the Lord (used as a proper name of God only) · proper noun, a title
said
אָמַ֥ר'a.Mar
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
year
שָׁנָה֙sha.Nah
H8141
a year (as a revolution of time) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
years
כִּשְׁנֵ֣יkish.Nei
H8141
a year (as a revolution of time) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
hireling
שָׂכִ֔ירsa.Khir
H7916
a man at wages by the day or year · adjective, masculine singular absolute
glory
כְּב֥וֹדke.Vod
H3519
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct
Kedar
קֵדָֽרke.Dar
H6938
Kedar · proper noun, a man's name
fail
וְכָלָ֖הve.kha.Lah
H3615
to end · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 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
Psalms 120:5 Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!
Song of Solomon 1:5 I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
Isaiah 16:14 But now the LORD hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all th…
Isaiah 60:7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with accepta…
Jeremiah 49:28 Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon shall smite, thus saith the LORD; Arise ye, go…
Ezekiel 27:21 Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy merchants.
Genesis 25:13 And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Keda…
Isaiah 42:11 Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, l…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 21:13–end
Arabia was a large country, that lay eastward and southward of the land of Canaan. Much of it was possessed by the posterity of Abraham. The Dedanim, here mentioned (Isa 21:13), descended from Dedan, Abraham's son by Keturah; the inhabitants of Tema and Kedar descended from Ishmael, Gen 25:3, Gen 25:13, Gen 25:15. The Arabians generally lived in tents, and kept cattle, were a hardy people, inured to labour; probably the Jews depended upon them as a sort of a wall between them and the more warlike eastern nations; and therefore, to alarm them, they shall hear the burden of Arabia, and see it sinking under its own burden.
I. A destroying army shall be brought upon them, with a sword, with a dr…
years of . . . hireling--(See on Isa 16:14).
Kedar--a wandering tribe (Psa 120:5). North of Arabia-PetrÃ&brvbra, and south of Arabia-Deserta; put for Arabia in general.
John Gill on Isaiah 21:16
For thus hath the Lord said unto me,.... The prophet; which confirms what is before said, as well as assures the accomplishment of what follows:
within a year, according to the years of an hireling; that is, exactly and precisely, as soon as ever the year is come to an end; for the hireling, when his year is up, instantly demands dismissal from his service, or his wages, or both. The time is to be reckoned from the delivery of this prophecy; and so the calamity predicted was brought upon them by the Assyrians, perhaps under Sennacherib, when he invaded the cities of Judah, and might take Arabia in his way; less time is allowed than was the Moabites, who suffered by the same hand; see Isaiah…
For thus hath the Lord said to me. He adds that this defeat of the Arabians, of which he prophesied, is close at hand; which tended greatly to comfort the godly. We are naturally fiery, and do not willingly allow the object of our desire to be delayed; and the Lord takes into account our weakness in this respect, when he says that he hastens his work. He therefore declares that he prophesies of things which shall happen, not after many ages, but immediately, that the Jews may bear more patiently their afflictions, from which they know that they will be delivered in a short time.
Yet a year according to the years of the hireling. Of the metaphor of "the year of the hireling," which he adds f…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 16, 17.) For thus saith the Lord to me: Within one year, as the years of a hireling, all the glory of Cedar shall be taken away, and the residue of the number of archers of the mighty men of the children of Cedar shall be diminished: for the Lord God of Israel hath spoken it. Therefore I said to you: Run ye to meet with water, and with bread, them that flee from the face of the battle. For thus saith the Lord: The whole glory of Cedar shall be taken away, and there shall be nothing left of the number of the very strong bowmen of the children of Cedar. For the Lord God of Israel hath spoken it. And it shall come to pass in that day, that every glory of Cedar shall be brought to nothing, and the bow long shall be made weaker. And the number of them that bow themselves down shall be diminished, and they that remain shall be diminished: because the Lord hath spoken it. And the men that shall be left in it, shall be as the biting of a flesh eating moth: and they shall be as a spark among the trees, and as dry stubble: And they that were shall be as a burning in lime: they shall be burnt and devoured together, and there shall be none that shall deliver them. Expect therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth: patiently bearing till he receive the early and latter rain. Be you therefore also patient, and strengthen your hearts: for the coming of the Lord is at hand. For the Lord of all has spoken these things, and specifically the God of Israel, that is, the God who is perceived by those who have understanding.
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
Kedar — Dark-skinned, the second son of Ishmael (Gen. 25:13). It is the name for the nomadic tribes of Arabs, the Bedouins generally (Isa. 21:16; 42:11; 60:7; Jer. 2:10; Ezek. 27:21), who dwelt in the…
Ishmaelites, The · Predictions respecting: Their glory, & c to be diminished — Predictions respecting: Their glory, & c to be diminished
Kedar · 2. A nomadic clan of the Ishmaelites — 2. A nomadic clan of the Ishmaelites
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).
Thus does the approaching fate of Arabia present itself in picture before the prophet's eye, whilst it is more distinctly revealed in Isa 21:16, Isa 21:17 : "For thus hath the Lord spoken to me, Within a year, as the years of a hired labourer, it is over with all the glory of Kedar. And the remnant of the number of bows of heroes of the Kedarenes will be small: for Jehovah, the God of Israel, hath spoken." The name Kedar is here the collective name of the Arabic tribes generally. In the stricter sense, Kedar, like Nebaioth, which is associated with it, as a nomadic tribe of Ishmaelites, which wandered as far as the Elanitic Gulf. Within the space of a year, measured as exactly as is generall…
Kedar was an Arabian tribe that had great wealth and possessions (see 60:7; Ezek 27:21).
Rashi on Isaiah 21:16
like the year of a hireling I will be exact with them to limit the time like a hireling, hired by years, who is exact with the time of the completion of his year.
