English Standard Version
Isaiah 21:3
3Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor; I am bowed down so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
Isaiah 21:3 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it.
- New International Version (NIV)At this my body is racked with pain, pangs seize me, like those of a woman in labor; I am staggered by what I hear, I am bewildered by what I see.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Therefore my loins are filled with pain; Pangs have taken hold of me, like the pangs of a woman in labor. I was distressed when I heard it; I was dismayed when I saw it.
- New Living Translation (NLT)My stomach aches and burns with pain. Sharp pangs of anguish are upon me, like those of a woman in labor. I grow faint when I hear what God is planning; I am too afraid to look.
Context of Isaiah 21:3
1The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on, it comes from the wilderness, from a terrible land. 2A stern vision is told to me; the traitor betrays, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O Elam; lay siege, O Media; all the sighing she has caused I bring to an end. Therefore my loins are filled with anguish; pangs have seized me, like the pangs of a woman in labor; I am bowed down so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see. 4My heart staggers; horror has appalled me; the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling. 5They prepare the table, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink. Arise, O princes; oil the shield!
Read all of Isaiah 21Isaiah 21:3 word by word
עַל־כֵּ֗ן מָלְא֤וּ מָתְנַי֙ חַלְחָלָ֔ה צִירִ֣ים אֲחָז֔וּנִי כְּצִירֵ֖י יֽוֹלֵדָ֑ה נַעֲוֵ֣יתִי מִשְּׁמֹ֔עַ נִבְהַ֖לְתִּי מֵרְאֽוֹת׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Therefore are my loinsמׇתְנַ֫יִםmôthen · loinH4975
- filledמָלֵאmâlê' mâlâ' · to fillH4390
- with painחַלְחָלָהchalchâlâh · anguishH2479
- pangsצִירtsîyr · pangH6735
- have taken holdאָחַז'âchaz · to graspH270
- of a woman that travailethיָלַדyâlad · to begetH3205
- I was bowed downעָוָה‛âvâh · to twistH5753
- at the hearingשָׁמַעshâma‛ · to hear: hearH8085
- I was dismayedבָּהַלbâhal · to dismayH926
- at the seeingרָאָהrâ'âh · to see: seeH7200
Cross-references for Isaiah 21:3
- Isaiah 15:5My heart cries out for Moab; her fugitives flee to Zoar, to Eglath-shelishiyah. For at the ascent of Luhith they go up weeping; on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of destruction;
- Isaiah 16:9Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah; I drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; for over your summer fruit and your harvest the shout has ceased.
- Habakkuk 3:16I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us.
- Isaiah 13:8They will be dismayed: pangs and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another; their faces will be aflame.
- Isaiah 26:17Like a pregnant woman who writhes and cries out in her pangs when she is near to giving birth, so were we because of you, O Lord;
- Psalms 48:6Trembling took hold of them there, anguish as of a woman in labor.
- Jeremiah 48:41the cities shall be taken and the strongholds seized. The heart of the warriors of Moab shall be in that day like the heart of a woman in her birth pains;
- Jeremiah 49:22Behold, one shall mount up and fly swiftly like an eagle and spread his wings against Bozrah, and the heart of the warriors of Edom shall be in that day like the heart of a woman in her birth pains."
- Jeremiah 50:43"The king of Babylon heard the report of them, and his hands fell helpless; anguish seized him, pain as of a woman in labor.
- Micah 4:9Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished, that pain seized you like a woman in labor?
- 1 Thessalonians 5:3While people are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
- Deuteronomy 28:67In the morning you shall say, 'If only it were evening!' and at evening you shall say, 'If only it were morning!' because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and the sights that your eyes shall see.
- Daniel 5:5Immediately the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace, opposite the lampstand. And the king saw the hand as it wrote.
Commentaries on Isaiah 21:3
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3Therefore - In this verse, and the following, the prophet represents himself as “in” Babylon, and as a witness of the calamities which would come upon the city. He describes the sympathy which he feels in her sorrows, and represents himself as deeply affected by her calamities. A similar description occurred in the pain which the prophet represents himself as enduring on account of the calamities of Moab (see Isaiah 15:5, note; Isaiah 16:11, note). My…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3I am bewildered to hear, I am dismayed to see: Through his vision, Isaiah felt the fear of the Babylonian people (see also Daniel 8:27; 10:16–17).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. Isaiah imagines himself among the exiles in Babylon and cannot help feeling moved by the calamities which come on it. So for Moab (Is 15:5; 16:11). pain--(Compare Is 13:8; Eze 30:4, 19; Na 2:10). at the hearing--The Hebrew may mean, "I was so bowed down that I could not hear; I was so dismayed that I could not see" (Ge 16:2; Psa 69:23) [Maurer].Read the comment
Topics related to Isaiah 21:3
In the dictionaries
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
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