ISA 17

Isaiah 17:12

WEB

Ah, the uproar of many peoples who roar like the roaring of the seas; and the rushing of nations that rush like the rushing of mighty waters!

BSB

Alas, the tumult of many peoples; they rage like the roaring seas and clamoring nations; they rumble like the crashing of mighty waters.

KJV

¶ Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!

Matthew Henry

Verses 12–14

Isaiah 17:12–14

These verses read the doom of those that spoil and rob the people of God. If the Assyrians and Israelites invade and plunder Judah, if the Assyrian army take God's people captive and lay their country waste, let them know that ruin will be their lot and portion. They are here brought in, 1. Triumphing over the people of God. They relied upon their numbers. The Assyrian army was made up out of divers nations: it was the multitude of many people (Isa 17:12), by which weight they hoped to carry the cause. They were very noisy, like the roaring of the seas; they talked big, hectored, and threatened, to frighten God's people from resisting them, and all their allies from sending in to their aid. Sennacherib and Rabshakeh, in their speeches and letters, made a mighty noise to strike a terror upon Hezekiah and his people; the nations that followed them made a rushing like the rushing of many waters, and those mighty ones, that threaten to bear down all before them and carry away every thing that stands in their way. The floods have lifted up their voice, have lifted up their waves; such is the tumult of the people, and the heathen, when they rage, Psa 2:1; Psa 93:3. 2. Triumphed over by the judgments of God. They thought to carry their point by dint of noise; but woe to them (Isa 17:12), for he shall rebuke them, that is, God shall, one whom they little think of, have no regard to, stand in no awe of; he shall give them a check with an invisible hand, and then they shall flee afar off. Sennacherib, and Rabshakeh, and the remains of their forces, shall run away in a fright, and shall be chased by their own terrors, as the chaff of the mountains which stand bleak before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind, like thistle-down (so the margin); they make themselves as chaff before the wind (Psa 35:5) and then the angel of the Lord (as it follows there), the same angel that slew many of them, shall chase the rest. God will make them like a wheel, or rolling thing, and then persecute them with his tempest and make them afraid with his storm, Psa 83:13, Psa 83:15. Note, God can dispirit the enemies of his church when they are most courageous and confident, and dissipate them when they seem most closely consolidated. This shall be done suddenly (Isa 17:14): At evening-tide they are very troublesome, and threaten trouble to the people of God; but before the morning they are not. At sleeping time they are cast into a deep sleep, Psa 26:5, Psa 26:6. It was in the night that the angel routed the Assyrian army. God can in a moment break the power of his church's enemies, even when it appears most formidable; and this is written for the encouragement of the people of God in all ages, when they find themselves an unequal match for their enemies; for this is the portion of those that spoil us, they shall themselves be spoiled. God will plead his church's cause, and those that meddle do it to their own hurt.

Cross-references: Isa 17:12 · Ps 2:1 · Ps 93:3 · Ps 35:5 · Ps 83:13 · Ps 83:15 · Isa 17:14 · Ps 26:5 · Ps 26:6

Hebrew interlinear

H1945

הוֹיhôwy/hoh'ee/

inj — oh!

Derivation: a prolonged form of 1930 (akin to 188);

oh!

KJV: ah, alas, ho, O, woe.

הוֹי

interj — Ah

הוֹי 81 interj. expressing usually dissatisfaction and pain, Ah, Alas, Ha (not distinctly Woe!) used in lamentations

H1995

הָמוֹןhâmôwn/haw-mone'/

n-m — noise, tumult, crowd, disquietude, wealth

Derivation: or הָמֹן; (Ezekiel 5:7), from 1993;

a noise, tumult, crowd; also disquietude, wealth

KJV: abundance, company, many, multitude, multiply, noise, riches, rumbling, sounding, store, tumult.

הָמוֹן

n.m — sound

הָמוֹן n.m. sound, murmur, roar, crowd, abundance

1. sound, murmur, rush, roar

2. tumult, confusion (as occasioning a roar)

3. crowd, multitude

4. great number, abundance (late)

5. abundance, wealth

הָמַן

vb — rage

[הָמַן] vb. rage, be turbulent

H5971

עַםʻam/am/

n-m — people, tribe, troops, attendants, flock

Derivation: from 6004;

a people (as a congregated unit); specifically, a tribe (as those of Israel); hence (collectively) troops or attendants; figuratively, a flock

KJV: folk, men, nation, people.

