Isaiah 13:10 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 13:10
For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
a star (as round or as shining) · noun, common masculine plural construct
heaven
הַשָּׁמַ֙יִם֙ha.sha.Ma.yim
H8064
the sky (as aloft · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
constellations
וּכְסִ֣ילֵיהֶ֔םu.khe.Si.lei.Hem
H3685
any notable constellation · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
give
יָהֵ֖לּוּya.He.lu
H1984
to be clear (orig. of sound · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
light
אוֹרָ֑ם'o.Ram
H216
illumination or (concrete) luminary (in every sense · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
sun
הַשֶּׁ֙מֶשׁ֙ha.She.mesh
H8121
the sun · definite article + noun, common both genders singular absolute
darkened
חָשַׁ֤ךְcha.Shakh
H2821
to be dark (as withholding light) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
forth
בְּצֵאת֔וֹbe.tze.To
H3318
to go (causatively · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
moon
וְיָרֵ֖חַve.ya.Re.ach
H3394
the moon · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
light
אוֹרֽוֹ'o.Ro
H216
illumination or (concrete) luminary (in every sense · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
shine
יַגִּ֥יהַya.Gi.ha
H5050
to glitter · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Joel 2:31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Matthew 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall f…
Ezekiel 32:7-8 And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon sha…
Mark 13:24 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
Isaiah 5:30 And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the…
Isaiah 24:23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his a…
Joel 2:10 The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining…
Joel 3:15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 13:6-18
We have here a very elegant and lively description of the terrible confusion and desolation which should be made in Babylon by the descent which the Medes and Persians should make upon it. Those that were now secure and easy were bidden to howl and make sad lamentation; for,
I. God was about to appear in wrath against them, and it is a fearful thing to fall into his hands: The day of the Lord is at hand (Isa 13:6), a little day of judgment, when God will act as a just avenger of his own and his people's injured cause. And there are those who will have reason to tremble when that day is at hand. The day of the Lord cometh, Isa 13:9. Men have their day now, and they think to carry the day; but…
stars, &c.--figuratively for anarchy, distress, and revolutions of kingdoms (Isa 34:4; Joe 2:10; Eze 32:7-8; Amo 8:9; Rev 6:12-14). There may be a literal fulfilment finally, shadowed forth under this imagery (Rev 21:1).
constellations--Hebrew, "a fool," or "impious one"; applied to the constellation Orion, which was represented as an impious giant (Nimrod deified, the founder of Babylon) chained to the sky. See on Job 38:31.
John Gill on Isaiah 13:10
For the stars of heaven,.... This and what follows are to be understood, not literally, but figuratively, as expressive of the dismalness and gloominess of the dispensation, of the horror and terror of it, in which there was no light, no comfort, no relief, nor any hope of any; the heavens and all the celestial bodies frowning upon them, declaring the displeasure of him that dwells there:
and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; which are assemblages of stars, or certain configurations of the heavenly bodies, devised by the ancients; to which each of the names are given for the help of the imagination and memory; the number of them are forty eight, twelve in the Zodiac, tw…
(Verse 10) For the stars of the heavens and their splendor will not extend their light; the sun will be darkened at its rising, and the moon will not shine with its light. The Hebrew word Chisile () was translated as ὠρίωνα in the Septuagint. The Hebrews, with whom I studied, translated it as Arcturus. However, following Symmachus, we generally referred to it as a constellation. The meaning is that when the day of the Lord's cruelty comes and his fury devastates everything, due to the magnitude of fear, all things will become dark for mortals, and even the sun, moon, and shining stars will seem to deny their brightness. And so the sky is clad in darkness, which covers everything, and under the weight of evil, humans feel nothing but what their mind forces them to see.
