Isaiah 7:18

Isaiah 7:18 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
• New International Version (NIV)In that day the Lord will whistle for flies from the Nile delta in Egypt and for bees from the land of Assyria.
• English Standard Version (ESV)In that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
• New King James Version (NKJV)And it shall come to pass in that day That the Lord will whistle for the fly That is in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt, And for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

Context of Isaiah 7:18

16Even before that, the two kings that you are now afraid of will have no power. Their land will be empty. 17But the Lord will bring even greater trouble to you! It will be very bad for you, for the royal family, and for your people. Nothing as bad will have happened since Ephraim became separate from Judah. Yes, the Lord will bring the king of Assyria to attack you!’ At that time, the Lord will call the soldiers of Egypt to come and attack you. And they will come like a crowd of flies! He will call for soldiers to come from Assyria. And they will come like a crowd of bees! 19They will all come in great crowds. They will come into the valleys, the cliffs, the holes in the rocks, the thorn bushes and the pools of water. 20At that time, the Lord will use the king of Assyria to bring trouble and pain. He will come from beyond the Euphrates river. He will be like a sharp knife that cuts off all your hair, the hair from your head, your legs and your beard.

Isaiah 7:18 word by word

וְהָיָ֣ה׀ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַה֗וּא יִשְׁרֹ֤ק יְהוָה֙ לַזְּב֔וּב אֲשֶׁ֥ר בִּקְצֵ֖ה יְאֹרֵ֣י מִצְרָ֑יִם וְלַ֨דְּבוֹרָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֖ר בְּאֶ֥רֶץ אַשּֽׁוּר׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And it shall come to pass in that dayיוֹםyôm · dayH3117
• the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• shall hissשָׁרַקshâraq · to whistleH8319
• for the flyזְבוּבzebûb · flyH2070
• in the uttermost partקָצֶהqâtseh qêtseh · endH7097
• of the riversיְאֹרye'ôr · streamH2975
• of Egyptמִצְרַ֫יִםmitsrayim · EgyptH4714
• and for the beeדְּבוֹרָהdebôrâh debôrâh · beeH1682
• in the landאֶ֫רֶץ'erets · land: country/planetH776
• of Assyriaאַשּׁוּר'ashshûr 'ashshûr · AssyriaH804

Cross-references for Isaiah 7:18

• Isaiah 5:26The Lord will send a message to foreign nations to come and attack. He calls to nations that are far away, and now they are already coming! Their armies march quickly to Jerusalem.
• Isaiah 30:1The Lord says, ‘It will be very bad for you, my children who have turned against me. You have decided what to do, but you did not ask me about it. You have made an agreement with Egypt, but without my Spirit's help. In that way, you continue to do more and more sins.
• Isaiah 31:1It will be very bad for those people who expect that Egypt will help them. They think that Egypt's many horses and chariots will keep them safe. They trust the power of Egypt's strong soldiers who ride on horses. But those people do not trust the Holy God of Israel. They do not ask the Lord to help them.
• Exodus 8:21If you do not let my people go, I will send thousands of flies on you. I will send them on your servants and on your people. I will send them into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies. The flies will cover all the ground where people live.
• Deuteronomy 1:44The Amorite people who lived in those hills came out to attack you. You ran away from them, as if they were a crowd of bees. They attacked you as you ran down into the country of Edom, all the way to Hormah.
• Deuteronomy 7:20Also, the Lord your God will send great fear among these people. Even those people who hide from you will soon die.
• Joshua 24:12I sent great fear on your enemies as you moved into the land. I chased them all away, as well as the two kings of the Amorites. You did not win because of your strong weapons, but because of me.
• Psalms 118:12They were all round me like a cloud of bees! But they were like a fire in a thorn bush that burns quickly and has soon gone. I turned them away by the power of the Lord.
• Isaiah 7:17But the Lord will bring even greater trouble to you! It will be very bad for you, for the royal family, and for your people. Nothing as bad will have happened since Ephraim became separate from Judah. Yes, the Lord will bring the king of Assyria to attack you!’
• 2 Kings 23:33Pharaoh Necho kept him in a prison at Riblah, so that Jehoahaz could not rule in Jerusalem. Riblah is in the Hamath region. Necho made Judah pay tax to him. It was 3,400 kilograms of silver and 34 kilograms of gold.

Commentaries on Isaiah 7:18

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 18Hiss for the fly "Hist the fly" - See note on Isaiah 5:26. Egypt, and - Assyria - Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, Pharaoh-necho, and Nebuchadnezzar, who one after another desolated Judea.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 18In that day the Lord shall hiss - see the note at Isaiah 5:26. For the fly - That is, for the army, or the multitude of people. The comparison of a numerous army with “flies” is not uncommon; see Homer‘s “Iliad,” B. ii. 469, etc. - Thick as insects play, The wandering nation of a summer‘s day. That, drawn by milky streams at evening hours In gathered swarms surround the rural bowers; From pail to pail with busy murmur run The gilded legions, glittering in…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 17-25Verses 17-25 Let those who will not believe the promises of God, expect to hear the alarms of his threatenings; for who can resist or escape his judgments? The Lord shall sweep all away; and whomsoever he employs in any service for him, he will pay. All speaks a sad change of the face of that pleasant land. But what melancholy change is there, which sin will not make with a people? Agriculture would cease. Sorrows of every kind will come upon all who…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 18-25The phrase on that day refers to the future Day of the LORD, when God acts to judge and to save. Judah would first experience the judgment Isaiah had announced. This would be a warning of a greater judgment still to come. That greater judgment was the exile in Babylon from 586 to 538 BC.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1818. hiss--whistle, to bring bees to settle (see on Is 5:26). fly--found in numbers about the arms of the Nile and the canals from it (Is 19:5-7; 23:3), here called "rivers." Hence arose the plague of flies (Ex 8:21). Figurative, for numerous and troublesome foes from the remotest parts of Egypt, for example, Pharaoh-nechoh. bee--(De 1:44; Psa 118:12). As numerous in Assyria as the fly in marshy Egypt. Sennacherib, Esar-haddon, and Nebuchadnezzar fulfilled…Read the comment

Topics related to Isaiah 7:18

• Ahaz
• Assyria
• Bee
• Flies
• Hypocrisy
• Isaiah
• Israel, Prophecies Concerning

In the dictionaries

• Assyria
• Egypt
• Assyria, Assyrian, Assyrian Empire
• Egypt, Egyptian
• Day, That (the)
• That Day
• Ahaz
• Bee
• Confederate
• Fainthearted

Commentaries on Isaiah 7

• 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