Isaiah 17:13

The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
nations	לְאֻמִּ֗ים le.'u.Mim	H3816	a community · noun, common masculine plural absolute
rush	יִשָּׁא֔וּן yi.sha.'Un	H7582	to rush · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural + paragogic nun
rushing	כִּשְׁא֞וֹן kish.'on	H7588	uproar (as of rushing) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
many	רַבִּים֙ ra.Bim	H7227	abundant (in quantity · adjective, masculine plural absolute
waters	מַ֤יִם Ma.yim	H4325	water · noun, common masculine plural absolute
rebuke	וְגָ֥עַר ve.Ga.'ar	H1605	to chide · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
flee	וְנָ֣ס ve.Nas	H5127	to flit · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
off	מִמֶּרְחָ֑ק mi.mer.Chak	H4801	remoteness · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
chased	וְרֻדַּ֗ף ve.ru.Daf	H7291	to run after (usually with hostile intent · conjunction + verb, pual sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
chaff	כְּמֹ֤ץ ke.Motz	H4671	chaff (as pressed out · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
mountains	הָרִים֙ ha.Rim	H2022	a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · noun, common masculine plural absolute
before	לִפְנֵי lif.nei-	H6440	the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
wind	ר֔וּחַ Ru.ach	H7307	wind · noun, common feminine singular absolute
thing	וּכְגַלְגַּ֖ל u.khe.gal.Gal	H1534	a wheel · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
before	לִפְנֵ֥י lif.Nei	H6440	the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
whirlwind	סוּפָֽה su.Fah	H5492	a hurricane · noun, common feminine 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

Psalms 9:5 Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever.
Job 21:18 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.
Psalms 1:4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
Isaiah 41:15-16 Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make…
Isaiah 29:5 Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away…
Job 38:11 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?
Psalms 35:5 Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them.
Psalms 46:5-11 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 17:12–end

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.…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 17:13

shall . . . shall--rather, "God rebuketh (Psa 9:5) them, and they flee--are chased"; the event is set before the eyes as actually present, not future. chaff of . . . mountains--Threshing floors in the East are in the open air on elevated places, so as to catch the wind which separates the chaff from the wheat (Psa 88:13; Hos 13:3). rolling thing--anything that rolls: stubble.

John Gill on Isaiah 17:13

The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters,.... With great force and noise, and run over the whole land, as the Assyrian army did, until it came to Jerusalem, and there it stopped; see Isaiah 8:7, but God shall rebuke them; as he did the waters of the Red Sea, Psalm 106:9 and as Christ rebuked the winds and sea, and made a calm, Matthew 8:26. The word "God" is not in the text, but rightly supplied; for as none but he can rebuke the mighty waters of the sea, so none but he could have destroyed such an army in the manner it was, and wrought such a salvation for his people. The phrase, is expressive both of his wrath and power. And they shall flee afar off; from Jerusalem to Ninev…

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John Calvin on Isaiah 17:13

The Church Fathers

(Verse 13) But when raging warriors come and inundate my land, then their prince Sennacherib will flee from them, rebuked, and they will be scattered like dust in a plundering storm. As the top of a whirl-wind revolves, so will he be struck by an angel when he approaches Jerusalem to besiege her.
— Jerome, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 5:17.12-14

(Verse 13) But when they come raging and flood my land, then their leader Sennacherib will flee, reproached by him, and be scattered like dust carried by the wind, and whirled up into the sky like a storm. Indeed, he will approach Jerusalem, besieging it, but he will be struck down by an angel.
— Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah

(Verse 13) But to them, like raging seas, the Lord will rebuke the instigator of their sedition, and He will drive him away from His people. And as dust moved on the mountains, the higher it is, the stronger it is carried away; and as a whirlwind, which rises from the earth, is carried away into the sky by a sudden storm: so also he, being carried away, will be separated from the people of God and will flee, lest he be relegated to the abyss.
— Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Agriculture — Tilling the ground (Gen. 2:15; 4:2, 3, 12) and rearing cattle were the chief employments in ancient times. The Egyptians excelled in agriculture. And after the Israelites entered into the possession…
Chaff — The refuse of winnowed corn. It was usually burned (Ex. 15:7; Isa. 5:24; Matt. 3:12). This word sometimes, however, means dried grass or hay (Isa. 5:24; 33:11). Chaff is used as a figure of abortive…
Wheel — (Heb. galgal; rendered “wheel” in Ps. 83:13, and “a rolling thing” in Isa. 17:13; R.V. in both, “whirling dust”). This word has been supposed to mean the wild artichoke, which assumes the form of a…
Armies · Marched: With noise and tumult — Marched: With noise and tumult
Chaff · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Water · Illustrative: Of hostile armies — Illustrative: Of hostile armies
Whirlwind · Illustrative of the: Sudden destruction of the wicked — Illustrative of the: Sudden destruction of the wicked

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).

Isaiah 17:13

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 17:12–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 17:13

John Gill on Isaiah 17:13

John Calvin on Isaiah 17:13

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Isaiah 17:13

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 17:12–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 17:13

John Gill on Isaiah 17:13

John Calvin on Isaiah 17:13

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Isaiah 17:12–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Isaiah 17:13

Rashi on Isaiah 17:13