Isaiah 21 · Verse 4

Isaiah 21:4

My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me.
Isaiah 21:4, King James Version

Isaiah 21:4 in other translations

BSBMy heart falters; fear makes me tremble. The twilight of my desire has turned to horror.
WEBMy heart flutters. Horror has frightened me. The twilight that I desired has been turned into trembling for me.
ASVMy heart fluttereth, horror hath affrighted me; the twilight that I desired hath been turned into trembling unto me.
YLTWandered hath my heart, trembling hath terrified me, The twilight of my desire He hath made a fear to me,
DARBYMy heart panteth, horror affrighteth me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into trembling unto me.
BBEMy mind is wandering, fear has overcome me: the evening of my desire has been turned into shaking for me.
WebsterMy heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear to me.

What does Isaiah 21:4 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
4. panted--"is bewildered" [Barnes]. night of my pleasure--The prophet supposes himself one of the banqueters at Belshazzar's feast, on the night that Babylon was about to be taken by surprise; hence his expression, "my pleasure" (Is 14:11; Jr 51:39; Da 5:1-31).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 21:1-10

The taking of Babylon. (Is. 21:1-10) Of the Edomites. (Is. 21:11,12) Of the Arabs. (Is. 21:13-17) Verses 1-10 Babylon was a flat country, abundantly watered. The destruction of Babylon, so often prophesied of by Isaiah, was typical of the destruction of the great foe of the New Testament church, foretold in the Revelation. To the poor oppressed captives it would be welcome news; to the proud oppressors it would be…

Read the full comment on Isaiah 21:1-10 →

Isaiah 21:4 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

תָּעָ֣הta.'Ahit has wanderedH8582
לְבָבִ֔יle.va.Viheart myH3824
פַּלָּצ֖וּתpa.la.TzutshudderingH6427
בִּֽעֲתָ֑תְנִיbi.'a.Ta.te.niit has overwhelmed meH1204
אֵ֚ת'et<obj.>H853
נֶ֣שֶׁףNe.shef[the] twilight ofH5399
חִשְׁקִ֔יchish.Kidesire myH2837
שָׂ֥םsamit has madeH7760
לִ֖יlifor me
לַחֲרָדָֽה\׃la.cha.ra.Dah<into> tremblingH2731

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Isaiah 21:4

  • Luke 21:34-36

    And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

  • Esther 5:12

    Haman said moreover, Yea, Esther the queen did let no man come in with the king unto the banquet that she had prepared but myself; and to morrow am I invited unto her also with the king.

  • 2 Samuel 13:28-29

    Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, Mark ye now when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine, and when I say unto you, Smite Amnon; then kill him, fear not: have not I commanded you? be courageous, and be valiant. And the servants of Absalom did unto Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king’s sons arose, and every man gat him up upon his mule, and fled.

  • Esther 7:6-10

    And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen. And the king arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath went into the palace garden: and Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king. Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was. Then said the king, Will he force the queen also before me in the house? As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. And Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the king, Behold also, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who had spoken good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him thereon. …

  • Deuteronomy 28:67

    In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.

  • Isaiah 5:11-14

    Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them! And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands. Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

  • Nahum 1:10

    For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.

  • 1 Samuel 25:36-38

    And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light. But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. And it came to pass about ten days after, that the Lord smote Nabal, that he died.

  • Daniel 5:5

    In the same hour came forth fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.

  • Job 21:11-13

    They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.

  • Jeremiah 51:39

    In their heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the Lord.

  • Jeremiah 51:57

    And I will make drunk her princes, and her wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
heart panted. or, mind wandered. the night.
5:11-14; 1Sa 25:36-38; 2Sa 13:28,29; Es 5:12; 7:6-10
Job 21:11-13; Jer 51:39,57; Da 5:1,5,30; Na 1:10; Lu 21:34-36
turned. Heb. put.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Isaiah 21:3

    Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it.

  • Isaiah 21:4

    My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me.

  • Isaiah 21:5

    Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield.

Read all of Isaiah 21

Isaiah 21:4 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Pasmóse mi corazón, el horror me ha intimidado; la noche de mi deseo se me tornó en espanto.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
mon cœur bat; le tremblement s’est emparé de moi; la nuit de mon plaisir, il me l’a changée en effroi.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Mein Herz schlägt wild, Schauder ängstigt mich; die Dämmerung, die ich liebe, hat er mir in Beben verwandelt.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Emarcuit cor meum; tenebræ stupefecerunt me: Babylon dilecta mea posita est mihi in miraculum.