Isaiah 17:3
WEB
The fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria. They will be as the glory of the children of Israel,” says Yahweh of Armies.
BSB
The fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and the sovereignty from Damascus. The remnant of Aram will be like the splendor of the Israelites,” declares the LORD of Hosts.
KJV
The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts.
Matthew Henry
Hebrew interlinear
H7673
v — repose, desist from exertion
Derivation: a primitive root;
to repose, i.e. desist from exertion; used in many implied relations (causative, figurative or specific)
KJV: (cause to, let, make to) cease, celebrate, cause (make) to fail, keep (sabbath), suffer to be lacking, leave, put away (down), (make to) rest, rid, still, take away.
vb — cease
שָׁבַת 71 vb. cease, desist, rest
Qal 27
1. cease
2. desist from labour, rest
Niph. cease
Hiph. 40
1. cause to cease, put an end to
2. = exterminate, destroy
3. cause to desist from
4. remove
5. cause to fail, let be lacking
vb. denom — keep
[שָׁבַת] vb. denom. keep, observe (sabbath)
H4013
n-m — fortification, castle, fortified, defender
Derivation: also (in plural) feminine (Daniel 11:l5) מִבְצָרָה; from 1219;
a fortification, castle, or fortified city; figuratively, a defender
KJV: (de-, most) fenced, fortress, (most) strong (hold).
n.m — fortification
מִבְצָר n.m. fortification
H669
n-pr-m — Ephrajim
Derivation: dual of masculine form of 672; double fruit;
Ephrajim, a son of Joseph; also the tribe descended from him, and its territory
KJV: Ephraim, Ephraimites.
n.pr.m — Ephraim
אֶפְרַ֫יִם n.pr.m. Ephraim
H4467
n-f — dominion, rule, realm
Derivation: from 4427;
dominion, i.e. (abstractly) the estate (rule) or (concretely) the country (realm)
KJV: kingdom, king's, reign, royal.
n.f — kingdom
מַמְלָכָה n.f. kingdom, sovereignty, dominion, reign
1. kingdom, realm, chiefly non-Isr.
2. sovereignty, dominion
3. reign
H1834
n-pr-loc — Damascus
Derivation: or דּוּמֶשֶׂק; or דַּרְמֶשֶׂק; of foreign origin;
Damascus, a city of Syria
KJV: Damascus.
n.pr.loc — Damascus
דַּמֶּ֫שֶׂק n.pr.loc. Damascus
H7605
n-m — remainder
Derivation: from 7604;
a remainder
KJV: × other, remnant, residue, rest.
n.m — rest
שְׁאָר n.m. rest, residue, remnant
H758
n-pr-m n-m — Aram, Syria
Derivation: from the same as 759; the highland;
Aram or Syria, and its inhabitants; also the name of the son of Shem, a grandson of Nahor, and of an Israelite
KJV: Aram, Mesopotamia, Syria, Syrians.
n.pr.m — Aram
אֲרָם n.pr.m. Aram
1. 5th son of Shem
2. grandson of Nahor
3.
4. a descendant of Asher
—Elsewhere only of Aramæan people & land (= 1 supr.)
a. people, sg. coll. = the Aramæans, a leading branch of the Shemitic stock inhabiting Mesopotamia & northern Syria, in many tribes & settlements
b. less often clearly of land; also of particular divisions of territory א׳ נַהֲרַיִם ‘Mesopotamia,’ i.e. prob. land between Euphrates & Chaboras; cf. פַּדַּן א׳ Paddan-Aram
c. often indeterminate
H3519
n-m — weight, splendor, copiousness
Derivation: rarely כָּבֹד; from 3513;
properly, weight, but only figuratively in a good sense, splendor or copiousness
KJV: glorious(-ly), glory, honour(-able).
n.m — abundance
כָּבוֹד n.m. and f. abundance, honour, glory
1. abundance, riches
2. honour, splendor, glory, of external condition and circumstances
3. honour, dignity of position
4. honour, reputation, of character
5. my honour, poet. of the seat of honour in the inner man, the noblest part of man
6. honour, reverence, glory, as due to one or ascribed to one
7. glory as the object, of honour, reverence and glorifying
H1121
n-m — son
Derivation: from 1129;
a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
KJV: afflicted, age, (Ahoh-) (Ammon-) (Hachmon-) (Lev-) ite, (anoint-) ed one, appointed to, ( ) arrow, (Assyr-) (Babylon-) (Egypt-) (Grec-) ian, one born, bough, branch, breed, (young) bullock, (young) calf, × came up in, child, colt, × common, × corn, daughter, × of first, firstborn, foal, very fruitful, postage, × in, kid, lamb, ( ) man, meet, mighty, nephew, old, ( ) people, rebel, robber, × servant born, × soldier, son, spark, steward, stranger, × surely, them of, tumultuous one, valiant(-est), whelp, worthy, young (one), youth.
