Isaiah 21 · Verse 5

Isaiah 21:5

Prepare the table, watch in the watchtower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield.
Isaiah 21:5, King James Version

Isaiah 21:5 in other translations

BSBThey prepare a table, they lay out a carpet, they eat, they drink! Rise up, O princes, oil the shields!
WEBThey prepare the table. They set the watch. They eat. They drink. Rise up, you princes, oil the shield!
ASVThey prepare the table, they set the watch, they eat, they drink: rise up, ye princes, anoint the shield.
YLTArrange the table, watch in the watch-tower, Eat, drink, rise, ye heads, anoint the shield,
DARBYPrepare the table, appoint the watch; eat, drink: arise, ye princes, anoint the shield.
BBEThey make ready the table, they put down the covers, they take food and drink. Up! you captains; put oil on your breastplates.
WebsterPrepare the table, watch in the watch-tower, eat, drink: arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield.

What does Isaiah 21:5 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
5. 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 princes, "Arise," &c. (compare Is 22:13). Maurer translates, "They prepare the table," &c. But see Is 8:9. watch in ... watchtower--rather, "set the watch." This done, they thought they might feast in entire security. Babylon had many watchtowers on its walls. anoint ... shield--This was done to prevent the leather of the shield becoming hard and liable to crack. "Make ready for defense"; the mention of the "shield" alone implies that it is the Babylonian revellers who are called on to prepare for instant self-defense. Horsley translates, "Grip the oiled shield."

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 5 Prepare the table "The table is prepared" - In Hebrew the verbs are in the infinitive mood absolute, as in Eze 1:14 : "And the animals ran and returned, רצוא ושוב ratso veshob, like the appearance of the lightning;" just as the Latins say, currere et reverti, for currebant et revertebantur. See Isa 33:11 (note), and the note there. Arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield - Kimchi observes that several of the rabbins understood this of Belshazzar's impious feast and death. The king of a people is termed the shield, because he is their defense. The command, Anoint the shield, is the same with Anoint a new king. Belshazzar being now suddenly slain, while they were all eating and drinking, he advises the princes, whose business it was, to make speed and anoint another in his stead.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · 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 21:5 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.

עָרֹ֧ךְ'a.Rokhthey are arrangingH6186
הַשֻּׁלְחָ֛ןha.shul.Chanthe tableH7979
צָפֹ֥הtza.Fohthey are spreading outH6823
הַצָּפִ֖יתha.tza.Fitthe rugH6844
אָכ֣וֹל'a.KholeatingH398
שָׁתֹ֑הsha.TohdrinkingH8354
ק֥וּמוּKu.mu<you> ariseH6965
הַשָּׂרִ֖יםha.sa.RimO officialsH8269
מִשְׁח֥וּmish.ChusmearH4886
מָגֵֽן\׃\ \פma.Gena shieldH4043

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

Cross references for Isaiah 21:5

  • Jeremiah 51:11

    Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple.

  • 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.

  • Daniel 5:1-5

    Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein. Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. …

  • Isaiah 45:1-3

    Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.

  • Isaiah 13:2

    Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.

  • 1 Corinthians 15:32

    If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.

  • Jeremiah 51:27-28

    Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers. Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion.

  • Isaiah 13:17-18

    Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.

  • Isaiah 22:13-14

    And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die. And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die, saith the Lord God of hosts.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
eat.
22:13,14; Da 5:1-5; 1Co 15:32
arise.
13:2,17,18; 45:1-3; Jer 51:11,27,28

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

Context

  • 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.

  • Isaiah 21:6

    For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.

Read all of Isaiah 21

Isaiah 21:5 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Pon la mesa, mira del atalaya, come, bebe: levantaos, príncipes, ungid el escudo.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Dresse la table; fais le guet; mange, bois… Princes, levez-vous, oignez le bouclier!
German
Elberfelder 1871		Man rüstet den Tisch, es wacht die Wache, man ißt, man trinkt Stehet auf, ihr Fürsten! salbet den Schild! -
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Pone mensam, contemplare in specula comedentes et bibentes: surgite, principes, arripite clypeum.