Isaiah 49 · Verse 17

Isaiah 49:17

Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.
Isaiah 49:17, King James Version

Isaiah 49:17 in other translations

BSBYour builders hasten back; your destroyers and wreckers depart from you.
WEBYour children hurry. Your destroyers and those who devastated you will leave you.
ASVThy children make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth from thee.
YLTHastened have those building thee, Those destroying thee, and laying thee waste, go out from thee.
DARBYThy sons shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that laid thee waste shall go forth from thee.
BBEYour builders are coming quickly; your haters and those who made you waste will go out of you.
WebsterThy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste, shall go forth from thee.

What does Isaiah 49:17 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
17. Thy children--Israel (Is 49:20, 21; Is 43:6). Jerome reads, for "Thy children," "Thy builders"; they that destroyed thee shall hasten to build thee. haste--to rebuild thy desolate capital. shall go forth--Thy destroyers shall leave Judea to Israel in undisturbed possession.

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 17 Thy children shall make haste "They that destroyed thee shall soon become thy builders" - Auctor Vulgatae pro בניך banayich, videtur legisse בוניך bonayich, unde vertit, structores tui; cui et Septuaginta fere consentiunt, qui verterunt ῳκοδομηθης, aedificata es, prout in Plantiniana editione habetur; in Vaticana sive Romana legitur, οικοδομηθησῃ, aedificaberis. Hisce etiam Targum Jonathanis aliquatenus consentit, ubi, et aedificabunt. Confer infra Esai. Isa 54:13, ad quem locum rabbini quoque notarunt en tractatu Talmudico Berachot, c. ix., quod non legendum sit בניך banayich, id est. filii tui; sed בניך bonayich, aedificatores tui. Confer not. ad librum Prec. Jud. part ii., p. 226, ut et D Wagenseil Sot. p. 253, n. 9. "The author of the Vulgate appears to have read בוניך bonayich for בניך banayich, as he translates it by structures tui, 'thy builders.' The Septuagint is almost the same with the Vulgate, having ῳκοδομηθης, art built, as in the Plantin edition: but the Vatican or Roman copy reads οικοδομηθησῃ, those shalt be built. To these readings the Targum of Jonathan has some sort of correspondence, translating et aedificabunt, 'and they shall build.' See Isa 54:13; on which place the rabbins also remark, in the Talmudic tract Berachoth, c. 9, that we should not read בניך banayich, thy sons, but בניך bonayich, thy builders. See the note in Prae. Jud. part ii., p. 226, and also D. Wagenseil, Sot. p. 253, n. 9. "See also Breithaupt. not. ad Jarchi in loc.; and the note on this place in De Sac. Poes. Hebr. Praelect. 31. Instead of בוניך or בניך bonayich, thy builders, several MSS. read בניך baneycha, thy sons. So also the Syriac: see the above note. Shall go forth of thee "Shall become thine offspring" - ממך יצאו mimmech yetseu, shall proceed, spring, issue, from thee, as thy children. The phrase is frequently used in this sense: see Isa 11:1; Mic 5:2; Nah 1:11. The accession of the Gentiles to the Church of God is considered as an addition made to the number of the family and children of Sion: see Isa 49:21, Isa 49:22, and Isa 60:4. The common rendering, "shall go forth of thee, or depart from thee," is very flat, after their zeal had been expressed by "shall become thy builders:" and as the opposition is kept up in one part of the sentence, one has reason to expect it in the other, which should be parallel to it.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 49:13-17

Let there be universal joy, for God will have mercy upon the afflicted, because of his compassion; upon his afflicted, because of his covenant. We have no more reason to question his promise and grace, than we have to question his providence and justice. Be assured that God has a tender affection for his church and people; he would not have them to be discouraged. Some mothers do neglect their children; but God's…

Read the full comment on Isaiah 49:13-17 →

Isaiah 49:17 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.

מִֽהֲר֖וּmi.ha.Ruthey have made hasteH4116
בָּנָ֑יִךְba.Na.yikhchildren yourH1121
מְהָֽרְסַ֥יִךְme.ha.re.Sa.yikh[those who] tear down youH2040
וּמַחֲרִבַ֖יִךְu.ma.cha.ri.Va.yikhand [those who] make desolate youH2717
מִמֵּ֥ךְmi.Mekhfrom youH4480
יֵצֵֽאוּ\׃ye.Tze.'uthey will go outH3318

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

Cross references for Isaiah 49:17

  • Isaiah 51:13

    And forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?

  • Isaiah 62:5

    For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.

  • Isaiah 51:22-23

    Thus saith thy Lord the Lord, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again: But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.

  • Ezekiel 28:24

    And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord God.

  • Isaiah 51:18-20

    There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up. These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee? Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God.

  • Isaiah 49:19

    For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.

  • Isaiah 10:6

    I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

  • Ezra 1:5

    Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem.

  • Nehemiah 2:4-9

    Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it. And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah; …

  • Nehemiah 2:17

    Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
children.
51:18-20; 62:5; Ezr 1:5; Ne 2:4-9,17; Eze 28:24
haste.Or, by a slight change of the points, "Thy builders shall make haste:" those appointed to build the city and walls of Zion, shall speedily begin and accomplish the work.
thy destroyers.
19; 51:13,22,23

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

Context

  • Isaiah 49:16

    Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.

  • Isaiah 49:17

    Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.

  • Isaiah 49:18

    Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth.

Read all of Isaiah 49

Isaiah 49:17 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Tus edificadores vendrán aprisa; tus destruidores y tus asoladores saldrán de ti.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Tes fils se hâteront; ceux qui te détruisaient et ceux qui te dévastaient sortiront d’avec toi.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Deine Kinder eilen herbei, deine Zerstörer und deine Verwüster ziehen aus dir hinweg.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Venerunt structores tui; destruentes te et dissipantes a te exibunt.