Isaiah 37:29
in Isaiah 37Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Because of thy raging against me, and because thine arrogancy is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
KJV
Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.
⋯
This verse in Isaiah 37
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Because thy rage and thy tumult - Or rather, thy pride, thy insolence, thy vain boasting. Therefore will I put my hook in thy nose - This is a most striking expression, denoting the complete control which God had over the haughty monarch, and his ability to direct him as he pleased. The language is taken from the custom of putting a ring or hook in the nose of a wild animal for the purpose of governing and guiding it.
This site's exposition
I know your sitting down
on Isaiah 37:28-29
The LORD answers: I know your sitting down, and your raging against Me. The sentence I will put My hook in your nose pictures a captured animal led by force, as Assyrian art shows captives led. The empire that led nations by hooks is itself led home.
This site's exposition
I will put My hook in your nose
Matthew Henry reads the verse against Isaiah 10:6, where the LORD had sent Assyria against Judah, and here the LORD recalls that commission. A hook in the nose and a bit in the mouth were used to lead wild animals. The raging king is led home like a beast.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 26 and following) Have you not heard what I did to him in the past? From ancient times I formed it, and now I have brought it forth, and it has become a ruin of the hills that fight against me, and of fortified cities. The inhabitants of those cities were brought low, they trembled and were confused. They became like the grass of the field, and the green herb, and the roof grass that withered before it could mature.
The Medieval Church1 voice
Here he infers the punishment: a ring in your nose, like an ox, a bit between your lips, like a horse, that is, the power of my divinity in curbing you: he has opened his quiver, and has afflicted me, and has put a bridle …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
God had signed Sennacherib's commission against Judah ( ch. x. 6 ); here he supersedes it. He has frightened them, but he must not hurt them, and therefore is discharged from going any further; nay, his commitment is here signed, by which he is clapped up, to answer for what he had done beyond his commission.
Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult is come up into mine ears,.....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
tumult--insolence. hook in . . . nose--Like a wild beast led by a ring through the nose, he shall be forced back to his own country (compare Job 41:1, 2; In a bas-relief of Khorsabad, captives are led before the king by a cord attached to a hook, or ring, passing through the under lip or the upper lip, and nose.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Will I put my hook in thy nose - Et fraenum meum: Jonathan vocem מתג metheg, interpretatus est זמם zemam, i.e., annulum, sive uncum, eumque ferreum, quem infigunt naribus camelae: eoque trahitur, quoniam illa feris motibus agitur: et hoc est, quod discimus in Talmude; et camela cum annulo narium: scilicet, egreditur die sabbathi. “And my bridle: Jonathan interprets the word metheg by zemam, a ring, or that iron hook which they put in the nostrils of a camel to lead her about, check her in her restiveness, etc. And this is what we mean in the Talmud, when we say, And the camel with the ring of her nostrils shall go out on the Sabbath day.” - Jarchi in 2Ki 19:28. Ponam circulum in naribus tuis. “I will put a ring in thy nostrils.” - Jerome. Just as at this day they put a ring into the nose of the bear, the buffalo, and other wild beasts, to lead them, and to govern them when they are unruly. Bulls are often ringed thus in several parts of England. The Hindoos compare a person who is the slave of his wife to a cow led by the ring in her nose.
The words behind it
16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יַ֚עַן | yaan | because | H3282 → | 99 times |
| הִתְרַגֶּזְךָ֣ | hitragezkha | raging you | H7264 → | 41 times |
| אֵלַ֔י | ʾelai | against me | H413 → | 5510 times |
| וְשַׁאֲנַנְךָ֖ | veshaanankha | and arrogance your | H7600 → | 10 times |
| עָלָ֣ה | ʾalah | it has come up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| בְאָזְנָ֑י | veazenai | in ears my | H241 → | 187 times |
| וְשַׂמְתִּ֨י | vesamti | and I will put | H7760 → | 584 times |
| חַחִ֜י | chachi | hook my | H2397 → | |
| בְּאַפֶּ֗ךָ | beapekha | in nose your | H639 → | 276 times |
| וּמִתְגִּי֙ | umitgi | and bridle my | H4964 → | |
| בִּשְׂפָתֶ֔יךָ | bisfateikha | on lips your | H8193 → | 176 times |
| וַהֲשִׁ֣יבֹתִ֔יךָ | vahashivotikha | and I will turn back you | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| בַּדֶּ֖רֶךְ | baderekh | by the way | H1870 → | 707 times |
| אֲשֶׁר־ | ʾasher- | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| בָּ֥אתָ | bata | you came | H935 → | 2568 times |
| בָּֽהּ׃ | bah | by it |
יַ֚עַןbecause
yaanH3282 →99 times
הִתְרַגֶּזְךָ֣raging you
hitragezkhaH7264 →41 times
אֵלַ֔יagainst me
ʾelaiH413 →5510 times
וְשַׁאֲנַנְךָ֖and arrogance your
veshaanankhaH7600 →10 times
עָלָ֣הit has come up
ʾalahH5927 →890 times
בְאָזְנָ֑יin ears my
veazenaiH241 →187 times
וְשַׂמְתִּ֨יand I will put
vesamtiH7760 →584 times
חַחִ֜יhook my
chachiH2397 →
בְּאַפֶּ֗ךָin nose your
beapekhaH639 →276 times
וּמִתְגִּי֙and bridle my
umitgiH4964 →
בִּשְׂפָתֶ֔יךָon lips your
bisfateikhaH8193 →176 times
וַהֲשִׁ֣יבֹתִ֔יךָand I will turn back you
vahashivotikhaH7725 →1056 times
בַּדֶּ֖רֶךְby the way
baderekhH1870 →707 times
אֲשֶׁר־which
ʾasher-H834 →5497 times
בָּ֥אתָyou came
bataH935 →2568 times
בָּֽהּ׃by it
bah
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
Ezekiel 29:4But I will put hooks in your jaws and cause the fish of your streams to cling to your scales. I will haul you up out of your rivers, and all the fish of…
it leads to
- 2 Kings 19:28
Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 38:4
I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws, and bring you out with all your army—your horses, your horsemen in full armor, and a great company armed with shields and bucklers, all…
- 2 Kings 19:28
Through
Ezekiel 38:4I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws, and bring you out with all your army—your horses, your horsemen in full armor, and a great company armed with shields and bucklers, all…
it leads to
- Daniel 11:40
At the time of the end, the king of the South will engage him in battle, but the king of the North will storm out against him with chariots, horsemen, and many ships, invading…
- Ezekiel 29:4
But I will put hooks in your jaws and cause the fish of your streams to cling to your scales. I will haul you up out of your rivers, and all the fish of…
- Daniel 11:40
Through
Isaiah 30:28His breath is like a rushing torrent that rises to the neck. He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction; He bridles the jaws of the peoples to lead them astray.
it leads to
- Isaiah 8:8
It will pour into Judah, swirling and sweeping over it, reaching up to the neck; its spreading streams will cover your entire land, O Immanuel!
- Isaiah 11:4
but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and with equity He will decide for the lowly of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and slay the…
- 2 Thessalonians 2:8
And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of His mouth and annihilate by the majesty of His arrival.
- Isaiah 8:8
Through
Isaiah 10:12So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 50:18
Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “I will punish the king of Babylon and his land as I punished the king of Assyria.
- Jeremiah 50:18
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Isaiah
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.