Isaiah 21:5

Isaiah 21:5 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield.
• New International Version (NIV)They set the tables, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink! Get up, you officers, oil the shields!
• English Standard Version (ESV)They prepare the table, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink. Arise, O princes; oil the shield!
• New King James Version (NKJV)Prepare the table, Set a watchman in the tower, Eat and drink. Arise, you princes, Anoint the shield!

Context of Isaiah 21:5

3Therefore I am filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pain of a woman in labor. I am too perplexed to hear, too dismayed to see. 4My heart staggers; horror terrifies me. He has turned my last glimmer of hope into sheer terror. Prepare a table, and spread out a carpet! Eat and drink! Rise up, you princes, and oil the shields! 6For the Lord has said to me, “Go, post a lookout; let him report what he sees. 7When he sees riders — pairs of horsemen, riders on donkeys, riders on camels — he must pay close attention.”

Isaiah 21:5 word by word

עָרֹ֧ךְ הַשֻּׁלְחָ֛ן צָפֹ֥ה הַצָּפִ֖ית אָכ֣וֹל שָׁתֹ֑ה ק֥וּמוּ הַשָּׂרִ֖ים מִשְׁח֥וּ מָגֵֽן׃ פRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Prepareעָרַךְ‛ârak · to arrangeH6186
• the tableשֻׁלְחָןshûlchân · tableH7979
• watchצָפָהtsâphâh · to watchH6822
• in the watchtowerצָפִיתtsâphîyth · rugH6844
• eatאָכַל'âkal · to eatH398
• drinkשָׁתָהshâthâh · to drinkH8354
• ariseקוּםqûm · to arise: riseH6965
• ye princesשַׂרώar · rulerH8269
• anointמָשַׁחmâshach · to anointH4886
• the shieldמָגֵןmâgên meginnâh · shieldH4043

Cross-references for Isaiah 21:5

• Isaiah 22:13But look: joy and gladness, butchering of cattle, slaughtering of sheep and goats, eating of meat, and drinking of wine — “Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
• Daniel 5:1King Belshazzar held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine in their presence.
• 1 Corinthians 15:32If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus as a mere man, what good did that do me? If the dead are not raised, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.
• Isaiah 13:2Lift up a banner on a barren mountain. Call out to them. Signal with your hand, and they will go through the gates of the nobles.
• Isaiah 45:1The Lord says this to Cyrus, his anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him and disarm kings, to open doors before him, and even city gates will not be shut:
• Jeremiah 51:11Sharpen the arrows! Fill the quivers! The Lord has roused the spirit of the kings of the Medes because his plan is aimed at Babylon to destroy her, for it is the Lord’s vengeance, vengeance for his temple.

Commentaries on Isaiah 21:5

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 5Prepare the table "The table is prepared" - In Hebrew the verbs are in the infinitive mood absolute, as in Ezekiel 1:14; : "And the animals ran and returned, ושוב רצוא ratso veshob, like the appearance of the lightning;" just as the Latins say, currere et reverti, for currebant et revertebantur. See Isaiah 33:11; (note), and the note there. Arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield - Kimchi observes that several of the rabbins understood this of…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 5Prepare the table - This verse is one of the most striking and remarkable that occurs in this prophecy, or indeed in any part of Isaiah. It is language supposed to be spoken in Babylon. The first direction - perhaps supposed to be that of the king - is to prepare the table for the feast. Then follows a direction to set a watch - to make the city safe, so that they might revel without fear. Then a command to eat and drink: and then immediately a sudden…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 55. Prepare the table--namely, the feast in Babylon; during which Cyrus opened the dykes made by Semiramis to confine the Euphrates to one channel and suffered them to overflow the country, so that he could enter Babylon by the channel of the river. Isaiah first represents the king ordering the feast to be got ready. The suddenness of the irruption of the foe is graphically expressed by the rapid turn in the language to an alarm addressed to the Babylonian…Read the comment

Topics related to Isaiah 21:5

• Babylon
• Isaiah
• Persia
• Watchman

In the dictionaries

• Anoint
• Buckler
• Cornfloor
• Shield
• Watches
• Anointing
• Armor; Arms
• Evil
• Ezekiel
• Hezekiah (2)

Commentaries on Isaiah 21

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings