King James Version
Isaiah 21
17 verses with commentary
The Fall of Babylon
The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south pass through; so it cometh from the desert, from a terrible land.</strong> The enigmatic 'desert of the sea' likely refers to Babylon—surrounded by irrigated lands yet essentially in desert, with marshes in southern region. The imagery of whirlwinds from the south (Negev storms, violent and destructive) describes the coming in...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
**XXI.**
(1) **The burden of the desert of the sea . . .**—The title of the prophecy is obviously taken from the catch-word of “the desert” that follows. The “sea” has been explained (1) as the Euphrates, just as in Isaiah 18:2; Isaiah 19:5, it appears as used of the Nile (Cheyne). (2) As pointing to the surging flood of the mingled myriads of its population. (3) Xenophon’s description of the whol...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
18-19. One hope alone was left to the disappointed worldling, the perpetuation of his name and riches, laboriously gathered, through his successor. For selfishness is mostly at the root of worldly parents' alleged providence for their children. But now the remembrance of how he himself, the piously reared child of David, had disregarded his father's dying charge (1Ch 28:9), suggested the sad misgi...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 21
**Verse 1**
The believer, perceiving that the Lord rules every heart as he sees fit, like the husbandman who turns the water through his grounds as he pleases, seeks to have his own heart, and the hearts of others, directed in his faith, fear, and love.
A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease. grievous: Heb. hard
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KJV Study Commentary
'A grievous vision is declared unto me; the treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously, and the spoiler spoileth. Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease.' Isaiah receives a 'grievous' (harsh/hard) vision—prophets often distressed by revelations of judgment. 'The treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously'—Babylon's characteristic duplicity now turned against itse...
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(2) **A grievous vision . . .**—The verse contains, as it were, the three tableaux that came in succession before the prophet’s gaze: (1) The treacherous dealer, the Assyro-Chaldæan power, spoiling and oppressing, breaking treaties, and, as its kings boasted (Habakkuk 2:5; *Records of the Past, vii.* 42, 44), “removing landmarks.” (2) The summons to Elam and Media to put an end to this tyranny. (3...
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20. I gave up as desperate all hope of solid fruit from my labor.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verse 2**
We are partial in judging ourselves and our actions.
Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it.
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KJV Study Commentary
'Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it.' Isaiah's physical response to the vision: loins filled with pain, labor-like pangs, bowed down, dismayed. True prophets weren't emotionally detached but deeply affected by visions of judgment. The birthing imag...
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(3) **Therefore are my loins filled with pain . . .**—Comp. Nahum 2:10; Ezekiel 21:6; and for the image of the “woman in travail,” Isaiah 13:8; Jeremiah 30:6. The vision of destruction is so terrible that it over-powers all feeling of exultation, and oppresses the prophet like a horrible nightmare.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
21. Suppose "there is a man," &c.
**equity--**rather "with success," as the Hebrew is rendered (Ec 11:6), "prosper," though Margin gives "right" [Holden and Maurer].
**evil--**not in itself, for this is the ordinary course of things, but "evil," as regards the chief good, that one should have toiled so fruitlessly.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verse 3**
Many deceive themselves with a conceit that outward devotions will excuse unrighteousness.
My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me. heart: or, mind wandered turned: Heb. put
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KJV Study Commentary
'My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me.' Continuing Isaiah's distress: heart pounding, overcome by terror. 'The night of my pleasure' turned to fear—possibly referring to the vision occurring at night, or to anticipated rest replaced by anxious fear. The prophet experiences viscerally what the vision portends—no detached observation b...
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(4) **The night of my pleasure . . .**—The words point to the prophet’s longing for the darkness of night, either as a time of rest from his labour, or, more probably, for contemplation and prayer (Psalm 119:148), and to the invasion of that rest by the vision of terror. The suggestion that the prophet speaks as identifying himself with the Babylonians, and refers to the capture of their city duri...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
22. Same sentiment as in Ec 2:21, interrogatively.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verse 4**
Sin is the pride, the ambition, the glory, the joy, and the business of wicked men.
Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield.
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KJV Study Commentary
'Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield.' This describes Babylon's complacency at the moment of conquest—feasting while watchmen stand guard, leaders eating and drinking, warriors preparing for eventual battle ('anoint the shield'—oil for leather preservation). Yet this preparation proves futile. This references the historical event recorde...
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(5) **Prepare the table, watch in the watch-tower.**—The words (historical infinitive) are better taken as indicative: *They prepare ***. . .** *they watch. *The last clause has been variously rendered, *they spread the coverlet; i.e., *for the couches of the revellers (Amos 6:4); and *they take a horoscopes *(Ewald). Here, with hardly a shadow of a doubt, there is a reference to the temper of rec...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
23. The only fruit he has is, not only sorrows in his days, but all his days are sorrows, and his travail (not only has griefs connected with it, but is itself), grief.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verse 5**
The really diligent employ foresight as well as labour.
For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.
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KJV Study Commentary
'For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.' God instructs Isaiah to establish a prophetic watchman reporting visions—the prophet serving as lookout for divine revelations. This metaphor appears throughout prophetic literature (Ezekiel 3:17; 33:7; Habakkuk 2:1)—prophets as watchmen warning of approaching danger. The watchman's duty is declaration of 'wh...
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(6) **Go, set a watchman . . .**—The prophet is, as it were, placed in vision on a lofty watch-tower, and reports what meets his gaze, or that of the watchman with whom he identifies himself (Ezekiel 33:7). (Comp. the striking parallel of Habakkuk 2:1-2.)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
24. English Version gives a seemingly Epicurean sense, contrary to the general scope. The Hebrew, literally is, "It is not good for man that he should eat," &c., "and should make his soul see good" (or "show his soul, that is, himself, happy"), &c. [Weiss]. According to Holden and Weiss, Ec 3:12, 22 differ from this verse in the text and meaning; here he means, "It is not good that a man s...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verse 6**
While men seek wealth by unlawful practices, they seek death.
And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed:
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KJV Study Commentary
'And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed.' The watchman reports seeing chariot(s) with various animals—horsemen, asses, camels. This puzzling vision likely symbolizes different nations' armies approaching. Horses were military animals, asses for burden, camels for desert travel—together representing div...
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(7) **A chariot with a couple of horsemen.**—Better, *a troop, a couple. *Both asses and camels were employed in the Persian army (Herod., i. 80, iv. 129). They probably indicate, the former an Arab, the latter a Carmanian contingent. Both are named (11,173 asses, 5,230 camels) among the spoil taken by Sennacherib on the defeat of Merôdach-baladan (Bellino Tablet in *Records of the Past, *i. 26).
...
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**25. hasten--**after indulgences (Pr 7:23; 19:2), eagerly pursue such enjoyments. None can compete with me in this. If I, then, with all my opportunities of enjoyment, failed utterly to obtain solid pleasure of my own making, apart from God, who else can? God mercifully spares His children the sad experiment which Solomon made, by denying them the goods which they often desire. He gives them the ...
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**Verse 7**
Injustice will return upon the sinner, and will destroy him here and for ever.
And he cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights: he: or, cried as a lion whole: or, every night
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KJV Study Commentary
'And he cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights.' The watchman announces his faithfulness: standing watch continually, both day and night. The 'lion' cry likely indicates urgency or identifies the speaker (lion-like voice projecting from tower). The emphasis on continuous, sustained vigilance demonstrates faithful watchma...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **And he cried, A lion.**—Better, *As a lion. *The cry seems to be the low murmur of the eager, almost angry, impatience by which the prophet or the ideal watchman was stirred.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
26. True, literally, in the Jewish theocracy; and in some measure in all ages (Job 27:16, 17; Pr 13:22; 28:8). Though the retribution be not so visible and immediate now as then, it is no less real. Happiness even here is more truly the portion of the godly (Psa 84:11; Mt 5:5; Mr 10:29, 30; Ro 8:28; 1Ti 4:8).
**that he--**the sinner
**may give--**that is, unconsciously and in spite of himself....
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verse 8**
The way of mankind by nature is froward and strange.
And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.
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KJV Study Commentary
'And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.' The watched-for event arrives: chariot announcing Babylon's fall. The doubled declaration 'fallen, is fallen' emphasizes certainty and completeness (echoed in Revelation 14:8; 18:2 regarding eschatologi...
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(9) **And, behold, here cometh . . .**—Better, *Behold, there came ***. . .** The words narrate a second vision, not the watchman’s narrative of the first. He sees now, as it were, a part of the cavalcade which he had beheld before, and now it is no longer silent, but reports what has been accomplished. “Babylon is fallen, is fallen!” The words are applied to the destruction of the mystical Babylo...
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**Verse 9**
It is best to shun bitter contention by pouring out the heart before God. For by prudence and patience, with constant prayer, the cross may be removed.
O my threshing, and the corn of my floor: that which I have heard of the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you. corn: Heb. son
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KJV Study Commentary
'O my threshing, and the corn of my floor: that which I have heard of the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.' Isaiah addresses Judah affectionately: 'my threshing, and the corn of my floor'—God's people undergoing threshing (judgment/discipline) but preserved as valuable grain. The agricultural metaphor indicates purpose in suffering: separating wheat from chaff, preservin...
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(10) **O my threshing, and the corn of my floor.**—Literally, *and child of my threshing-floor**. . . ***The words are abrupt, and we have to read the thoughts that lie below them. The “child of the threshing-floor “is none other than Israel, thought of as the corn which is under God’s chastisements, Assyrian and Chaldæan invasions, Babylonian exile, and the like, severing the wheat from the chaff...
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CHAPTER 3
Ec 3:1-22.
Earthly pursuits are no doubt lawful in their proper time and order (Ec 3:1-8), but unprofitable when out of time and place; as for instance, when pursued as the solid and chief good (Ec 3:9, 10); whereas God makes everything beautiful in its season, which man obscurely comprehends (Ec 3:11). God allows man to enjoy moderately and virtuously His earthly gifts (Ec 3:12, 13...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verse 10**
The evil desires of a wicked man's heart, lead to baseness in his conduct.
Prophecy Against Edom
The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The burden of Dumah.</strong> He calleth to me out of Seir, Woe, watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?' Dumah refers to Edom (Seir is Edom's mountainous region). The oracle is brief and enigmatic. Someone from Edom calls to the watchman asking about the night—when will it end? What is its status? The doubled question emphasizes urgency and anxiety. 'Night' symbolizes ju...
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(11) **The burden of Dumah.**—Several places of the name are mentioned in the Old Testament (Genesis 25:14; Joshua 15:52), but these are not in the direction of Seir. Probably here, as in Isaiah 21:1 and Isaiah 22:1, we have a mystical prophetic name, Edom being altered to Dumah, *i.e., “*silence,” as in Psalm 94:17; Psalm 115:17, the silence of the grave. In this case, as in the preceding, there ...
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**2. time to die--**(Psa 31:15; He 9:27).
**plant--**A man can no more reverse the times and order of "planting," and of "digging up," and transplanting, than he can alter the times fixed for his "birth" and "death." To try to "plant" out of season is vanity, however good in season; so to make earthly things the chief end is vanity, however good they be in order and season. Gill takes it, not so...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verse 11** ,12 God's prophets and ministers are as watchmen in the city in a time of peace, to see that all is safe. As watchmen in the camp in time of war, to warn of the motions of the enemy. After a long sleep in sin and security, it is time to rise, to awake out of sleep. We have a great deal of work to do, a long journey to go; it is time to be stirring. After a long dark night is there any...
Read full commentary →The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come.
