Isaiah 27:11 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 27:11
When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.
severed · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
withered
בִּיבֹ֤שׁbi.Vosh
H3001
to be ashamed · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
off
תִּשָּׁבַ֔רְנָהti.sha.Var.nah
H7665
to burst (literally or figuratively) · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person feminine plural
women
נָשִׁ֕יםna.Shim
H802
a woman · noun, common masculine plural absolute
come
בָּא֖וֹתba.'ot
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal active participle, feminine plural absolute
fire
מְאִיר֣וֹתme.'i.Rot
H215
to be (causative · verb, hiphil active participle, feminine plural absolute
people
עַם'am-
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine singular construct
understanding
בִּינוֹת֙bi.nOt
H998
understanding · noun, common feminine plural absolute
made
עֹשֵׂ֔הוּ'o.Se.hu
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
mercy
יְרַחֲמֶ֣נּוּye.ra.cha.Me.nu
H7355
to fondle · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
formed
וְיֹצְר֖וֹve.yo.tze.Ro
H3335
to mould into a form · conjunction + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
favour
יְחֻנֶּֽנּוּye.chun.Ne.nu
H2603
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 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 1:3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Isaiah 43:1 But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called…
Isaiah 43:7 Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
Isaiah 44:24 Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the he…
Jeremiah 8:7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but…
Jeremiah 4:22 For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but…
Ezekiel 9:10 And as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head.
Matthew 3:10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast int…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 27:7–end
Here is the prophet again singing of mercy and judgment, not, as before, judgment to the enemies and mercy to the church, but judgment to the church and mercy mixed with that judgment.
I. Here is judgment threatened even to Jacob and Israel. They shall blossom and bud (Isa 27:6), but, 1. They shall be smitten and slain (Isa 27:7), some of them shall. If God find any thing amiss among them, he will lay them under the tokens of his displeasure for it. Judgment shall begin at the house of God, and those whom God has known of all the families of the earth he will punish in the first place. 2. Jerusalem, their defenced city, shall be desolate, Isa 27:10, Isa 27:11. "God having tried a variety of…
boughs . . . broken off--so the Jews are called (Rom 11:17, Rom 11:19-20).
set . . . on fire--burn them as fuel; "women" are specified, as probably it was their office to collect fuel and kindle the fire for cooking.
no understanding--as to the ways of God (Deu 32:28-29; Jer 5:21; Hos 4:6).
John Gill on Isaiah 27:11
When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off,.... This city is compared to a tree, whose branches are not only gnawed and consumed by cattle, as in the former verse Isaiah 27:10; but which, in a hot dry summer, are withered and dried up, and so are easily broken, and are fit for nothing but the fire; hence it follows:
the women come and set them on fire; or "gather" them (f) in order to burn them; as is commonly done with withered branches, John 15:6 it may design the burning of the whore of Rome by the kings of the earth; for as antichrist is signified by a woman, so the ten kings that shall hate her, and burn her flesh with fire, may be signified by women; see Revelation…
When its harvest shall wither. [207] Some think that the Prophet has in his eye the metaphor of a vineyard, which he employed at the beginning of the chapter, and therefore they translate qtsyr (katzir,) branches. The word is certainly ambiguous; but as qtsyr (katzir) means also a harvest, and as the metaphor of a harvest is more appropriate, I prefer to take it in that sense. Nor do I translate it, "When the harvest shall be withered," but "When the harvest shall wither." In this passage wither means nothing else than to approach to maturity. Before the harvest of the land is ripe, it shall be cut down; as if he had said, "The Lord will take away from thee the produce which thou thoughest t…
The Church Fathers
That the women were to see his resurrection, while the scribes and Pharisees and the people disbelieved, this also Isaiah foretold in these words, "You women, who come from beholding, come: for it is a people that has no understanding."
The women, returning from the sepulcher and from this vision of the angels, were foreseen by Isaiah, when he says, "Come, you women, who return from the vision," that is, "come" to report the resurrection of the Lord. It was well, however, that the unbelief of the disciples was so persistent, in order that to the last we might consistently maintain that Jesus revealed himself to the disciples as none other than the Christ of the prophets.
(Verse 11) In the dryness of its harvest, women who come and teach her will be crushed. For the people are not wise; therefore, the one who made them will not show them mercy, and the one who formed them will not spare them. LXX: Women coming from the spectacle, come: for the people do not have understanding; therefore, the one who made them will not show them mercy, and the one who formed them will not spare them. This is what is said, 'In the dryness of its harvest, they will be crushed,' for which it is interpreted by the Seventy, there will be nothing green in it because it has withered, according to the Hebrew, it is joined to the following; according to the LXX, it is joined to the previous meaning. Let us therefore speak first according to the Hebrew. When the time of drought and harvest of Jerusalem comes, and to speak more clearly, the time of desolation will come, a multitude of synagogues from all over the world will come together to lament for Jerusalem and to console its evils. Whether he speaks openly about women, who, with their breasts exposed, strike their bleeding arms, and the prophecy of the Lord will be fulfilled: Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children (Luke 23:28). And a great unhappiness of the people is to learn the songs of lamentation from women; just as the people of Israel were rebuked when, in the book of Judges (Judges 4), the Lord brought salvation through the hand of the woman Deborah, and during the nearby captivity, when the men were silent, the woman Holda prophesied (2 Kings 22). Therefore, the women will be worn out by a long journey, weakened by frailty, hunger, and filth, and they will teach the pitiful people, because they are not a wise people, nor have they understood their Creator, who, neglected and despised by them, will not show mercy to their deeds, and will not spare his creation. According to the LXX, it is said of Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, and the other women, who first saw the Lord rising, and held his feet, and deserved to hear from him: Do not be afraid: Go, tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me (Matt. XXVIII, 10). Concerning these women, long before they were born, the prophetic word foretells and calls them from the sight of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection, to preach the Gospel and, according to the Hebrew, to teach…
Dictionary and topics
Blindness · 21:14;22:13,14; — 21:14;22:13,14;
Favour Of God, The · The wicked: Do not obtain — The wicked: Do not obtain
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 prophet said this from out of the midst of the state of punishment, and was therefore able still further to confirm the fact, that the punishment would cease with the sin, by the punishment which followed the sin. "For the strong city is solitary, a dwelling given up and forsaken like the steppe: there calves feed, and there they lie down, and eat off its branches. When its branches become withered, they are broken: women come, make fires with them; for it is not a people of intelligence: therefore its Creator has no pity upon it, and its Former does not pardon it." The nation without any intelligence (Isa 1:3), of which Jehovah was the Creator and Former (Isa 22:11), is Israel; and ther…
The people were outside of God’s covenantal care; they foolishly turned away from him.
Rashi on Isaiah 27:11
When its branches dry out The branches of its roots. Comp. (Ps. 80:12) “It sent forth its branches (קְצִירֶיהָ).” Also (Job 14:9): “And produce branches (קָצִיר).” I.e., when the little merit that Edom has for honoring his father, is depleted, then its branches shall be broken.
women shall come and ignite it A people weak as women shall ignite them. Jonathan renders in this manner. מְאִירוֹת means ‘ignite.’ Comp. (Mal. 1:10) “And you shall not light (תָּאִירוּ) My altar in vain.” Dunash too interpreted it in this manner, for since the wood will be dry, it will be easy to ignite. Menahem, however, interpreted it to mean ‘gather.’ Comp. (Song 5:1) “I gathered (אָרִיתִי) my myrrh.” Also (Ps. 8…
