Isaiah 49:21

Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
say	וְאָמַ֣רְתְּ ve.'a.Mart	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person feminine singular
heart	בִּלְבָבֵ֗ךְ bil.va.Vekh	H3824	the heart (as the most interior organ) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
begotten	יָֽלַד ya.lad-	H3205	to bear young · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
children	שָׁכֹל shâkôl	H7921	properly
desolate	וְגַלְמוּדָ֑ה ve.gal.mu.Dah	H1565	sterile (as wrapped up too hard) · conjunction + adjective, feminine singular absolute
captive	גֹּלָ֣ה go.Lah	H1540	to denude (especially in a disgraceful sense) · verb, qal active participle, feminine singular absolute
fro	וְסוּרָ֗ה ve.su.Rah	H5493	to turn off (literal or figurative) · conjunction + adjective, feminine singular absolute
up	גִדֵּ֔ל gi.Del	H1431	to be (causatively make) large (in various senses · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
left	נִשְׁאַ֣רְתִּי nish.'Ar.ti	H7604	properly · verb, niphal perfect, 1st person common singular
where	אֵיפֹ֥ה 'ei.Foh	H375	what place? · interrogative particle

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 1:8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.
Isaiah 3:26 And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the ground.
Isaiah 5:13 Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude drie…
Isaiah 51:17-20 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of…
Isaiah 52:2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
Isaiah 54:3-8 For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be in…
Isaiah 60:15 Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generatio…
Isaiah 62:4 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land…

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 49:18-23

Two things are here promised, which were to be in part accomplished in the reviving of the Jewish church after its return out of captivity, but more fully in the planting of the Christian church by the preaching of the gospel of Christ; and we may take the comfort of these promises. I. That the church shall be replenished with great numbers added to it. It was promised (Isa 49:17) that her children should make haste; that promise is here enlarged upon, and is made very encouraging. It is promised, 1. That multitudes shall flock to the church from all parts. Look round, and see how they gather themselves to thee (Isa 49:18), by a local accession to the Jewish church. They come to Jerusalem fr…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 49:21

Who, &c.--Zion's joyful wonder at the unexpected restoration of the ten tribes. Secondarily, the accession of spiritual Israelites to the mother church of Jerusalem from the Gentiles is meant. This created surprise at first (Act 10:45; Act 14:27; Act 15:3-4). lost . . . am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro--rather, "bereaved of . . . have been barren, an exile and outcast" [HORSLEY]. She had been "put away" by Jehovah, her husband (Isa 50:1); hence her wonder at the children begotten to her.

John Gill on Isaiah 49:21

Then shalt thou say in thine heart,.... In, a way of admiration, secretly within herself, astonished at the numerous crowds flocking in; who hath begotten me these? not their natural parents, nor they themselves; for they are not born of blood, nor of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh; nor ministers of the Gospel, though they are instruments, yet not the cause; but God only, Father, Son, and Spirit, to whom regeneration is only ascribed: regeneration is a wonderful work of God; it is unaccountable to the natural man; it is amazing to the saints themselves; and it is matter of astonishment to the church of God; especially when on a sudden, and without means, and in great numbers…

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The Church Fathers

We are to be a model for everyone around us, not just in our actions but also in our speech, in our chastity and in our faith. Let us be what we should wish others to think us, and let us show our feelings as they really are. We should never mutter a word that is unjust, even in our own heart, thinking to ourselves that it is hidden under a veil of silence; for the One who made the secret places hears words that are spoken in secret, and the One who implanted the power of thought in our innermost parts knows the hidden things that those innermost parts contain. So as people who live under the eyes of their Judge, let us remember that everything we do is exposed to the light, and in this way it will be manifest to all.
— Ambrose of Milan, On the Duties of the Clergy 2.19.96

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

Barren — For a woman to be barren was accounted a severe punishment among the Jews (Gen. 16:2; 30:1-23; 1 Sam. 1:6, 27; Isa. 47:9; 49:21; Luke 1:25). Instances of barrenness are noticed (Gen. 11:30; 25:21;…
Church — Derived probably from the Greek kuriakon (i.e., “the Lord’s house”), which was used by ancient authors for the place of worship. In the New Testament it is the translation of the Greek word ecclesia,…
Isaiah, Book Of — I. Chapters 1-5 contain Isaiah’s prophecies in the reigns of Uzziah and Jotham, foretelling that the present prosperity of Judah should be destroyed, and that Israel should be brought to desolation.…
Gentiles · PROPHECIES OF THE CONVERSION OF — PROPHECIES OF THE CONVERSION OF

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 49:21

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 49:18-23

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 49:21

John Gill on Isaiah 49:21

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Isaiah 49:21

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 49:18-23

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 49:21

John Gill on Isaiah 49:21

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Isaiah 49:21

Keil & Delitzsch on Isaiah 49:21

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Isaiah 49:19-21

Rashi on Isaiah 49:21