n.m — son
בֵּן 4870 n.m. son
1. son, male child, born of a woman
2. children (male and female)
3. youth, young men
4. the young of animals
5. of plant shoots
6. fig. of lifeless things, sparks, stars, arrows
7.
a. member of a guild, order or class
b. of animals son of (the) herd
8. ב׳ as n. relat. followed by word of quality, characteristic, etc.
9. n. relat. of age
n.pr.m — his son
בְּנוֹ 1 Ch 24:26, 27 as n.pr.m. in AV, RV, but render: the sons of Jaaziah his son, & the sons of Merari by Jaaziah his son, cf. VB & Be Öt.
H3478
n-pr-m — he will rule as God, Jisraël
Derivation: from 8280 and 410;
he will rule as God; Jisraël, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity
KJV: Israel.
n.pr.m — Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵל 2507 n.pr.m. et gent. Israel (Ēl persisteth, persevereth)
1. n.pr.m. second name of Jacob
2. n.pr.gent. name of Hebrew nation
H1961
v — exist, be, become, come to pass
Derivation: a primitive root (compare 1933);
to exist, i.e. be or become, come to pass (always emphatic, and not a mere copula or auxiliary)
KJV: beacon, × altogether, be(-come), accomplished, committed, like), break, cause, come (to pass), do, faint, fall, follow, happen, × have, last, pertain, quit (one-) self, require, × use.
vb — fall out
הָיָה 3570 vb. fall out, come to pass, become, be
Qal
I.
1.
a. Fall out, happen
b. occur, take place, come about, come to pass
2. esp. & very oft., come about, come to pass
a.
(1). וַיְהִי and it came to pass that, most often (c. 292 t.)
(2). rarely also Pf. c. וְ conj. וְהָיָה
b. less oft. וְהָיָה Pf. consec. and it shall come to pass, or frequentat. came to pass (repeatedly, etc.)
II. Come into being, become
1.
a. abs., in lively narrative, arise, appear, come
b. sq. prep.
2. become
a. sq. pred. noun (to be viewed as implicit accus.)
b. sq. pred. adj.
c. become like
d. sq. pred. לְ pers.
e. sq. לְ pred.
f. oft. c. לְ pred. לְ pers.
g. with עַל and לְ
h. sts. c. לְ pers. only = became the property of, come into the possession of
III. Be (often with subbordinate idea of becoming)
1. exist, be in existence
2. abide, remain, continue
3. with word of locality, be in or at a place, be situated, stand, lie
4. as copula, joining subj. & pred.
5. periphrastic conjug.
Niph.
1. either be done, be brought about, or occur, come to pass
2. be done, finished, gone
H5002
n-m — oracle
Derivation: from 5001;
an oracle
KJV: (hath) said, saith.
n.m — utterance
נְאֻם 376 n.m. utterance
H3068
n-pr — Existent, Jeho-vah
Derivation: from 1961;
(the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jeho-vah, Jewish national name of God
KJV: Jehovah, the Lord. Compare 3050, 3069.
n.pr.dei — God
יהוה c. 6823 i.e. יַהְוֶה n.pr.dei Yahweh, the proper name of the God of Israel—(1. MT יְהֹוָה 6518 (Qr אֲדֹנָי), or יֱהֹוִה 305 (Qr אֱלֹהִים) 2. Many recent scholars explain יַהְוֶה as Hiph. of הוה (= היה) the one bringing into being, life-giver)
I. יהוה is not used by E in Gn, but is given Ex 3:12-15 as the name of the God who revealed Himself to Moses at Horeb
II.
