Isaiah 5 · Verse 13

Isaiah 5:13

Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.
Isaiah 5:13, King James Version

Isaiah 5:13 in other translations

BSBTherefore My people will go into exile for their lack of understanding; their dignitaries are starving and their masses are parched with thirst.
WEBTherefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitudes are parched with thirst.
ASVTherefore my people are gone into captivity for lack of knowledge; and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude are parched with thirst.
YLTTherefore my people removed without knowledge, And its honourable ones are famished, And its multitude dried up of thirst.
DARBYTherefore my people are led away captive from lack of knowledge, and their nobility die of famine, and their multitude are parched with thirst.
BBEFor this cause my people are taken away as prisoners into strange countries for need of knowledge: and their rulers are wasted for need of food, and their loud-voiced feasters are dry for need of water.
WebsterTherefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.

What does Isaiah 5:13 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
13. are gone--The prophet sees the future as if it were before his eyes. no knowledge--because of their foolish recklessness (Is 5:12; Is 1:3; Ho 4:6; Lu 19:44). famished--awful contrast to their luxurious feasts (Is 5:11, 12). multitude--plebeians in contradistinction to the "honorable men," or nobles. thirst--(Psa 107:4, 5). Contrast to their drinking (Is 5:11). In their deportation and exile, they shall hunger and thirst.

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 13 And their honorable men "And the nobles" - These verses have likewise a reference to the two preceding. They that indulged in feasting and drinking shall perish with hunger and thirst; and Hades shall indulge his appetite as much as they had done, and devour them all. The image is strong and expressive in the highest degree. Hab 2:5, uses the same image with great force: - the ambitious and avaricious conqueror. "Enlargeth his appetite like Hades; And he is like Death, and will never be satisfied," But, in Isaiah, Hades is introduced to much greater advantage, in person; and placed before our eyes in the form of a ravenous monster, opening wide his immeasurable jaws, and swallowing them all together: "Therefore Shoel hath dilated her soul, she hath opened her mouth beyond limit." Destruction expects more than a common meal, when God visits Jerusalem for her iniquities. This seems to refer to the ruin brought on the Jews by the Romans. Our blessed Lord repeats this parable, and applies it to this very transaction, Mat 21:33.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 5:8-23

Here is a woe to those who set their hearts on the wealth of the world. Not that it is sinful for those who have a house and a field to purchase another; but the fault is, that they never know when they have enough. Covetousness is idolatry; and while many envy the prosperous, wretched man, the Lord denounces awful woes upon him. How applicable to many among us! God has many ways to empty the most populous cities…

Read the full comment on Isaiah 5:8-23 →

Isaiah 5:13 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.

לָכֵ֛ןla.Khen<to> thereforeH3651
גָּלָ֥הga.Lahit will go into exileH1540
עַמִּ֖י'a.Mipeople myH5971
מִבְּלִי\־mi.be.li-because notH1097
דָ֑עַתDa.'atknowledgeH1847
וּכְבוֹדוֹ֙u.khe.vo.Doand honor itsH3519
מְתֵ֣יme.Tei[will be] men ofH4962
רָעָ֔בra.'AvhungerH7458
וַהֲמוֹנ֖וֹva.ha.mo.Noand multitude itsH1995
צִחֵ֥הtzi.Cheh[will be] parched ofH6704
צָמָֽא\׃tza.Ma'thirstH6772

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

Cross references for Isaiah 5:13

  • Hosea 4:6

    My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

  • Isaiah 1:3

    The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

  • Isaiah 27:11

    When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.

  • Isaiah 1:7

    Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

  • Romans 1:28

    And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

  • John 3:19-20

    And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

  • Matthew 23:16-27

    Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? …

  • Lamentations 4:4-5

    The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them. They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.

  • Jeremiah 8:7

    Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord.

  • Jeremiah 14:3

    And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.

  • 2 Peter 3:5

    For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

  • Lamentations 4:9

    They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger: for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
my people.
1:7; 42:22-25; 2Ki 17:6; 2Ch 28:5-8
because.
1:3; 27:11; Jer 8:7; Ho 4:6; Mt 23:16-27; Lu 19:44; Joh 3:19,20
Ro 1:28; 2Pe 3:5
honourable men are famished. Heb. glory are men of famine.
Jer 14:18; La 4:4,5,9
multitude.
Jer 14:3; Am 8:13

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

Context

  • Isaiah 5:12

    And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands.

  • Isaiah 5:13

    Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.

  • Isaiah 5:14

    Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.

Read all of Isaiah 5

Isaiah 5:13 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Por tanto mi pueblo fué llevado cautivo, porque no tuvo ciencia: y su gloria pereció de hambre, y su multitud se secó de sed.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
C’est pourquoi mon peuple est allé en captivité, parce qu’il n’a pas de connaissance; et ses grands meurent de faim, et sa multitude est asséchée de soif.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Darum wird mein Volk weggeführt aus Mangel an Erkenntnis, und seine Edlen verhungern, und seine Menge lechzt vor Durst.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Propterea captivus ductus est populus meus, quia non habuit scientiam, et nobiles ejus interierunt fame, et multitudo ejus siti exaruit.