New International Version
Isaiah 33:18
18In 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?”
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?
- 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?”
- New Living Translation (NLT)You will think back to this time of terror, asking, “Where are the Assyrian officers who counted our towers? Where are the bookkeepers who recorded the plunder taken from our fallen city?”
Context of Isaiah 33:18
16they are the ones who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. Their bread will be supplied, and water will not fail them. 17Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches afar. 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?” 19You will see those arrogant people no more, people whose speech is obscure, whose language is strange and incomprehensible. 20Look on Zion, the city of our festivals; your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes 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 38:9A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:
- 1 Samuel 30:6David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God.
- Psalms 31:7I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.
- Psalms 71:20Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up.
- 2 Corinthians 1:8We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself.
- 2 Timothy 3:11persecutions, sufferings—what kinds of things happened to me in Antioch, Iconium and Lystra, the persecutions I endured. Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.
- 1 Corinthians 1:20Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
- Genesis 23:16Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weight current among the merchants.
- 2 Kings 15:19Then Pul king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem gave him a thousand talents of silver to gain his support and strengthen his own hold on the kingdom.
- 2 Kings 18:14So Hezekiah king of Judah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will pay whatever you demand of me.” The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
- Isaiah 10:16Therefore, the Lord, the Lord Almighty, will send a wasting disease upon his sturdy warriors; under his pomp a fire will be kindled like a blazing flame.
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
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