1. יהוה is used with אלהים and suffixes, especially in D
2. the phrase † אֲנִי יהוה is noteworthy
3. יהוה is also used with several predicates, to form sacred names of holy places of Yahweh
H6635
n-m — mass, army, campaign, hardship, worship
Derivation: or (feminine) צְבָאָה; from 6633;
a mass of persons (or figuratively, things), especially reg. organized for war (an army); by implication, a campaign, literally or figuratively (specifically, hardship, worship)
KJV: appointed time, ( ) army, ( ) battle, company, host, service, soldiers, waiting upon, war(-fare).
n.m — army
צָבָא 485 n.m. army, war, warfare
1. army, host
2. war, warfare, service
3. service
4. צְבָאוֹת, in name of י׳ as God of war, prob. first in time of warlike David (some connect with sacred ark, but ark older)
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Verses 1–5
Isaiah 17:1–5
We have here the burden of Damascus; the Chaldee paraphrase reads it, The burden of the cup of the curse to drink to Damascus in; and, the ten tribes being in alliance, they must expect to pledge Damascus in this cup of trembling that is to go round. 1. Damascus itself, the head city of Syria, must be destroyed; the houses, it is likely, will be burnt, as least the walls, and gates, and fortifications demolished, and the inhabitants carried away captive, so that for the present it is taken away from being a city, and is reduced not only to a village, but to a ruinous heap, Isa 17:1. Such desolating work as this does sin make with cities. 2. The country towns are abandoned by their inhabitants, frightened or forced away by the invaders: The cities of Aroer (a province of Syria so called) are forsaken (Isa 17:2); the conquered dare not dwell in them, and the conquerors have no occasion for them, nor did they seize them for want, but wantonness; so that the places which should be for men to live in are for flocks to lie down in, which they may do, and none will disturb nor dislodge them. Stately houses are converted into sheep-cotes. It is strange that great conquerors should pride themselves in being common enemies to mankind. But, how unrighteous soever they are, God is righteous in causing those cities to spue out their inhabitants, who by their wickedness had made themselves vile; it is better that flocks should lie down there than that they should harbour such as are in open rebellion against God and virtue. 3. The strongholds of Israel, the kingdom of the ten tribes, will be brought to ruin: The fortress shall cease from Ephraim (Isa 17:3), that in Samaria, and all the rest. They had joined with Syria in invading Judah very unnaturally; and now those that had been partakers in sin should be made partakers in ruin, and justly. When the fortress shall cease from Ephraim, by which Israel will be weakened, the kingdom will cease from Damascus, by which Syria will be ruined. The Syrians were the ring-leaders in that confederacy against Judah, and therefore they are punished first and sorest; and, because they boasted of their alliance with Israel, now that Israel is weakened they are upbraided with those boasts: "The remnant of Syria shall be as the glory of the children of Israel; those few that remain of the Syrians shall be in as mean and despicable a condition as the children of Israel are, and the glory of Israel shall be no relief or reputation to them." Sinful confederacies will be no strength, no stay, to the confederates, when God's judgments come upon them. See here what the glory of Jacob is when God contends with him, and what little reason Syria will have to be proud of resembling the glory of Jacob. (1.) It is wasted like a man in a consumption, Isa 17:4. The glory of Jacob was their numbers, that they were as the sand of the sea for multitude; but this glory shall be made thin, when many are cut off, and few left. Then the fatness of their flesh, which was their pride and security, shall was lean, and the body of the people shall become a perfect skeleton, nothing but skin and bones. Israel died of a lingering disease; the kingdom of the ten tribes wasted gradually; God was to them as a moth, Hos 5:12. Such is all the glory of this world: it soon withers, and is made thin; but thee is a far more exceeding and external weight of glory designed for the spiritual seed of Jacob, which is not subject to any such decay - fatness of God's house, which will not wax lean. (2.) It is all gathered and carried away by the Assyrian army, as the corn is carried out of the field by the husbandmen, Isa 17:5. The corn is the glory of the fields (Psa 65:13); but, when it is reaped and gone, where is the glory? The people had by their sins made themselves ripe for ruin, and their glory was as quickly, as easily, as justly, and as irresistibly, cut down and taken away, as the corn is out of the field by the husbandman. God's judgments are compared to the thrusting in of the sickle when the harvest is ripe, Rev 14:15. And the victorious army, like the careful husbandmen in the valley of Rephaim, where the corn was extraordinary, would not, if they could help it, leave an ear behind, would lose nothing that they could lay their hands on.
Cross-references: Isa 17:1 · Isa 17:2 · Isa 17:3 · Isa 17:4 · Hos 5:12 · Isa 17:5 · Ps 65:13 · Rev 14:15