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

3Therefore my body is filled with pain. Pangs have taken hold of me like the pangs of a woman in labor. I am bewildered by what I hear, terrified by what I see. 4My heart is bewildered, terror overwhelms me. The twilight I longed for has been turned into trembling. Set the table, spread out the cloth! Eat! Drink! “Rise up, you princes, oil the shield!” 6For Adonai has said to me. “Go, post a watchman— let him declare what he sees! 7When he sees a chariot with a pair of horsemen, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, let him pay attention— very close attention!”

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 instead, there is joy and gladness, slaughtering cattle and killing sheep, meat and drinking wine! “Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die!”
• Daniel 5:1King Belshazzar held a great feast for 1,000 of his nobles and was drinking wine in front of the thousand.
• 1 Corinthians 15:32If, for human reasons, I fought with “wild animals” at Ephesus, what good is that to me? If the dead are not raised, “let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
• Isaiah 13:2Lift up a banner on a bare mountain, raise a voice to them, wave a hand, so that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
• Isaiah 45:1Thus says Adonai to His anointed, Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him, to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him so that gates may not be shut.
• Jeremiah 51:11Sharpen the arrows. Fill the quivers! Adonai has roused the spirit of the kings of the Medes. For His plan is against Babylon, to destroy it. For it is Adonai’s vengeance, vengeance for 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