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

3For this reason my stomach churns; cramps overwhelm me like the contractions of a woman in labor. I am disturbed by what I hear, horrified by what I see. 4My heart palpitates, I shake in fear; the twilight I desired has brought me terror. Arrange the table, lay out the carpet, eat and drink! Get up, you officers, smear oil on the shields! 6For this is what the sovereign master has told me: “Go, post a guard! He must report what he sees. 7When he sees chariots, teams of horses, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, he must be alert, very alert.”

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, there is outright celebration! You say, “Kill the ox and slaughter the sheep, eat meat and drink wine. Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
• Daniel 5:1King Belshazzar prepared a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in front of them all.
• 1 Corinthians 15:32If from a human point of view I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what did it benefit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.
• Isaiah 13:2On a bare hill raise a signal flag, shout to them, wave your hand, so they might enter the gates of the princes!
• Isaiah 45:1This is what the Lord says to his chosen one, to Cyrus, whose right hand I hold in order to subdue nations before him, and disarm kings, to open doors before him, so gates remain unclosed:
• Jeremiah 51:11“Sharpen your arrows! Fill your quivers! The Lord will arouse a spirit of hostility in the kings of Media. For he intends to destroy Babylonia. For that is how the Lord will get his revenge – how he will get his revenge for the Babylonians’ destruction of 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