Isaiah 17:2

The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
cities	עָרֵ֣י 'a.Rei	H5892	a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · noun, common masculine plural construct
Aroer	עֲרֹעֵ֑ר 'a.ro.'Er	H6177	Aroer · proper noun, a place name
forsaken	עֲזֻב֖וֹת a.zu.Vot	H5800	to loosen · verb, qal passive participle, feminine plural absolute
flocks	לַעֲדָרִ֣ים la.'a.da.Rim	H5739	an arrangement · preposition + noun, common masculine plural absolute
down	וְרָבְצ֖וּ ve.ra.ve.Tzu	H7257	to crouch (on all four legs folded · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
afraid	מַחֲרִֽיד ma.cha.Rid	H2729	to shudder with terror · verb, hiphil 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

Ezekiel 25:5 And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couchingplace for flocks: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
Deuteronomy 2:36 From Aroer, which is by the brink of the river of Arnon, and from the city that is by the river, even unto Gilead, there was not one city to…
Jeremiah 7:33 And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.
Zephaniah 2:6 And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.
Numbers 32:34 And the children of Gad built Dibon, and Ataroth, and Aroer,
Micah 4:4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath…
Deuteronomy 3:12 And this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, and half mount Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave…
Jeremiah 48:19 O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and espy; ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth, and say, What is done?

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 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 inhabitant…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 17:2

cities of Aroer--that is, the cities round Aroer, and under its jurisdiction [GESENIUS]. So "cities with their villages" (Jos 15:44); "Heshbon and all her cities" (Jos 13:17). Aroer was near Rabbahammon, at the river of Gad, an arm of the Jabbok (Sa2 24:5), founded by the Gadites (Num 32:34). for flocks-- (Isa 5:17).

John Gill on Isaiah 17:2

The cities of Aroer are forsaken,.... The inhabitants of them being slain, or carried captive, or obliged to flee. Aroer was a city by the river Arnon, on the borders of Moab and Ammon, Deuteronomy 2:36, Deuteronomy 3:12, it was originally in the hands of the Amorites, and sometimes in the hands of the Moabites and Ammonites: it was given by Moses to the Reubenites and, Gadites, from whom it was taken by the Syrians, and in whose possession it seems to have been at this time; see 2 Kings 10:33 though Jarchi thinks it was now in the hands of Pekah king of Israel, and said to be forsaken, because the Reubenites and Gadites were now carried captive. Jerom (m) says it was seen in his time, upon…

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John Calvin on Isaiah 17:2

The cities of Aroer are forsaken. It is not probable that Aroer here denotes the city which is mentioned elsewhere, (Numbers 32:34; Deuteronomy 2:36, Deuteronomy 3:12, Deuteronomy 4:48;) but it is rather the name of a country. He draws the picture of a country which has been ruined; for he shews that those places in which cities had been built will be devoted to pasture, and that no habitation will be left there but huts and shepherds' tents; for if any inhabitants remained, the shepherds would drive their flocks to some other place.

The Church Fathers

(Verse 2) The deserted cities will be for flocks, and they will rest there, and there will be no one to frighten them away. The deserted cities, Aroer, that is, Myrhae, will be for the Ecclesiastical flocks, so that we may inhabit those which the Jews deserted: whether the destroyed idolatry will be rebuilt as the Gospel. And we see that this has been fulfilled in our times: the Serapeum in Alexandria and the temple of Marnas in Gaza have arisen as churches of the Lord, and the cities of Aroer have been prepared for the Evangelical flocks. Aroer, that is, myrice, grows in desert places, according to what is written in the curse of the man who trusts in man and departs from the Lord: He shall be like a myrtle in the desert and shall not see when good comes; but he shall dwell in dryness, in the desert, in a land of saltness and uninhabitable. So those who were once in the desert of the Gentiles, and hated the name of Christians, will serve the flocks of Christ, who will find rest in them, and there will be no one to frighten them, for the Lord will dwell among them, and with the Shepherd present, they will not be able to fear the wolf.
— 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

Aroer — Ruins. (1.) A town on the north bank of the Arnon (Deut. 4:48; Judg. 11:26; 2 Kings 10:33), the southern boundary of the kingdom of Sihon (Josh. 12:2). It is now called Arair, 13 miles west of the…
Fold — An enclosure for flocks to rest together (Isa. 13:20). Sheep-folds are mentioned Num. 32:16, 24, 36; 2 Sam. 7:8; Zeph. 2:6; John 10:1, etc. It was prophesied of the cities of Ammon (Ezek. 25:5),…
Damascus · Prophecies concerning — Prophecies concerning
Syria · Prophecies respecting: Ceasing to be a kingdom — Prophecies respecting: Ceasing to be a kingdom

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 17:2

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 17:1-5

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 17:2

John Gill on Isaiah 17:2

John Calvin on Isaiah 17:2

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Isaiah 17:2

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 17:1-5

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 17:2

John Gill on Isaiah 17:2

John Calvin on Isaiah 17:2

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Isaiah 17:1-3

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Isaiah 17:2

Rashi on Isaiah 17:2