Isaiah 8:21
in Isaiah 8They will roam the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged; and looking upward, they will curse their king and their God.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And they shall pass through it, sore distressed and hungry; and it shall come to pass that, when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse by their king and by their God, and turn their faces upward:
KJV
And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.
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This verse in Isaiah 8
Commentary
8 notes on this verse(Verse 19 and following) And when they say to you, seek from the Pythons and the diviners, who make their enchantments, whether not the people seeks from their God for the living from the dead? To the law more and to the testimony. If they do not speak according to this word, it will not be morning light for them. And they will pass through it: they will fall down and be hungry: and when they are hungry, they will become angry and curse their king and their God.
This site's exposition
They will roam the land
on Isaiah 8:21-22
Those who reject the testimony "roam the land, dejected and hungry," and hunger turns to rage instead of repentance. Looking to the earth they find "only distress and darkness and the gloom of anguish." The chapter closes in gloom, the darkness chapter 9 names and answers with a great light.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
294. Third, he sets out the threatening of the disobedient: and if they speak not. And he does three things: first, he threatens punishment; second, impatience in punishment: and when they shall be hungry (Isa 8:21); third, the sadness of despair: and they shall look …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
And they shall pass through it,.... The land, as the Targum and Kimchi supply it; that is, the land of Judea, as Aben Ezra interprets it.
The foolishness of man perverts his way, and then his heart frets against the Lord, Prov. xix. See what need we have to keep our mouth as with a bridle when our heart is hot within us; for the language of fretfulness is commonly very offensive. [4.] They shall abandon themselves to despair, and, which way soever they look, shall see no probability of relief.
Orders given to the prophet to write this prophecy, and publish it to be seen and read of all men, and to leave it upon record, that when the thing came to pass they might know that God had sent him; for that was one end of prophecy, John xiv.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
And they shall pass - The people who have been consulting necromancers. This represents the condition of these who have sought for counsel and direction, and who have not found it. They shall be conscious of disappointment, and shall wander perplexed and alarmed through the land. Through it - Through the land. They shall wander in it from one place to another, seeking direction and relief. Hardly bestead - Oppressed, borne down, agitated.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Hardly bestead “Distressed” - Instead of נקשה niksheh, distressed, the Vulgate, Chaldee, and Symmachus manifestly read נכשל nichshal, stumbling, tottering through weakness, ready to fall; a sense which suits very well with the place. And look upward “And he shall cast his eyes upward” - The learned professor Michaelis, treating of this place (Not. in de Sacr. Poes. Hebr. Prael. ix.) refers to a passage in the Koran which is similar to it. As it is a very celebrated passage, and on many accounts remarkable, I shall give it here at large, with the same author’s farther remarks upon it in another place of his writings. It must be noted here that the learned professor renders נבט nibbat, הביט hibbit, in this and the parallel place, Isa 5:30, which I translate he looketh by it thundereth, from Schultens, Orig. Ling. Hebr. Lib. 1 cap. 2, of the justness of which rendering I much doubt. This brings the image of Isaiah more near in one circumstance to that of Mohammed than it appears to be in my translation: - “Labid, contemporary with Mohammed, the last of the seven Arabian poets who had the honor of having their poems, one of each, hung up in the entrance of the temple of Mecca, struck with the sublimity of a passage in the Koran, became a convert to Mohammedism; for he concluded that no man could write in such a manner unless he were Divinely inspired. “One must have a curiosity to examine a passage which had so great an effect upon Labid. It is, I must own, the finest that I know in the whole Koran: but I do not think it will have a second time the like effect, so as to tempt any one of my readers to submit to circumcision. It is in the second chapter, where he is speaking of certain apostates from the faith. ‘They are like,’ saith he, ‘to a man who kindles a light. […]
The words behind it
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְעָ֥בַר | veavar | and it will pass | H5674 → | 556 times |
| בָּ֖הּ | bah | in it | ||
| נִקְשֶׁ֣ה | niksheh | hard pressed | H7185 → | |
| וְרָעֵ֑ב | veraev | and hungry | H7457 → | 20 times |
| וְהָיָ֨ה | vehayah | and it will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| כִֽי־ | khi- | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יִרְעַ֜ב | yirav | it will be hungry | H7456 → | 13 times |
| וְהִתְקַצַּ֗ף | vehitkatzaf | and it will be enraged | H7107 → | 34 times |
| וְקִלֵּ֧ל | vekilel | and it will curse | H7043 → | 82 times |
| בְּמַלְכּ֛וֹ | bemalko | <in> king its | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| וּבֵאלֹהָ֖יו | uvelohav | and <in> God its | H430 → | 2601 times |
| וּפָנָ֥ה | ufanah | and it will turn | H6437 → | 135 times |
| לְמָֽעְלָה׃ | lemaelah | <to> upwards <towards> | H4605 → | 140 times |
וְעָ֥בַרand it will pass
veavarH5674 →556 times
בָּ֖הּin it
bah
נִקְשֶׁ֣הhard pressed
nikshehH7185 →
וְרָעֵ֑בand hungry
veraevH7457 →20 times
וְהָיָ֨הand it will be
vehayahH1961 →3559 times
כִֽי־that
khi-H3588 →4482 times
יִרְעַ֜בit will be hungry
yiravH7456 →13 times
וְהִתְקַצַּ֗ףand it will be enraged
vehitkatzafH7107 →34 times
וְקִלֵּ֧לand it will curse
vekilelH7043 →82 times
בְּמַלְכּ֛וֹ<in> king its
bemalkoH4428 →2525 times
וּבֵאלֹהָ֖יוand <in> God its
uvelohavH430 →2601 times
וּפָנָ֥הand it will turn
ufanahH6437 →135 times
לְמָֽעְלָה׃<to> upwards <towards>
lemaelahH4605 →140 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
Job 1:11But stretch out Your hand and strike all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face.”
it leads to
- Job 2:5
But stretch out Your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse You to Your face.”
- Job 19:21
Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.
- Revelation 16:11
and curse the God of heaven for their pains and sores; yet they did not repent of their deeds.
- Job 2:5
Through
Proverbs 19:3A man’s own folly subverts his way, yet his heart rages against the LORD.
it leads to
- Revelation 16:9–11
And the people were scorched by intense heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had authority over these plagues; yet they did not repent and give Him glory.
- Psalms 37:7
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men prosper in their ways, when they carry out wicked schemes.
- Proverbs 11:3
The integrity of the upright guides them, but the perversity of the faithless destroys them.
- 2 Chronicles 16:9–10
For the eyes of the LORD roam to and fro over all the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are fully devoted to Him. You have acted foolishly in…
- Revelation 16:9–11
Through
Isaiah 9:20They carve out what is on the right, but they are still hungry; they eat what is on the left, but they are still not satisfied. Each one devours the flesh of his own…
it leads to
- Isaiah 49:26
I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your…
- Isaiah 49:26
Where this verse is studied
About Isaiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; 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.