Isaiah 43:20 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 43:20
The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.
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 41:17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel w…
Isaiah 48:21 And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, a…
Isaiah 49:10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the spr…
Isaiah 13:22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come,…
John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of…
1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath…
Revelation 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him…
1 Chronicles 16:13 O ye seed of Israel his servant, ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 43:14-21
To so low an ebb were the faith and hope of God's people in Babylon brought that there needed line upon line to assure them that they should be released out of their captivity; and therefore, that they might have strong consolation, the assurances of it are often repeated, and here very expressly and encouragingly.
I. God here takes to himself such titles of his honour as were very encouraging to them. He is the Lord their Redeemer, not only he will redeem them, but will take it upon him as his office and make it his business to do so. If he be their God, he will be all that to them which they need, and therefore, when they are in bondage, he will be their Redeemer. He is the Holy One of Isr…
beast--image of idolaters, defiled with blood and pollutions, dwelling like dragons, &c., in the wastes of Gentile ignorance: even they shall be converted. Or else, literally, such copious floods of water shall be given by God in the desert, that the very beasts shall (in poetic language) praise the Lord (Psa 148:10) [JEROME].
dragons--"serpents," or else jackals (see on Isa 13:22).
owls--rather, "ostriches."
John Gill on Isaiah 43:20
The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons, and the owls,.... Which is not to be understood literally of these creatures, who as they had honoured the Lord, when Israel passed through the wilderness, so would again in their way praise the Lord, when they came through the deserts from Babylon, for giving them water to drink in such dry and thirsty places, to which there may be an allusion; but spiritually of the Gentiles, compared to those creatures for the savageness, fierceness, and stupidity of them, and who were reckoned by the Jews no other than as the beasts of the field; who should honour and glorify God for the Gospel brought unto them, and for his grace and mercy bestowed on…
(Verses 20-21) The animals of the field will glorify me, the dragons and ostriches; for I have given waters in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people. I have formed this people for myself; they will proclaim my praise. LXX: The beasts of the field, the sirens, and the daughters of ostriches will bless me, for I have given water in the wilderness and rivers in the dry land, to make my chosen people, my acquired people, drink. They will declare my virtues. Then, what has never been done will be done, so that all beasts and dragons, and ostriches who dwelt in the wilderness of the nations, and those who were like idolatry in their blood and the savagery of beasts, will glorify and praise me. As for the dragons, whom only Theodotius, as it is written in Hebrew, called Thannim (or Al. Thennim), the rest were interpreted as Sirens, monstrous creatures who would throw sailors to be torn apart by the barking Scyllaean dogs with their sweet song and deadly charm. And this means that those who were formerly devoted to pleasure and luxury are converted to the service of the Lord; although it is better to understand it as dragons, because they are joined with ostriches, since he spoke about beasts of the wilderness once, he put these animals, which are familiar in the desert. They will praise me, he says, and the animals of the field will glorify me, and the dragons, and the ostriches, because I gave waters in the desert of the nations, and rivers in the dry land of the peoples, so that my people, whom I have chosen for myself, or my chosen race, and the people whom I have acquired with my blood, may drink, and they may tell my praises and virtues.
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
Desert — (1.) Heb. midbar, “pasture-ground;” an open tract for pasturage; a common (Joel 2:22). The “backside of the desert” (Ex. 3:1) is the west of the desert, the region behind a man, as the east is the…
Dragon — (1.) Heb. tannim, plural of tan. The name of some unknown creature inhabiting desert places and ruins (Job 30:29; Ps. 44:19; Isa. 13:22; 34:13; 43:20; Jer. 10:22; Micah 1:8; Mal. 1:3); probably, as…
Owl — (1.) Heb. bath-haya’anah, “daughter of greediness” or of “shouting.” In the list of unclean birds (Lev. 11:16; Deut. 14:15); also mentioned in Job 30:29; Isa. 13:21; 34:13; 43:20; Jer. 50:39; Micah…
Dragon, The · Found in: Dry places — Found in: Dry places
Ostriches · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Owl · In R. V. ostrich is substituted — In R. V. ostrich is substituted
Rivers · Illustrative: Of the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit — Illustrative: Of the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit
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 beast of the field shall honor me. He adorns the preceding statement; for, amidst such a desperate condition of affairs, it was proper that magnificent language should be employed in extolling the power of God, that words might supply what seemed to be wanting in the reality. The meaning is, that the power of God will be so visible and manifest, that the very beasts, impressed with the feeling of it, shall acknowledge and worship God. This prediction corresponds to the song,
"The sea saw and fled, Jordan was driven back. The mountains leaped like rams, and the hills like lambs. At the face of the Lord the earth trembled." (Psalm 114:3, 4, 7.)
Isaiah here ascribes the same feeling to br…
There now follows a second field of the picture of redemption; and the expression "for your sake" is expounded in Isa 43:16-21 : "Thus saith Jehovah, who giveth a road through the sea, and a path through tumultuous waters; who bringeth out chariot and horse, army and hero; they lie down together, they never rise: they have flickered away, extinguished like a wick. Remember not things of olden time, nor meditate upon those of earlier times! Behold, I work out a new thing: will ye not live to see it? Yea, I make a road through the desert, and streams through solitudes. The beast of the field will praise me, wild dogs and ostriches: for I give water in the desert, streams in solitude, to give d…
God did not want the Israelites to forget the exodus from Egypt. However, they needed to look forward in faith to the spectacular event that was about to occur rather than dwelling on the past.
Rashi on Isaiah 43:20
The beasts of the field shall honor Me The place that is desolate and a habitat of the beasts of the field, for the jackals and for the ostriches.
for I gave water in the desert i.e., in a desolate land I will place a settlement.
