Isaiah 47:11

Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
evil	רָעָ֗ה ra.'Ah	H7451	bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
come	וּבָ֧א u.Va'	H935	to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
know	תֵדְעִי֙ te.de.'I	H3045	to know (properly · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person feminine singular
riseth	שַׁחְרָ֔הּ shach.Rah	H7837	dawn (literal · verb, piel infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
mischief	הֹוָ֔ה ho.Vah	H1943	ruin · noun, common feminine singular absolute
fall	וְתִפֹּ֤ל ve.ti.Pol	H5307	to fall · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person feminine singular
able	תוּכְלִ֖י tu.khe.Li	H3201	to be able · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person feminine singular
off	כַּפְּרָ֑הּ ka.pe.Rah	H3722	to cover (specifically with bitumen) · verb, piel infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
desolation	שׁוֹאָ֖ה sho.'Ah	H7722	a tempest · noun, common feminine singular absolute
come	וְתָבֹ֨א ve.ta.Vo'	H935	to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person feminine singular
suddenly	פִּתְאֹ֛ם pit.'Om	H6597	instantly · adverb
know	תֵדָֽעִי te.Da.'i	H3045	to know (properly · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person feminine 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

1 Thessalonians 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not…
Revelation 18:9-10 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they s…
Exodus 12:29-30 And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his t…
Nehemiah 4:11 And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease…
Psalms 50:22 Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
Jeremiah 51:39-42 In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, sait…
Daniel 5:25-30 And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
Luke 12:59 I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite.

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 47:7–end

Babylon, now doomed to ruin, is here justly upbraided with her pride, luxury, and security, in the day of her prosperity, and the confidence she had in her own wisdom and forecast, and particularly in the prognostications and counsels of the astrologers. These things are mentioned both to justify God in bringing these judgments upon her and to mortify her, and put her to so much the greater shame, under these judgments; for, when God comes forth to take vengeance, glory belongs to him, but confusion to the sinner. I. The Babylonians are here upbraided with their pride and haughtiness, and the great conceit they had of themselves, because of their wealth and power, and the vast extent of thei…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 47:11

from whence it riseth--Hebrew, "the dawn thereof," that is, its first rising. Evil shall come on thee without the least previous intimation [ROSENMULLER]. But dawn is not applied to "evil," but to prosperity shining out after misery (Isa 21:12). Translate, "Thou shall not see any dawn" (of alleviation) [MAURER]. put . . . off--rather, as Margin, "remove by expiation"; it shall be never ending. not know--unawares: which thou dost not apprehend. Proving the fallacy of thy divinations and astrology (Job 9:5; Psa 35:8).

John Gill on Isaiah 47:11

Therefore shall evil come upon thee,.... The evil of punishment, a great calamity; so Nebuchadnezzar foretold, as Abydenus relates (o), that a calamity, should come upon the Babylonians; a day of evil, because of the above sins Babylon was guilty of: thou shall not know from whence it riseth; from what quarter it will come, little dreaming of Cyrus, with whom the Chaldeans had had no quarrel. So mystical Babylon will not know from whence her ruin will come; little thinking that the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication with her, and have given their kingdoms to her, will hate her, and burn her flesh with fire: or, "thou shall not know the morning of it" (p): that is, on what d…

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The Church Fathers

Suddenly, [Isaiah] says, you will receive destruction and undergo the misfortunes that you do not expect. "[There shall be] a pit, and you shall fall into it; and grief shall come on you, and you cannot be cleared." Symmachus and Aquila have rendered the translation of this passage as follows: "And a misfortune will befall you that you will not be able to avert," that is to say, I will precipitate you into unavoidable misfortunes, and you will not obtain a pardon, for you have sinned beyond [the point] of being pardoned." "And destruction shall come suddenly on you, and you shall not know." For Babylon had not been expecting a change [of fortune] and had had no dread of seeing the situation reversed.
— Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 14:47.11

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

Babylon · Predictions respecting: Destruction of — Predictions respecting: Destruction of
Infidelity · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Self-Delusion · Exemplified: Babylon — Exemplified: Babylon
Sorcery · .By the Babylonians — .By the Babylonians

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 47:11

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 47:7–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 47:11

John Gill on Isaiah 47:11

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Isaiah 47:11

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 47:7–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 47:11

John Gill on Isaiah 47:11

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Isaiah 47:11

Keil & Delitzsch on Isaiah 47:8-11

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Isaiah 47:10

Rashi on Isaiah 47:11