(Verse 10.) For the stars of heaven and their splendor will not expand their light: the sun will be obscured in its rising, and the moon will not shine in its brightness. LXX: For the stars of heaven and Orion, and all the adornment of the heavens will not give their light (or, will have it): and they will be darkened when the sun rises, and the moon will not give its light. Because we have interpreted the splendor of them, without a doubt the stars Aquila and Theodotion have placed the Hebrew word "Chisileem" (): for which reason the LXX translated it as Orion, adding from their own, and all the adornment of the heavens, which is to be marked with an obelus. The fables of the Gentiles say that Orion has twenty-two stars, of which four are of the third magnitude, nine of the fourth, and again nine of the fifth, and they are called Bootes by others. We also read in Job about the Hyades, the Evening Star, Arcturus, and the treasures or inner parts of the South (Job 9:9), about which will be said in their proper place. Nor should we think that these stars are called by these names among the Hebrews, which the Greek and Latin language sound forth, but they have their own proper names. For just as God called light, day; and firmament, heaven; and dry land, earth; and gatherings of waters, seas (Gen. I); so too he named each star with its own names, the properties of which our language does not express. It is written of God in another place: Who numbers the multitude of stars: and calls each of them by name. Therefore, when the day of the Lord comes to establish the barrenness of the earth and to completely remove sinners from it (Ps. CXLVI, 4); then, in comparison to the divine majesty, the stars of the sky and all their splendor will withdraw their light. And it is no wonder to say this about the lesser stars, since the sun itself becomes obscured at its rising, and the moon does not have its usual radiance. But that which the seventy translators rendered, that the stars and Orion, and all the adornments of the sky are obscured at the rising of the sun, does not have any significance or miracle; for this happens at all times, that when the sun rises, the stars that are in the sky do not appear. It is also not surprising to say this about the sun, since even during a full moon and when the entire night is shining, many stars do not shine. Moreover, it also…
Dictionary and topics
Babylon — The Greek form of BABEL; Semitic form Babilu, meaning “The Gate of God.” In the Assyrian tablets it means “The city of the dispersion of the tribes.” The monumental list of its kings reaches back to…
Constellation — A cluster of stars, or stars which appear to be near each other in the heavens, and which astronomers have reduced to certain figures (as the “Great Bear,” the “Bull,” etc.) for the sake of…
Darkness — The plague (the ninth) of darkness in Egypt (Ex. 10:21) is described as darkness “which may be felt.” It covered “all the land of Egypt,” so that “they saw not one another.” It did not extend to the…
Moon — Heb. yareah, from its paleness (Ezra 6:15), and lebanah, the “white” (Cant. 6:10; Isa. 24:23), was appointed by the Creator to be with the sun “for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years”…
Orion — Heb. Kesil; i.e., “the fool”, the name of a constellation (Job 9:9; 38:31; Amos 5:8) consisting of about eighty stars. The Vulgate renders thus, but the LXX. renders by Hesperus, i.e., “the…
Astronomy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Babylon · Predictions respecting: Destruction of — Predictions respecting: Destruction of
Constellations · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Darkness · .Of — .Of
Eclipse · Of the sun and moon — Of the sun and moon
Moon · Darkening of — Darkening of
Moon, The · Illustrative: (Withdrawing her light,) of deep calamities
For the stars of heaven. In order to strike our minds with a stronger and more distressing fear of the judgment of God, the prophets are accustomed to add to their threatenings extravagant modes of speaking, which place the anger of God, as it were, before their eyes, and affect all our senses, as if all the elements were now arising to execute his vengeance. And yet the expressions, though unusually strong, do not go beyond the dreadful nature of what took place; for it is impossible to exhibit an image of the judgment of God so alarming that the reality shall not be felt to be more revolting and terrible.
The sun, and the moon, and the stars are mentioned, because they are striking proofs…
The day of Jehovah's wrath is coming - a starless night - a nightlike, sunless day. "Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, a cruel one, and wrath and fierce anger, to turn the earth into a wilderness: and its sinners He destroys out of it. For the stars of heaven, and its Orions, will not let their light shine: the sun darkens itself at its rising, and the moon does not let its light shine." The day of Jehovah cometh as one cruelly severe ('aczâri, an adj. rel. from 'aczâr, chosh, kosh, to be dry, hard, unfelling), as purely an overflowing of inward excitement, and as burning anger; lâsūm is carried on by the finite verb, according to a well-known alteration of style (= ūlehashmı̄d). It is…
Cosmic upheaval and darkness are common images for the day of the Lord, a time of God’s judgment (see also Ezek 32:7-8; Joel 2:10, 31; 3:15; Matt 24:29; Mark 13:24; Rev 6:12-13; 8:12; cp. Isa 30:26).
Rashi on Isaiah 13:10
and its constellations Similar to מַזָּלוֹתֵיהֶם.
illuminate Heb. יָהֵלּוּ. They shall illuminate, and so (Job 29:3), “When his lamp shone,” (בְּהִלּוֹ)” (ibid. 31:26). The light when it shone brightly (יָהֵל).
the sun has become dark Because of their distress, it seems to them as though the sun has become dark.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
— Illustrative: (Withdrawing her light,) of deep calamities
Orion · The constellation of — The constellation of
Sciences · Astronomy — Astronomy
Stars · Constellations of — Constellations of
Stars, The · Called: Stars of heaven — Called: Stars of heaven
Sun, The · Illustrative: Of supreme rulers — Illustrative: Of supreme rulers
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).