Isaiah 24:13 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 24:13
When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
land
הָאָ֖רֶץha.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
among
בְּת֣וֹךְbe.Tokh
H8432
a bisection · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
people
הָֽעַמִּ֑יםha.'a.Mim
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
shaking
כְּנֹ֣קֶףke.No.kef
H5363
a threshing (of olives) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
tree
זַ֔יִתZa.yit
H2132
an olive (as yielding illuminating oil) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
grapes
כְּעוֹלֵלֹ֖תke.'o.le.Lot
H5955
only in plural gleanings · preposition + noun, common feminine plural absolute
vintage
בָצִֽירva.Tzir
H1210
clipped · noun, common masculine singular absolute
done
כָּלָ֥הka.Lah
H3615
to end · verb, qal 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
Isaiah 1:9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
Isaiah 6:13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when the…
Isaiah 10:20-22 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay u…
Isaiah 17:5-6 And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in t…
Jeremiah 44:28 Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of Judah, that ar…
Ezekiel 6:8-11 Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the coun…
Ezekiel 7:16 But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his…
Ezekiel 9:4-6 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men t…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 24:13-15
Here is mercy remembered in the midst of wrath. In Judah and Jerusalem, and the neighbouring countries, when they are overrun by the enemy, Sennacherib or Nebuchadnezzar, there shall be a remnant preserved from the general ruin, and it shall be a devout and pious remnant. And this method God usually observes when his judgments are abroad; he does not make a full end, Isa 6:13. Or we may take it thus: Though the greatest part of mankind have all their comfort ruined by the emptying of the earth, and the making of that desolate, yet there are some few who understand their interests better, who have laid up their treasure in heaven and not in things below, and therefore can keep up their comfor…
the land--Judea. Put the comma after "land," not after "people." "There shall be among the people (a remnant left), as the shaking (the after-picking) of an olive tree"; as in gathering olives, a few remain on the highest boughs (Isa 17:5-6).
John Gill on Isaiah 24:13
When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people,.... When the above judgments shall be executed, the city of Rome shall be destroyed, and the vials of God's wrath are poured but on all the antichristian states, on all the followers of the beast, throughout the whole Romish jurisdiction:
there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning of grapes, when the vintage is done; as when an olive tree is shaken, or beaten with a staff, which was the usual way of gathering olives, and which the word (t) here signifies, there are some few left upon the uppermost or outermost branches, which cannot be reached; and as, after the vintage is got in, there are some grapes…
For it shall be in the midst of the land. As this statement is inserted between the threatenings and the consolation, the Prophet appears to address the chosen people, and not all the nations indiscriminately; if we do not rather say that he describes the dispersion, by which the Jews were divided, as it were, into many nations. But this being a harsh and forced interpretation, I interpret it as simply meaning that some hope is left to the ruined nations, and certainly this prediction applies strictly to the kingdom of Christ; and therefore we need not wonder that some part of the salvation is also promised to the Gentiles.
As the shaking of an olive-tree. The Prophet has elsewhere used the…
The Church Fathers
(Verses 13-15) Just as when a few olives, which remain, are shaken from the olive tree, and the grape harvest is finished, these will lift up their voice and praise when the Lord is glorified, they will neigh from the sea: therefore, glorify the Lord in your teachings, in the islands of the sea proclaim the name of the Lord God of Israel. The following words will show how much the LXX translation differs from the Hebrew truth in this place: LXX: Just as if someone shakes an olive, they will shake them: and if the grape harvest rests, these will shout with a loud voice. But those who are left on the earth will rejoice together with the glory of the Lord, the water of the sea will be troubled, therefore the glory of the Lord will be in the islands of the sea, the name of the glorious Lord will be, the Lord God of Israel. With few men left, when the curse devours the earth, and there is solitude in the city, and all these things happen in the midst of the earth, in the midst of peoples and nations, the number of the saints will be so few, of whom the Lord speaks in the Gospel: Many are called, but few are chosen (Matt. 20:16); and the pressure on the righteous will be so great that, if possible, even the chosen of God will be tempted; and their number will be compared to the rarest berries of olives, which, when shaken and harvested, very few remain on the top of the branches; and just as after the harvest, the poor, forced by poverty, go around empty vines and gather a few grapes. Therefore, those who remain, and after the harvest of the world and the pressure, their hands trembling, will flee from the persecuting Antichrist or the impending flames of punishment, and they will raise their voices on high and praise God. When the Lord comes in the glory of his Father, with the holy Angels, and they see him reigning in majesty, then they will neigh like horses, rejoicing with great joy, and they will neigh from the sea of this age. Therefore, you who are now learned in the holy Scriptures and know that great joy and rewards are reserved for you, glorify the Lord in your teachings, hearing what is written: 'Whoever boasts, let him boast in the Lord' (2 Corinthians 10:17). Not in the land of Judea, but in the islands, that is, in the Churches of this sea and age, where the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, is blessed and praised, or, the name of the man who…
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
Olive — The fruit of the olive-tree. This tree yielded oil which was highly valued. The best oil was from olives that were plucked before being fully ripe, and then beaten or squeezed (Deut. 24:20; Isa.…
Sennacherib — Sin (the god) sends many brothers, son of Sargon, whom he succeeded on the throne of Assyria (B.C. 705), in the 23rd year of Hezekiah. “Like the Persian Xerxes, he was weak and vainglorious, cowardly…
Olive Tree, The · Illustrative: (Gleaning of,) of the remnant of grace — Illustrative: (Gleaning of,) of the remnant of grace
Vineyards · Illustrative: (Cleaning grapes of,) of the elect — Illustrative: (Cleaning grapes of,) of the elect
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).
The world with its pleasure is judged; the world's city is also judged, in which both the world's power and the world's pleasure were concentrated. "The city of tohu is broken to pieces; every house is shut up, so that no man can come in. There is lamentation for wine in the fields; all rejoicing has set; the delight of the earth is banished. What is left of the city is wilderness, and the gate was shattered to ruins. For so will it be within the earth, in the midst of the nations; as at the olive-beating, as at the gleaning, when the vintage is over." The city of tohu (kiryath tōhu): this cannot be taken collectively, as Rosenmller, Arndt, and Drechsler suppose, on account of the annexatio…
stray olives left on the tree: The remnant will include godly people both from Israel (see 17:6) and from other nations. • The theme of the remnant is common in Isaiah (see “The Remnant” Theme Note; see also 10:22; 14:30; 16:14; 24:6; 37:32).
Rashi on Isaiah 24:13
For so shall Israel remain in the midst of the peoples, one in a city and two in a family.
like the cutting of the olive tree that leaves over berries at the tip of the uppermost bough.
