Isaiah 28 · Verse 27

Isaiah 28:27

For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.

Isaiah 28:27, King James Version

Isaiah 28:27 in other translations

BSB	Surely caraway is not threshed with a sledge, and the wheel of a cart is not rolled over the cumin. But caraway is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.
WEB	For the dill isn’t threshed with a sharp instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned over the cumin; but the dill is beaten out with a stick, and the cumin with a rod.
ASV	For the fitches are not threshed with a sharp threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
YLT	For not with a sharp-pointed thing threshed are fitches, And the wheel of a cart on cummin turned round, For with a staff beaten out are fitches, And cummin with a rod.
DARBY	For the dill is not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart-wheel turned about upon the cummin; but dill is beaten out with a staff, and cummin with a rod.
BBE	For the fitches are not crushed with a sharp instrument, and a cart-wheel is not rolled over the cummin; but the grain of the fitches is hammered out with a stick, and of the cummin with a rod.
Webster	For the vetches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart-wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the vetches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.

What does Isaiah 28:27 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

27. The husbandman uses the same discretion in threshing. The dill ("fitches") and cummin, leguminous and tender grains, are beaten out, not as wheat, &c., with the heavy corn-drag ("threshing instrument"), but with "a staff"; heavy instruments would crush and injure the seed. cart wheel--two iron wheels armed with iron teeth, like a saw, joined together by a wooden axle. The "corn-drag" was made of three or four wooden cylinders, armed with iron teeth or flint stones fixed underneath, and joined like a sledge. Both instruments cut the straw for fodder as well as separated the corn. staff--used also where they had but a small quantity of corn; the flail (Ru 2:17).

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 27 Four methods of threshing are here mentioned, by different instruments; the flail, the drag, the wain, and the treading of the cattle. The staff or flail was used for the infirmiora semina, says Jerome, the grain that was too tender to be treated in the other methods. The drag consisted of a sort of strong planks, made rough at the bottom, with hard stones or iron; it was drawn by horses or oxen over the corn sheaves spread on the floor, the driver sitting upon it. Kempfer has given a print representing the manner of using this instrument, Amaen. Exot. p. 682, fig. 3. The wain was much like the former; but had wheels with iron teeth, or edges like a saw: Ferrata carpenta rotis per medium in serrarum modum se volventibus. Hieron. in loc. From this it would seem that the axle was armed with iron teeth or serrated wheels throughout. See a description and print of such a machine used at present in Egypt for the same purpose in Niebuhr's Voyage en Arabie, Tab. 17 p. 123; it moves upon three rollers armed with iron teeth or wheels to cut the straw. In Syria they make use of the drag, constructed in the very same manner as above described; Niebuhr, Description de l'Arabie, p. 140. This not only forced out the grain, but cut the straw in pieces for fodder for the cattle; for in the eastern countries they have no hay. See Harmer's Observ. 1 p. 425. The last method is well known from the law of Moses, which "forbids the ox to be muzzled, when he treadeth out the corn;" Deu 25:4.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 28:23-29

The husbandman applies to his calling with pains and prudence, in all the works of it according to their nature. Thus the Lord, who has given men this wisdom, is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in his working. As the occasion requires, he threatens, corrects, spares, shows mercy, or executes vengeance. Afflictions are God's threshing instruments, to loosen us from the world, to part between us and our chaff, and…

Read the full comment on Isaiah 28:23-29 →

Isaiah 28:27 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.

כִּ֣יkithatH3588

לֹ֤אlo'notH3808

בֶֽחָרוּץ֙ve.cha.Rutzwith <the> threshing sledgeH2742

י֣וּדַשׁYu.dashit is threshedH1758

קֶ֔צַחKe.tzachblack cuminH7100

וְאוֹפַ֣ןve.'o.Fanand a wheel ofH212

עֲגָלָ֔ה'a.ga.Laha cartH5699

עַל\־'al-overH5921

כַּמֹּ֖ןka.MoncuminH3646

יוּסָּ֑בyu.Savit is turnedH5437

כִּ֧יkiforH3588

בַמַּטֶּ֛הva.ma.Tehwith <the> staffH4294

יֵחָ֥בֶטye.Cha.vetit is beaten outH2251

קֶ֖צַחKe.tzachblack cuminH7100

וְכַמֹּ֥ןve.kha.Monand cuminH3646

בַּשָּֽׁבֶט\׃ba.Sha.vetwith <the> rodH7626

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

Cross references for Isaiah 28:27

Isaiah 41:15
Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
Isaiah 27:7-8
Hath he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him? In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind.
Jeremiah 10:24
O Lord, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing.
Jeremiah 46:28
Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the Lord: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.
2 Kings 13:7
Neither did he leave of the people to Jehoahaz but fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria had destroyed them, and had made them like the dust by threshing.
Amos 1:3
Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron:

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

threshed.
41:15; 2Ki 13:7; Am 1:3
the fitches.
27:7,8; Jer 10:24; 46:28

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

Context

Isaiah 28:26
For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.
Isaiah 28:27
For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
Isaiah 28:28
Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.

Read all of Isaiah 28

Isaiah 28:27 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Que la neguilla no se trillará con trillo, ni sobre el comino rodará rueda de carreta; sino que con un palo se sacude la neguilla, y el comino con una vara.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Car il ne foule pas l’aneth avec un traîneau à tranchants et ne fait pas tourner la roue du chariot sur le cumin; car on bat l’aneth avec un bâton et le cumin avec une verge:
German Elberfelder 1871	Denn Dill wird nicht mit dem Dreschschlitten ausgedroschen und das Wagenrad nicht über Kümmel gerollt; sondern Dill wird mit dem Stabe ausgeschlagen und Kümmel mit dem Stocke.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Non enim in serris triturabitur gith, nec rota plaustri super cyminum circuibit; sed in virga excutietur gith, et cyminum in baculo.