God’s Word Translation
Isaiah 33:18
18Your mind will be thinking of the terrors ⌞in the past⌟. Where are the scribes? Where are the tax collectors? Where are those who counted the towers?
Isaiah 33:18 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
- New International Version (NIV)In your thoughts you will ponder the former terror: “Where is that chief officer? Where is the one who took the revenue? Where is the officer in charge of the towers?”
- English Standard Version (ESV)Your heart will muse on the terror: "Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed the tribute? Where is he who counted the towers?"
- New King James Version (NKJV)Your heart will meditate on terror: “Where is the scribe? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers?”
Context of Isaiah 33:18
16This person will live on high. His stronghold will be a fortress made of rock. He will have plenty of food and a dependable supply of water. 17Your eyes will see how handsome the king is. You will see a land that stretches into the distance. Your mind will be thinking of the terrors ⌞in the past⌟. Where are the scribes? Where are the tax collectors? Where are those who counted the towers? 19You will no longer see those savage people, those people with an unrecognizable language, with a foreign language that you can’t understand. 20Look at Zion, the city of our festivals. Your eyes will see Jerusalem as a peaceful place. It is a tent that can’t be moved. Its tent pegs will never be pulled out, and none of its ropes will be broken.
Read all of Isaiah 33Isaiah 33:18 word by word
לִבְּךָ֖ יֶהְגֶּ֣ה אֵימָ֑ה אַיֵּ֤ה סֹפֵר֙ אַיֵּ֣ה שֹׁקֵ֔ל אַיֵּ֖ה סֹפֵ֥ר אֶת־הַמִּגְדָּלִֽים׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Isaiah 33:18
- Isaiah 38:9King Hezekiah of Judah wrote this after he was sick and became well again:
- 1 Samuel 30:6David was in great distress because the people in their bitterness said he should be stoned. (They were thinking of their sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God.)
- Psalms 31:7I will rejoice and be glad because of your mercy. You have seen my misery. You have known the troubles in my soul.
- Psalms 71:20You have made me endure many terrible troubles. You restore me to life again. You bring me back from the depths of the earth.
- 2 Corinthians 1:8Brothers and sisters, we don’t want you to be ignorant about the suffering we experienced in the province of Asia. It was so extreme that it was beyond our ability to endure. We even wondered if we could go on living.
- 2 Timothy 3:11You also know about the kind of persecutions and sufferings which happened to me in the cities of Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. I endured those persecutions, and the Lord rescued me from all of them.
- 1 Corinthians 1:20Where is the wise person? Where is the scholar? Where is the persuasive speaker of our time? Hasn’t God turned the wisdom of the world into nonsense?
- Genesis 23:16Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms. So he weighed out for Ephron the amount stated in front of the Hittites: ten pounds of silver at the current merchants’ exchange rate.
- 2 Kings 15:19King Pul of Assyria came to ⌞attack⌟ the country. So Menahem gave Pul 75,000 pounds of silver to gain his support and help strengthen his hold on the kingdom.
- 2 Kings 18:14Then King Hezekiah of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. Go away, and leave me alone. I’ll pay whatever penalty you give me.” So the king of Assyria demanded that King Hezekiah of Judah pay 22,500 pounds of silver and 2,250 pounds of gold.
- Isaiah 10:16That is why the Almighty Lord of Armies will send a degenerative disease against brave men. A flame will be turned into a raging fire under his power.
Commentaries on Isaiah 33:18
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 18Where is the scribe? - The person appointed by the king of Assyria to estimate their number and property in reference to their being heavily taxed. Where is the receiver? - Or he who was to have collected this tribute. Where is he that counted the towers? - That is, the commander of the enemy's forces, who surveyed the fortifications of the city, and took an account of the height, strength, and situation of the walls and towers, that he might know where…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 18Thine heart - The heart of the people of Jerusalem. Shall meditate terror - This is similar to the expression in Virgil: - forsan et haec olim meminisse jurabit. AEn. ii. 203. The sense here is, You shall hereafter think over all this alarm and distress. When the enemy is destroyed, the city saved, and the king shall reign in magnificence over all the nation then enjoying peace and prosperity, you shall recall these days of terror and alarm, and shall…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 15-24Verses 15-24 The true believer watches against all occasions of sin. The Divine power will keep him safe, and his faith in that power will keep him easy. He shall want nothing needful for him. Every blessing of salvation is freely bestowed on all that ask with humble, believing prayer; and the believer is safe in time and for ever. Those that walk uprightly shall not only have bread given, and their water sure, but they shall, by faith, see the King of…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 18Assyrian officers brought great terror to Judah when the Assyrians defeated various cities around Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:13).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1818. meditate--on the "terror" caused by the enemy, but now past. where, &c.--the language of the Jews exulting over their escape from danger. scribe--who enrolled the army [Maurer]; or, who prescribed the tribute to be paid [Rosenmuller]; or, who kept an account of the spoil. "The principal scribe of the host" (2Ki 25:19; Jr 52:25). The Assyrian records are free from the exaggerations of Egyptian records. Two scribes are seen in every Assyrian bas-relief…Read the comment
Topics related to Isaiah 33:18
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Isaiah 33
- 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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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