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KJV Study Commentary
'The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come.' The enigmatic answer: both morning (relief) and night (continued suffering) come. This could mean: temporary relief followed by renewed judgment, or different fates for different groups, or the ambiguity of Edom's future depending on their response. The invitation 'if ye will enquire, enquire...
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(12) **If ye will enquire . . .**—The words pre-suppose a craving to know the meaning of the mysterious oracle just given. The prophet declines to answer. If they like to ask, they may, and return and go back after a bootless journey. Some interpreters, however. have seen in the “return” a call to repentance like that conveyed by the same word in Jeremiah 3:22, but hardly on sufficient grounds. We...
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**3. time to kill--**namely, judicially, criminals; or, in wars of self-defense; not in malice. Out of this time and order, killing is murder.
**to heal--**God has His times for "healing" (literally, Is 38:5, 21; figuratively, De 32:39; Ho 6:1; spiritually, Psa 147:3; Is 57:19). To heal spiritually, before the sinner feels his wound, would be "out of time," and so injurious.
**time to break do...
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**Verse 12**
Good men envy not the prosperity of evil-doers; they see there is a curse on them.
Prophecy Against Arabia
The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>The burden upon Arabia.</strong> In the forest in Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies of Dedanim.' Arabia receives a judgment oracle. Dedanites (Arabian tribe descended from Abraham through Keturah, Genesis 25:3) are told they'll lodge 'in the forest'—unusual for desert dwellers. This suggests displacement from normal routes and settlements due to invasion or calamity. Trading...
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(13) **The burden upon Arabia.**—Better, *of the evening land. *Here, again, the prophet alters the form of the word (*Arab *into *Ereb*) so as to convey a mystic meaning. The land of which he is about to speak is a land of shadow and of gloom. Evening is falling on it. It is a question whether the second Arabia is to retain its geographical form or to be translated “evening,” as before. In any ca...
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**4. mourn--**namely, for the dead (Ge 23:2).
**dance--**as David before the ark (2Sa 6:12-14; Psa 30:11); spiritually (Mt 9:15; Lu 6:21; 15:25). The Pharisees, by requiring sadness out of time, erred seriously.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-17** The Arabians lived in tents, and kept cattle. A destroying army shall be brought upon them, and make them an easy prey. We know not what straits we may be brought into before we die. Those may know the want of necessary food who now eat bread to the full. Neither the skill of archers, nor the courage of mighty men, can protect from the judgments of God. That is poor glory, which w...
Read full commentary →The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that fled. brought: or, bring ye
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KJV Study Commentary
'The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that fled.' Tema (another Arabian tribe, also descended from Abraham through Keturah, Genesis 25:15) shows mercy to refugees—providing water and bread to fleeing Dedanites. This humanitarian response demonstrates covenant values (hospitality to strangers, care for refugees) appearing eve...
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(14) **The inhabitants of . . . Tema . . .**—Another element of suffering comes into the picture. The Dedanites, driven out of their usual route into the desert, find their provisions fail them, and the men of Tema, fearing to invite them to their tents, lest they too should be smitten by the invader, are compelled to take out bread and water stealthily. The name of Tema (now *Taima*)*, *is found ...
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**5. cast away stones--**as out of a garden or vineyard (Is 5:2).
**gather--**for building; figuratively, the Gentiles, once castaway stones, were in due time made parts of the spiritual building (Ep 2:19, 20), and children of Abraham (Mt 3:9); so the restored Jews hereafter (Psa 102:13, 14; Zec 9:16).
**refrain ... embracing--**(Joe 2:16; 1Co 7:5, 6).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-17** The Arabians lived in tents, and kept cattle. A destroying army shall be brought upon them, and make them an easy prey. We know not what straits we may be brought into before we die. Those may know the want of necessary food who now eat bread to the full. Neither the skill of archers, nor the courage of mighty men, can protect from the judgments of God. That is poor glory, which w...
