Isaiah 47 · Verse 11

Isaiah 47:11

Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.
Isaiah 47:11, King James Version

Isaiah 47:11 in other translations

BSBBut disaster will come upon you; you will not know how to charm it away. A calamity will befall you that you will be unable to ward off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly.
WEBTherefore disaster will come on you. You won’t know when it dawns. Mischief will fall on you. You won’t be able to put it away. Desolation will come on you suddenly, which you don’t understand.
ASVTherefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know the dawning thereof: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it away: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou knowest not.
YLTAnd come in on thee hath evil, Thou knowest not its rising, And fall on thee doth mischief, Thou art not able to pacify it, And come on thee suddenly doth desolation, Thou knowest not.
DARBYBut evil shall come upon thee — thou shalt not know from whence it riseth; and mischief shall fall upon thee, which thou shalt not be able to ward off; and desolation that thou suspectest not shall come upon thee suddenly.
BBEBecause of this evil will come on you, which may not be turned away for any price: and trouble will overtake you, from which no money will give salvation: destruction will come on you suddenly, without your knowledge.
WebsterTherefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.

What does Isaiah 47:11 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
11. from whence it riseth--Hebrew, "the dawn thereof," that is, its first rising. Evil shall come on thee without the least previous intimation [Rosenmuller]. But dawn is not applied to "evil," but to prosperity shining out after misery (Is 21:12). Translate, "Thou shall not see any dawn" (of alleviation) [Maurer]. put ... off--rather, as Margin, "remove by expiation"; it shall be never ending. not know--unawares: which thou dost not apprehend. Proving the fallacy of thy divinations and astrology (Job 9:5; Psa 35:8).

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 11 Thou shalt not know from whence it riseth "Thou shalt not know how to deprecate" - שחרה shachrah; so the Chaldee renders it, which is approved by Jarchi on the place; and Michaelis Epim. in Praelect. xix.; see Psa 78:34. Videtur in fine hujus commatis deese verbum, ut hoc membrum prioribus respondeat. "A word appears to be wanting at the end of this clause to connect it properly with the two preceding." - Secker. In order to set in a proper light this judicious remark, it is necessary to give the reader an exact verbal translation of the whole verse: - "And evil shall come upon thee, thou shalt not know how to deprecate it; And mischief shall fall upon thee, thou shalt not be able to expiate it; And destruction shall come suddenly upon thee, thou shalt not know" - What? how to escape, to avoid it, to be delivered from it? perhaps צאת ממנה tseth mimmennah, "they could not go out from it, "Jer 11:11. I am persuaded that a phrase is here lost out of the text. But as the ancient versions retain no traces of it, and a wide field lies open to uncertain conjecture, I have not attempted to fill up the chasm, but have in the translation, as others have done before me, palliated and disguised the defect, which I cannot with any assurance pretend to supply. - L.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 47:7-15

Let us beware of acting and speaking as Babylon did; of trusting in tyranny and oppression; of boasting as to our abilities, relying on ourselves, and ascribing success to our own prudence and wisdom; lest we partake of her plagues. Those in the height of prosperity, are apt to fancy themselves out of the reach of adversity. It is also common for sinners to think they shall be safe, because they think to be secret…

Read the full comment on Isaiah 47:7-15 →

Isaiah 47:11 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.

וּבָ֧אu.Va'and it will comeH935
עָלַ֣יִךְ'a.La.yikhon youH5921
רָעָ֗הra.'AhcalamityH7451
לֹ֤אlo'notH3808
תֵדְעִי֙te.de.'Iyou will knowH3045
שַׁחְרָ֔הּshach.Rahto charm away itH7837
וְתִפֹּ֤לve.ti.Poland it may fallH5307
עָלַ֙יִךְ֙'a.La.yikhon youH5921
הֹוָ֔הho.VahdisasterH1943
לֹ֥אlo'notH3808
תוּכְלִ֖יtu.khe.Liyou will be ableH3201
כַּפְּרָ֑הּka.pe.Rahto cover itH3722
וְתָבֹ֨אve.ta.Vo'and it may comeH935
עָלַ֧יִךְ'a.La.yikhon youH5921
פִּתְאֹ֛םpit.'OmsuddenlyH6597
שׁוֹאָ֖הsho.'AhruinH7722
לֹ֥אlo'[which] notH3808
תֵדָֽעִי\׃te.Da.'iyou will knowH3045

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

Cross references for Isaiah 47:11

  • 1 Thessalonians 5:3

    For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

  • Revelation 18:9-10

    And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

  • Nehemiah 4:11

    And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease.

  • Revelation 3:3

    Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

  • Jeremiah 51:39-42

    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. I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats. How is Sheshach taken! and how is the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is Babylon become an astonishment among the nations! The sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.

  • Psalms 50:22

    Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.

  • Exodus 12:29-30

    And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

  • Daniel 5:25-30

    And this is the writing that was written, MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. …

  • Luke 12:59

    I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite.

  • Isaiah 37:36

    Then the angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

  • Matthew 18:34

    And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
thou shalt not know.
37:36; Ex 12:29,30; Ne 4:11; Re 3:3
from whence it riseth. Heb. the morning thereof. thou shaltnot be.
Ps 50:22; Jer 51:39-42; Da 5:25-30; 1Th 5:3; Re 18:9,10
put it off. Heb. expiate.
Mt 18:34; Lu 12:59

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

Context

  • Isaiah 47:10

    For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.

  • Isaiah 47:11

    Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.

  • Isaiah 47:12

    Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.

Read all of Isaiah 47

Isaiah 47:11 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Vendrá pues sobre ti mal, cuyo nacimiento no sabrás: caerá sobre ti quebrantamiento, el cual no podrás remediar: y destrucción que no sabrás, vendrá de repente sobre ti.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Mais un mal viendra sur toi, dont tu ne connaîtras pas l’aube; et un malheur tombera sur toi, que tu ne pourras pas éviter, et une désolation que tu n’as pas soupçonnée viendra sur toi subitement.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Aber es kommt ein Unglück über dich, das du nicht wegzaubern kannst; und ein Verderben wird über dich herfallen, welches du nicht zu sühnen vermagst; und plötzlich wird eine Verwüstung über dich kommen, die du nicht ahnst. -
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Veniet super te malum, et nescies ortum ejus; et irruet super te calamitas quam non poteris expiare; veniet super te repente miseria quam nescies.