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Isaiah 37:25

in Isaiah 37

I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

I have digged and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet will I dry up all the rivers of Egypt.

KJV

I have digged, and drunk water; and with the sole of my feet have I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places.

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This verse in Isaiah 37

Commentary

9 notes on this verse
I have digged - That is, I have digged wells. This was regarded among eastern nations as an important achievement. It was difficult to find water, even by digging, in sandy deserts; and in a country abounding with rocks, it was an enterprise of great difficulty to sink a well. Hence, the possession of a well became a valuable property, and was sometimes the occasion of contention between neighboring tribes Gen 26:

This site's exposition

Against the Holy One of Israel

on Isaiah 37:23-25

The oracle names whom the boasting has reached: Against the Holy One of Israel, the title Isaiah uses more than any other book. The king's own words are quoted back to him: I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. Barnes notes that Assyrian inscriptions make boasts of this kind.

This site's exposition

I have dug wells

Barnes notes that digging wells in a desert was counted a great feat among eastern peoples. The boast of drying up the streams of Egypt claims a march no river could stop. Isaiah 19:6 had given that power over Egypt's streams to the LORD.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Isaiah · Written before 420.

proposed

(v. 21 seqq.) However, Isaiah (also known as Josiah), the son of Amos, sent to Hezekiah saying: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: concerning what you asked me about Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, this is the word that the Lord spoke about him: He has despised you and mocked you, O virgin daughter of Zion. After you, the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head. Whom did you reproach and blaspheme? Against whom did you raise your voice and lift your eyes in pride, to the Holy One of Israel?

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on Isaiah · Written before 1274.

proposed

From the multitude of his warriors: I have dug, as if to say: I have such a large army that the water that I find is not enough, unless I dig wells; or, metaphorically: I dried up the consolations of all nations: like a garden …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

I have digged, and drunk water,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

All the malice, and all the motions and projects, of the church's enemies, are under the cognizance and check of the church's God. Sennacherib was active and quick, here, and there, and every where, but God knew his going out and coming in, and had always an eye upon him,

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

So Isa 19:4-6, referring to Egypt, "the river--brooks of defense--shall be dried up." HORSLEY, translates the Hebrew for "besieged places," "rocks."
1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Water “Strange waters” - The word זרים zarim, strange, lost out of the Hebrew text in this place, is supplied from the other copy. A MS. supplies the word רבים rabbim, many, instead of it. With the sole of my feet - With my infantry. All the rivers of the besieged places “All the canals of fenced places” - The principal cities of Egypt, the scene of his late exploits, were chiefly defended by deep moats, canals, or large lakes, made by labor and art, with which they were surrounded. See Harmer’s Observ. 2 p. 304. Claudian introduces Alaric boasting of his conquests in the same extravagant manner: - “Subsidere nostris Sub pedibus montes; arescere vidimus amnes. - Fregi Alpes, galeisque Padum victricibus hausi.” De Bello Getic. 526. “The mountains have passed away under our feet; we have seen the rivers dried up. I have broken the Alps, and laden out the Po with our victorious helmets.”

The words behind it

10 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • אֲנִ֥יI

    ʾaniH589 →874 times

  • קַ֖רְתִּיI have dug

    kartiH6979 →

  • וְשָׁתִ֣יתִיand I have drunk

    veshatitiH8354 →217 times

  • מָ֑יִםwater

    mayimH4325 →581 times

  • וְאַחְרִב֙so I may dry up

    veachrivH2717 →40 times

  • בְּכַף־with [the] sole of

    bekhaf-H3709 →192 times

  • פְּעָמַ֔יfeet my

    peamaiH6471 →118 times

  • כֹּ֖לall

    kolH3605 →5413 times

  • יְאֹרֵ֥י[the] canals of

    yeoreiH2975 →65 times

  • מָצֽוֹר׃Egypt

    matzorH4693 →

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

9 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Isaiah 19:6The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will trickle and dry up; the reeds and rushes will wither.4 works1 Kings 20:10Then Ben-hadad sent another message to Ahab: “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if enough dust remains of Samaria for each of my men to have a handful.”3 worksJob 28:11He stops up the sources of the streams to bring what is hidden to light.3 works2 Kings 19:23–24Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest outposts, the densest of its forests.2 worksDeuteronomy 11:10For the land that you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated on foot, like a vegetable garden.2 worksIsaiah 36:12But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to you and your master, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”2 works
The other 3 cross-references, with their words ▾
Isaiah 26:6Feet trample it down—the feet of the oppressed, the steps of the poor.2 worksJob 40:23Though the river rages, Behemoth is unafraid; he remains secure, though the Jordan surges to his mouth.2 worksNahum 3:14Draw your water for the siege; strengthen your fortresses. Work the clay and tread the mortar; repair the brick kiln!2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    1 Kings 20:10

    Then Ben-hadad sent another message to Ahab: “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if enough dust remains of Samaria for each of my men to have a handful.”

    it leads to

    • 1 Kings 19:2

      So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like the lives of those…

    • Exodus 11:8

      And all these officials of yours will come and bow before me, saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that, I will depart.” And hot with anger, Moses left Pharaoh’s…

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 11:10

    For the land that you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated on foot, like a vegetable garden.

    it leads to

    • Zechariah 14:18

      And if the people of Egypt will not go up and enter in, then the rain will not fall on them; this will be the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who…

  • Through

    Isaiah 36:12

    But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to you and your master, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to…

    it leads to

    • Leviticus 26:29

      You will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters.

    • 2 Kings 18:27

      But the Rabshakeh replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to you and your master, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to…

    • 2 Kings 6:25–29

      So there was a great famine in Samaria. Indeed, they besieged the city so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter cab of dove’s dung sold for…

    • Jeremiah 19:9

      I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and distress inflicted on them by their enemies who seek their lives.’

    • Ezekiel 4:16

      Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water…

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About Isaiah

The Prophet Isaiah, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Prophet Isaiah, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Isaiah: the study guide →Read Isaiah 37 →
This page draws on 9 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); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; 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.

Read on in Isaiah 37 →