Isaiah 15:3 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 15:3
In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth: on the tops of their houses, and in their streets, every one shall howl, weeping abundantly.
properly · preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
gird
חָ֣גְרוּCha.ge.ru
H2296
to gird on (as a belt · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
sackcloth
שָׂ֑קSak
H8242
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
tops
גַּגּוֹתֶ֧יהָga.go.Tei.ha
H1406
a roof · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
streets
וּבִרְחֹבֹתֶ֛יהָu.vir.cho.Tei.ha
H7339
a width · conjunction + preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
howl
יְיֵלִ֖ילye.ye.Lil
H3213
to howl (with a wailing tone) or yell (with a boisterou… · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
weeping
בַּבֶּֽכִיba.Be.khi
H1065
a weeping · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
abundantly
יֹרֵ֥דyo.Red
H3381
to descend (literally · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
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
Jonah 3:6-8 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat…
Deuteronomy 22:8 When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall…
2 Samuel 3:31 And David said to Joab, and to all the people that were with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. An…
2 Kings 6:30 And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people lo…
Isaiah 15:2 He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be bal…
Isaiah 22:1 The burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops?
Isaiah 22:4 Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.
Jeremiah 19:13 And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon w…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 15:1-5
The country of Moab was of small extent, but very fruitful. It bordered upon the lot of Reuben on the other side Jordan and upon the Dead Sea. Naomi went to sojourn there when there was a famine in Canaan. This is the country which (it is here foretold) should be wasted and grievously harassed, not quite ruined, for we find another prophecy of its ruin (Jer. 48), which was accomplished by Nebuchadnezzar. This prophecy here was to be fulfilled within three years (Isa 16:14), and therefore was fulfilled in the devastations made of that country by the army of the Assyrians, which for many years ravaged those parts, enriching themselves with spoil and plunder. It was done either by the army of S…
tops of . . . houses--flat; places of resort for prayer, &c., in the East (Act 10:9).
weeping abundantly--"melting away in tears." HORSLEY prefers "descending to weep." Thus there is a "parallelism by alternate construction" [LOWTH], or chiasmus; "howl" refers to "tops of houses." "Descending to weep" to "streets" or squares, whither they descend from the housetops.
John Gill on Isaiah 15:3
In their streets they shall girt themselves with sackcloth,.... Instead of their fine clothes, with which they had used to deck themselves, being a very proud people; see Isaiah 16:6 this was usual in times of distress on any account, as well as a token of mourning for the dead; see Joel 1:8. The word for "streets" might be rendered "villages", as distinct from cities, that were "without" the walls of the cities, though adjacent to them; and the rather, seeing mention is made of streets afterwards:
on the tops of their houses; which were made flat, as the houses of the Jews were, on which were battlements, Deuteronomy 22:8 hither they went for safety from their enemies, or to see if they co…
In his streets. [239] He proceeds with the same subject, describing more fully the tokens of mourning, in which the eastern nations abound more than others; for, having quicker understandings and keener feelings, they express their emotions by outward signs more than others do, who, being slower in apprehension, are likewise slower in movement and gesture. It was no doubt faulty in them that they indulged in so many ceremonies and gesticulations; but the Prophet spoke of them as what was known and common, only for the purpose of describing the grief which would follow the desolation of that country.
Every one shall howl and descend to weeping. [240] It was with good reason that he added thi…
The Church Fathers
(Version 3.) In the crossroads of it, they are girded with sacks; over its roofs, and in its streets, all wailing will descend into weeping. Private tears will not exist, public mourning will echo with public laments; neither married women, nor young maidens, nor the small age of children, nor the faltering steps of the elderly will be held back in their houses, extreme captivity will not know shame and weakness.
(Verse 3) In their crossroads, that is, the byways of errors, while each one fabricates according to his own will, he is equipped with the sack of penance, and over the roofs and tamed places, in which they first believed themselves to be lofty; and in the streets (because they do not enter by the narrow way, which leads to life, but by the broad way, which leads to death) there will be wailing. And they shall by no means ascend into pride, but descend into weeping.
Indeed, it is not inappropriate that the author of the abyss, the devil, should be identified with the abyss, as he is also called death, being the head of death: "Where, O death, is your sting?" And the voice of death or the abyss groans with pain, since he sees that the power to prey upon the people he possessed from the beginning is being taken away. But if, perchance, you have little faith in my own words, we can produce the testimony of Isaiah: "Shall the prey be taken from the strong, or will the captive be rescued from the mighty? But thus says the Lord: 'The captives will indeed be taken away from the strong, and what was stolen by the mighty will be rescued.' " For no one denies that the mighty cry in protest and suffer as a result of losing their spoils, except those who think that the devil is of lesser malice or that he is altogether uninvolved. But persons with such opinions are inept and deceived. Turn instead to the teachers of truth, whose knowledge I can only introduce to you, that it might be yours, reader, to explore within more attentively. Jeremiah uses Moab as a figure for the prince of the world in describing his devastation and groaning: "There is lamentation in all the dwellings of Moab and in its streets, for I have shattered Moab like a useless vessel, said the Lord." Isaiah also bears witness to the coming destruction: "Moreover, Moab's army wails; its soul groans for itself," and again: "Everyone wails upon its roofs and in its streets." In this way, they suffer that they were despoiled of the people. Daily they groan over their plundering. Consequently, they do not cease to attack us also, in the hopes that they can recapture something of what was taken from them.
Dictionary and topics
Camel — From the Hebrew gamal, “to repay” or “requite,” as the camel does the care of its master. There are two distinct species of camels, having, however, the common characteristics of being “ruminants…
House · .Roofs, flat — .Roofs, flat
Houses · The flat roofs of: Resorted to in grief — The flat roofs of: Resorted to in grief
Moabites · Possessed many and great cities — Possessed many and great cities
Sabbath, The · Was worn: In the streets — Was worn: In the streets
Sackcloth · A symbol of mourning — A symbol of mourning
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).
But just as horror, when once it begins to reflect, is dissolved in tears, the thunder-claps in Isa 15:1 are followed by universal weeping and lamentation. "They go up to the temple-house and Dibon, up to the heights to weep: upon Nebo and upon Medebah of Moab there is weeping: on all heads baldness, every beard is mutilated. In the markets of Moab they gird themselves with sackcloth; on the roofs of the land, and in its streets, everything wails, melting into tears. Heshbon cries, and 'Elle; even to Jahaz they hear their howling; even the armed men of Moab break out into mourning thereat; its soul trembles within it." The people (the subject to עלה) ascend the mountain with the temple of Ch…
In the ancient Near East, actions such as shaving or cutting off their beards revealed deep sorrow (see Jer 48:37).
Rashi on Isaiah 15:3
sighing Heb. יֹרֵד, sighing and roaring with weeping. Comp. (Judges 11:37) “And I will cry, (וְיָרַדְתִּי) on the mountains,” and (Lam. 3:19) “Remember my affliction and my cry (וּמְרוּדִי).”