how much more over all the houses of the joyful city?
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Such times they saw in the latter end of the reign of Hezekiah; but the prophecy may well be supposed to look further, to the days of the Messiah, who is King of righteousness and King of peace, and to whom all the prophets bear witness.
Tremble, ye women that are at ease,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Strip ye, and make ye bare - That is, take off your joyful and splendid apparel, and put on the habiliments of mourning, indicative of a great calamity. And gird sackcloth - (See the note at Isa 3:24).
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Address to the women of Jerusalem who troubled themselves little about the political signs of the times, but lived a life of self-indulgence (Isa 3:16-23); the failure of food through the devastations of the enemy is here foretold, being what was most likely to affect them as mothers of families, heretofore accustomed to every luxury.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Gird sackcloth - שק sak, sackcloth, a word necessary to the sense, is here lost, but preserved by the Septuagint, MSS. Alex. and Pachom., and 1. D. II., and edit. Ald. and Comp., and the Arabic and Syriac. Tremble - be troubled - strip you - פשטה peshotah, רגזה regazah, etc. These are infinitives, with a paragogic ה he, according to Schultens, Institut. Ling. Hebr. p. 453, and are to be taken in an imperative sense.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
to be troubled (רְגָזָה) to be troubled. (This is an infinitive despite the absence of the ‘lammed.’)
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Those who dwell at ease shall be agitated for days and years, because the corn is come to an end, and there is no fruit to gather.
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. 4 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
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| חִרְדוּ֙ | chirdu | tremble | H2729 → | 39 times |
| שַֽׁאֲנַנּ֔וֹת | shaananot | O carefree [women] | H7600 → | 10 times |
| רְגָ֖זָה | regazah | be agitated | H7264 → | 41 times |
| בֹּֽטְח֑וֹת | botechot | O confident [women] | H982 → | 120 times |
| פְּשֹׁ֣טָֽה | peshotah | strip off | H6584 → | |
| וְעֹ֔רָה | veorah | and strip yourself | H6209 → | |
| וַחֲג֖וֹרָה | vachagorah | and gird | H2296 → | 44 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| חֲלָצָֽיִם׃ | chalatzayim | loins | H2504 → | 10 times |
חִרְדוּ֙tremble
chirduH2729 →39 times
שַֽׁאֲנַנּ֔וֹתO carefree [women]
shaananotH7600 →10 times
רְגָ֖זָהbe agitated
regazahH7264 →41 times
בֹּֽטְח֑וֹתO confident [women]
botechotH982 →120 times
פְּשֹׁ֣טָֽהstrip off
peshotahH6584 →
וְעֹ֔רָהand strip yourself
veorahH6209 →
וַחֲג֖וֹרָהand gird
vachagorahH2296 →44 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
חֲלָצָֽיִם׃loins
chalatzayimH2504 →10 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
Isaiah 2:21They will flee to caverns in the rocks and crevices in the cliffs, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.
it leads to
- Isaiah 2:19
Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.
- Isaiah 2:19
Through
Isaiah 3:24Instead of fragrance there will be a stench; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of styled hair, baldness; instead of fine clothing, sackcloth; instead of beauty, shame.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 27:31
They will shave their heads for you and wrap themselves in sackcloth. They will weep over you with anguish of soul and bitter mourning.
- Lamentations 2:10
The elders of the Daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth. The young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to…
- Isaiah 15:3
In its streets they wear sackcloth; on the rooftops and in the public squares they all wail, falling down weeping.
- 1 Peter 3:3
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair or gold jewelry or fine clothes,
- Micah 1:16
Shave yourselves bald and cut off your hair in mourning for your precious children; make yourselves as bald as an eagle, for they will go from you into exile.
- Ezekiel 27:31
Through
Jeremiah 6:26O daughter of my people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter wailing, as you would for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 4:8
So put on sackcloth, mourn and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned away from us.”
- Zechariah 12:10
Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They…
- Jeremiah 4:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
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); 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); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.