Read full commentary →For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war. from the swords: or, for fear, etc: Heb. from the face, etc
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KJV Study Commentary
'For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.' The cause of refugee crisis: military devastation—'swords...bow...grievousness of war.' The multiplied terms emphasize comprehensive military threat: close combat (swords), ranged weapons (bows), and overall war's horrors. This wasn't voluntary migration but desperate flight from mortal ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **For they fled from the swords.**—The fourfold repetition of the somewhat full form of the Hebrew preposition (literally, *from the face of*) seems as if intended to emphasise the several stages of retreat.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6. time to get--**for example, to gain honestly a livelihood (Ep 4:23).
**lose--**When God wills losses to us, then is our time to be content.
**keep--**not to give to the idle beggar (2Th 3:10).
**cast away--**in charity (Pr 11:24); or to part with the dearest object, rather than the soul (Mr 9:43). To be careful is right in its place, but not when it comes between us and Jesus Christ (Lu...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-17** The Arabians lived in tents, and kept cattle. A destroying army shall be brought upon them, and make them an easy prey. We know not what straits we may be brought into before we die. Those may know the want of necessary food who now eat bread to the full. Neither the skill of archers, nor the courage of mighty men, can protect from the judgments of God. That is poor glory, which w...
Read full commentary →For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail:
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KJV Study Commentary
'For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail.' Specific timeframe: within one year precisely measured 'as years of an hireling' (worker counting exactly to contract's end). Kedar was a major Arabian tribal confederation (descended from Ishmael, Genesis 25:13), representing Arabian power. Their 'glory' (military st...
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(16) **According to the years of an hireling . . . **The prophet uses, as in Isaiah 16:14, the formula which expressed the most precise measurement, and so gives a test as to his forecast of the future.
**And all the glory of Kedar shall fail.**—Kedar is used, as in Psalm 120:5, Song of Solomon 1:5, generically for the nomadic tribes of Arabia, including Dedan.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. rend--**garments, in mourning (Joe 2:13); figuratively, nations, as Israel from Judah, already foretold, in Solomon's time (1Ki 11:30, 31), to be "sewed" together hereafter (Eze 37:15, 22).
**silence--**(Am 5:13), in a national calamity, or that of a friend (Job 2:13); also not to murmur under God's visitation (Le 10:3; Psa 39:1, 2, 9).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-17** The Arabians lived in tents, and kept cattle. A destroying army shall be brought upon them, and make them an easy prey. We know not what straits we may be brought into before we die. Those may know the want of necessary food who now eat bread to the full. Neither the skill of archers, nor the courage of mighty men, can protect from the judgments of God. That is poor glory, which w...
Read full commentary →And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath spoken it. archers: Heb. bows
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KJV Study Commentary
'And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath spoken it.' The survivors ('residue') of Kedar's warriors will be few—'diminished' indicates small remnant remaining. Archers were Arabia's characteristic military strength—mobile, deadly, adapted to desert warfare. Their reduction demonstrates comprehensive mili...
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(17) **And the residue . . .**—The Hebrew word is the same as the characteristic “remnant” of Isaiah’s earlier prophecies. The words point primarily to the subjugation of Arabia by Sargon and Sennacherib, who narrate their victories over the Arabian tribes (*Records of the Past, vii.* 34). In Jeremiah 49:28-29 we have an echo of the prediction, which, in that case, pointed to their conquest by Neb...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**8. hate--**for example, sin, lusts (Lu 14:26); that is, to love God so much more as to seem in comparison to hate "father or mother," when coming between us and God.
**a time of war ... peace--**(Lu 14:31).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 13-17** The Arabians lived in tents, and kept cattle. A destroying army shall be brought upon them, and make them an easy prey. We know not what straits we may be brought into before we die. Those may know the want of necessary food who now eat bread to the full. Neither the skill of archers, nor the courage of mighty men, can protect from the judgments of God. That is poor glory, which w...
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