Isaiah 24 · Verse 17

Isaiah 24:17

Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
Isaiah 24:17, King James Version

Isaiah 24:17 in other translations

BSBTerror and pit and snare await you, O dweller of the earth.
WEBFear, the pit, and the snare are on you who inhabit the earth.
ASVFear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
YLTFear, and a snare, and a gin, Are on thee, O inhabitant of the land.
DARBYFear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee, inhabitant of the land.
BBEFear, and death, and the net, are come on you, O people of the earth.
WebsterFear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.

What does Isaiah 24:17 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
17. This verse explains the wretchedness spoken of in Is 24:16. Jeremiah (Jr 48:43, 44) uses the same words. They are proverbial; Is 24:18 expressing that the inhabitants were nowhere safe; if they escaped one danger, they fell into another, and worse, on the opposite side (Am 5:19). "Fear" is the term applied to the cords with feathers of all colors which, when fluttered in the air, scare beasts into the pitfall, or birds into the snare. Horsley makes the connection. Indignant at the treatment which the Just One received, the prophet threatens the guilty land with instant vengeance.

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 17 Fear, and the pit "The terror, the pit" - If they escape one calamity, another shall overtake them. "As if a man should flee from a lion, and a bear should overtake him: Or should betake himself to his house, and lean his hand on the wall, And a serpent should bite him." Amo 5:19. "For," as our Savior expressed it in a like parabolical manner, "wheresoever the carcass is there shall the eagles be gathered together," Mat 24:28. The images are taken from the different methods of hunting and taking wild beasts, which were anciently in use. The terror was a line strung with feathers of all colors which fluttering in the air scared and frightened the beasts into the toils, or into the pit which was prepared for them. Nec est mirum, cum maximos ferarum greges linea pennis distincta contineat, et in insidias agat, ab ipso effectu dicta formido. Seneca de Ira, 2:12. The pit or pitfall, fovea; digged deep in the ground, and covered over with green boughs, turf, etc., in order to deceive them, that they might fall into it unawares. The snare, or toils, indago; a series of nets, inclosing at first a great space of ground, in which the wild beasts were known to be; and then drawn in by degrees into a narrower compass, till they were at last closely shut up, and entangled in them. - L. For מכול mikkol, a MS. reads מפני mippeney, as it is in Jer 48:44, and so the Vulgate and Chaldee. But perhaps it is only, like the latter, a Hebraism, and means no more than the simple preposition מ mem. See Psa 102:6. For it does not appear that the terror was intended to scare the wild beasts by its noise. The paronomasia is very remarkable; פחד pachad, פחת pachath, פך pach: and that it was a common proverbial form, appears from Jeremiah's repeating it in the same words, Jer 48:43, Jer 48:44.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 24:16-23

Believers may be driven into the uttermost parts of the earth; but they are singing, not sighing. Here is terror to sinners; the prophet laments the miseries he saw breaking in like a torrent; and the small number of believers. He foresees that sin would abound. The meaning is plain, that evil pursues sinners. Unsteady, uncertain are all these things. Worldly men think to dwell in the earth as in a palace, as in a…

Read the full comment on Isaiah 24:16-23 →

Isaiah 24:17 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.

פַּ֥חַדPa.chaddreadH6343
וָפַ֖חַתva.Fa.chatand pitH6354
וָפָ֑חva.Fachand snareH6341
עָלֶ֖יךָ'a.Lei.kha[are] on youH5921
יוֹשֵׁ֥בyo.ShevO inhabitant ofH3427
הָאָֽרֶץ\׃ha.'A.retzthe earthH776

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

Cross references for Isaiah 24:17

  • Jeremiah 48:43-44

    Fear, and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the Lord. He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, saith the Lord.

  • Leviticus 26:21-22

    And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate.

  • Ezekiel 14:21

    For thus saith the Lord God; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

  • 1 Kings 19:17

    And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay.

  • Jeremiah 8:3

    And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the Lord of hosts.

  • Amos 5:19

    As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
and the pit.
Le 26:21,22; 1Ki 19:17; Jer 8:3; 48:43,44; Eze 14:21

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

Context

  • Isaiah 24:16

    From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.

  • Isaiah 24:17

    Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.

  • Isaiah 24:18

    And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.

Read all of Isaiah 24

Isaiah 24:17 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Terror y sima y lazo sobre ti, oh morador de la tierra.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		La frayeur, et la fosse, et le piège, sont sur toi, habitant du pays.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Grauen und Grube und Garn über dich, Bewohner der Erde!
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Formido, et fovea, et laqueus super te, qui habitator es terræ.