English Standard Version
Isaiah 50:3
3I clothe the heavens with blackness and make sackcloth their covering."
Isaiah 50:3 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.
- New International Version (NIV)I clothe the heavens with darkness and make sackcloth its covering.”
- New King James Version (NKJV)I clothe the heavens with blackness, And I make sackcloth their covering.”
- New Living Translation (NLT)I dress the skies in darkness, covering them with clothes of mourning.”
Context of Isaiah 50:3
1Thus says the Lord: "Where is your mother's certificate of divorce, with which I sent her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away. 2Why, when I came, was there no man; why, when I called, was there no one to answer? Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a desert; their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness and make sackcloth their covering." 4The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. 5The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward.
Read all of Isaiah 50Isaiah 50:3 word by word
אַלְבִּ֥ישׁ שָׁמַ֖יִם קַדְר֑וּת וְשַׂ֖ק אָשִׂ֥ים כְּסוּתָֽם׃ סRead the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Isaiah 50:3
- Exodus 10:21Then the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt."
- Psalms 18:11He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him, thick clouds dark with water.
- Matthew 27:45Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.
- Revelation 6:12When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,
Commentaries on Isaiah 50:3
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3I clothe the heavens with blackness - With the dark clouds of a tempest - perhaps with an allusion to the remarkable clouds and tempests that encircled the brow of Sinai when he gave the law. Or possibly alluding to the thick darkness which he brought over the land of Egypt (Exodus 10:21; Grotius). In the previous verse, he had stated what he did on the earth, and referred to the exhibitions of his great power there. He here refers to the exhibition of…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3People connected events like darkness and wearing mourning clothes with the day of the Lord (Isaiah 13:10; see study note on Isaiah 2:5–22). The mention of darkness might refer to the plague of darkness in Egypt (Exodus 10:21).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. heavens ... blackness--another of the judgments on Egypt to be repeated hereafter on the last enemy of God's people (Ex 10:21). sackcloth--(Re 6:12).Read the comment
Topics related to Isaiah 50:3
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Isaiah 50
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- 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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries