New International Version
Isaiah 51:19
19These double calamities have come upon you— who can comfort you?— ruin and destruction, famine and sword— who can console you?
Isaiah 51:19 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?
- English Standard Version (ESV)These two things have happened to you— who will console you?— devastation and destruction, famine and sword; who will comfort you?
- New King James Version (NKJV)These two things have come to you; Who will be sorry for you?— Desolation and destruction, famine and sword— By whom will I comfort you?
- New Living Translation (NLT)These two calamities have fallen on you: desolation and destruction, famine and war. And who is left to sympathize with you? Who is left to comfort you?
Context of Isaiah 51:19
17Awake, awake! Rise up, Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, you who have drained to its dregs the goblet that makes people stagger. 18Among all the children she bore there was none to guide her; among all the children she reared there was none to take her by the hand. These double calamities have come upon you— who can comfort you?— ruin and destruction, famine and sword— who can console you? 20Your children have fainted; they lie at every street corner, like antelope caught in a net. They are filled with the wrath of the Lord, with the rebuke of your God. 21Therefore hear this, you afflicted one, made drunk, but not with wine.
Read all of Isaiah 51Isaiah 51:19 word by word
שְׁתַּ֤יִם הֵ֙נָּה֙ קֹֽרְאֹתַ֔יִךְ מִ֖י יָנ֣וּד לָ֑ךְ הַשֹּׁ֧ד וְהַשֶּׁ֛בֶר וְהָרָעָ֥ב וְהַחֶ֖רֶב מִ֥י אֲנַחֲמֵֽךְ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- These twoשְׁנַ֫יִםshenayim shettayim · twoH8147
- are comeקָרָאqârâ' · to encounter: chancedH7122
- unto thee; who shall be sorryנוּדnûd · to wanderH5110
- for thee? desolationשֹׁדshôd shôd · violenceH7701
- and destructionשֶׁ֫בֶרsheber shêber · breakingH7667
- and the famineרָעָבrâ‛âb · famineH7458
- and the swordחֶ֫רֶבchereb · swordH2719
- by whom shall I comfortנָחַםnâcham · to be sorry: comfortH5162
Cross-references for Isaiah 51:19
- Isaiah 47:9Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells.
- Ezekiel 14:21“For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments—sword and famine and wild beasts and plague—to kill its men and their animals!
- Job 2:11When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.
- Psalms 69:20Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless; I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found none.
- Jeremiah 9:17This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Consider now! Call for the wailing women to come; send for the most skillful of them.
- Lamentations 1:9Her filthiness clung to her skirts; she did not consider her future. Her fall was astounding; there was none to comfort her. “Look, Lord, on my affliction, for the enemy has triumphed.”
- Amos 7:2When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out, “Sovereign Lord, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!”
- Isaiah 22:4Therefore I said, “Turn away from me; let me weep bitterly. Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people.”
- Isaiah 61:2to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,
- Job 42:11All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the Lord had brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring.
- Ecclesiastes 4:1Again I looked and saw all the oppression that was taking place under the sun: I saw the tears of the oppressed— and they have no comforter; power was on the side of their oppressors— and they have no comforter.
- Lamentations 1:16“This is why I weep and my eyes overflow with tears. No one is near to comfort me, no one to restore my spirit. My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed.”
- 2 Corinthians 7:6But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus,
- 2 Thessalonians 2:16May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope,
Commentaries on Isaiah 51:19
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 19These two things - desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword - That is, desolation by famine, and destruction by the sword, taking the terms alternately: of which form of construction see other examples. De S. Poesi, Hebrews Prael. xix., and Prelim. Dissert. p. 30. The Chaldee paraphrast, not rightly understanding this, has had recourse to the following expedient: "Two afflictions are come upon thee, and when four shall come upon thee…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 19These two things are come unto thee - Margin, Happened.‘ That is, two sources of calamity have come upon thee; to wit, famine and the sword, producing desolation and destruction; or desolation by famine, and destruction by the sword (see Lowth on Hebrew Poetry, Lect. xix.) The idea here is, that far-spread destruction had occurred, caused by the two things, famine and the sword. Who shall be sorry for thee? - That is, who shall be able so to pity thee as…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 17-23Verses 17-23 God calls upon his people to mind the things that belong to their everlasting peace. Jerusalem had provoked God, and was made to taste the bitter fruits. Those who should have been her comforters, were their own tormentors. They have no patience by which to keep possesion of their own souls, nor any confidence in God's promise, by which to keep possession of its comfort. Thou art drunken, not as formerly, with the intoxicating cup of…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 17-23The prophet called the people of Israel to be done with their past and to anticipate God’s future for them.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1919. two--classes of evils, for he enumerates four, namely, desolation and destruction to the land and state; famine and the sword to the people. who shall be sorry for thee--so as to give thee effectual relief: as the parallel clause, "By whom shall I comfort thee?" shows (La 2:11-13).Read the comment
Topics related to Isaiah 51:19
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Isaiah 51
- 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
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