עַם

n.[m.] — kinsman

[עַם] n.[m.] kinsman (on father's side)

עַם

n.m — people

עַם, עָם 1810 n.m. people

1. a people, nation

2. = smaller units

3. = common people

4. people in gen., persons

5. phrases

H7227

רַבrab/rab/

a n-m — abundant

Derivation: by contracted from 7231;

abundant (in quantity, size, age, number, rank, quality)

KJV: (in) abound(-undance, -ant, -antly), captain, elder, enough, exceedingly, full, great(-ly, man, one), increase, long (enough, (time)), (do, have) many(-ifold, things, a time), (ship-)master, mighty, more, (too, very) much, multiply(-tude), officer, often(-times), plenteous, populous, prince, process (of time), suffice(-lent).

רַב

n.m — chief

רַב 49 n.m. chief

רַב

adj — much

רַב 429 adj. much, many, great

1. (oft. opp. מְעַט)

a.

(1). much: of substances

(2). esp. of collectives, numerous

b. pl. many

c. רַב as subst. coll. pers.

d. cstr. = abounding in

e. מִן comp. = more numerous than

f. רַב = abundant, enough

g. as adv. much, exceedingly

2. less oft. great

H1993

הָמָהhâmâh/haw-maw'/

v — make a loud sound, be in great commotion, tumult, rage, war, moan, clamor

Derivation: a primitive root (compare 1949);

to make a loud sound (like English 'hum'); by implication, to be in great commotion or tumult, to rage, war, moan, clamor

KJV: clamorous, concourse, cry aloud, be disquieted, loud, mourn, be moved, make a noise, rage, roar, sound, be troubled, make in tumult, tumultuous, be in an uproar.

הָמָה

vb — murmur

[הָמָה] vb. murmur, growl, roar, be boisterous

Qal

1. growl like a dog

2. murmur, fig. of soul in discouragement

3. roar, of waves

4. be in commotion, stir

5. be boisterous, turbulent

H3220

יָםyâm/yawm/

n-m — sea, large body of water, Mediterranean Sea, large river, artifical basin, west, south

Derivation: from an unused root meaning to roar;

a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of water; specifically (with the article), the Mediterranean Sea; sometimes a large river, or an artifical basin; locally, the west, or (rarely) the south

KJV: sea (× -faring man, (-shore)), south, west (-ern, side, -ward).

יָם

n.m — sea

יָם 390 n.m. sea

H7588

שָׁאוֹןshâʼôwn/shaw-one'/

n-m — uproar, rushing, destruction

Derivation: from 7582;

uproar (as of rushing); by implication, destruction

KJV: × horrible, noise, pomp, rushing, tumult (× -uous).

שָׁאוֹן

n.m — roar

שָׁאוֹן n.m. roar (of waters, etc.), din, crash, uproar

H3816

לְאֹםlᵉʼôm/leh-ome'/

n-m — community

Derivation: or לְאוֹם; from an unused root meaning to gather;

a community

KJV: nation, people.

לְאֹם

n.m — people

לְאֹם, לְאוֹם n.m. people, poet. and chiefly late

H4325

מַיִםmayim/mah'-yim/

n-m — water, juice, urine, semen

Derivation: dual of a primitive noun (but used in a singular sense);

water; figuratively, juice; by euphemism, urine, semen

KJV: piss, wasting, water(-ing, (-course, -flood, -spring)).

מַי

n.m — waters

[מַי] 580 n.m. only pl. מַ֫יִם waters, water

H3524

כַּבִּירkabbîyr/kab-beer'/

a — vast, mighty, aged, many

Derivation: from 3527;

vast, whether in extent (figuratively, of power, mighty; of time, aged), or in number, many

KJV: feeble, mighty, most, much, strong, valiant.

כַּבִּיר

adj — great

כַּבִּיר adj. great, mighty, much, only poet.

H7582

שָׁאָהshâʼâh/shaw-aw'/

v — rush, desolate

Derivation: a primitive root;

to rush; by implication, to desolate

KJV: be desolate, (make a) rush(-ing), (lay) waste.

שָׁאָה

vb — make a din

[שָׁאָה] vb. make a din or crash, crash into ruins

Qal until cities have crashed into ruins

Niph. usu., and the ground be ruined into a desolation

Hiph. to cause … cities to crash into ruined heaps.

Bible49 app

Get translation compare, commentary, and interlinear study — offline, on iPhone and Mac.

See Bible49