Isaiah 51 · Verse 20

Isaiah 51:20

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 51:20, King James Version

Isaiah 51:20 in other translations

BSB	Your sons have fainted; they lie at the head of every street, like an antelope in a net. They are full of the wrath of the LORD, the rebuke of your God.
WEB	Your sons have fainted. They lie at the head of all the streets, like an antelope in a net. They are full of the LORD’s wrath, the rebuke of your God.
ASV	Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of Jehovah, the rebuke of thy God.
YLT	Thy sons have been wrapped up, they have lain down, At the head of all out places, as a wild ox in a net, They are full of the fury of Jehovah, The rebuke of Thy God.
DARBY	Thy children have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an oryx in a net: they are full of the fury of Jehovah, the rebuke of thy God.
BBE	Your sons are overcome, like a roe in a net; they are full of the wrath of the Lord, the punishment of your God.
Webster	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.

What does Isaiah 51:20 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

20. head of all ... streets--(La 2:19; 4:1). wild bull--rather, "oryx" [Jerome], or gazelle [Gesenius], or wild goat [Bochart]; commonly in the East taken in a net, of a wide sweep, into which the beasts were hunted together. The streets of cities in the East often have gates, which are closed at night; a person wishing to escape would be stopped by them and caught, as a wild animal in a net.

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 20 As a wild bull in a net: they are full, etc. "Like the oryx taken in the toils; drenched to the full" - "Perhaps מכמרה מלאים michmerah meleim." Secker. The demonstrative ה he, prefixed to מלאים meleim, full, seems improper in this place.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 51:17-23

God calls upon his people to mind the things that belong to their everlasting peace. Jerusalem had provoked God, and was made to taste the bitter fruits. Those who should have been her comforters, were their own tormentors. They have no patience by which to keep possesion of their own souls, nor any confidence in God's promise, by which to keep possession of its comfort. Thou art drunken, not as formerly, with the…

Read the full comment on Isaiah 51:17-23 →

Isaiah 51:20 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.

בָּנַ֜יִךְba.Na.yikhchildren yourH1121

עֻלְּפ֥וּ'u.le.Futhey have become faintH5968

שָׁכְב֛וּsha.khe.Vuthey have lain downH7901

בְּרֹ֥אשׁbe.Roshat [the] head ofH7218

כָּל\־kol-allH3605

חוּצ֖וֹתchu.Tzot[the] streetsH2351

כְּת֣וֹאke.To'like an antelope ofH8377

מִכְמָ֑רmikh.Mara netH4364

הַֽמְלֵאִ֥יםham.le.'Imwhich [are] fullH4392

חֲמַת\־cha.mat-[the] anger ofH2534

יְהוָ֖הYah.wehYahwehH3068

גַּעֲרַ֥תga.'a.Rat[the] rebuke ofH1606

אֱלֹהָֽיִךְ\׃'e.lo.Ha.yikhGod yourH430

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

Cross references for Isaiah 51:20

Revelation 16:9-11
And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
Lamentations 2:11-12
Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city. They say to their mothers, Where is corn and wine? when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul was poured out into their mothers’ bosom.
Lamentations 1:15
The Lord hath trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me: he hath called an assembly against me to crush my young men: the Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a winepress.
Isaiah 51:17
Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.
Lamentations 5:13
They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood.
Jeremiah 14:18
If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not.
Lamentations 4:2
The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!
Ezekiel 12:13
My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.
Isaiah 5:25
Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Isaiah 49:26
And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.
Ezekiel 39:19
And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
Isaiah 9:19-21
Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother. And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm: Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

sons.
40:30; Jer 14:18; La 1:15,19; 2:11,12; 4:2; 5:13
a wild.
8:21; Eze 12:13; 17:20; Re 16:9-11
full.
17,21; 9:19-21; Ps 88:15,16; La 3:15,16; Re 14:10
but.
29:9; 49:26; Eze 39:19

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

Context

Isaiah 51:19
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?
Isaiah 51:20
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 51:21
Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:

Read all of Isaiah 51

Isaiah 51:20 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Tus hijos desmayaron, estuvieron tendidos en las encrucijadas de todos los caminos, como buey montaraz en la red, llenos del furor de Jehová, de la ira del Dios tuyo.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Tes fils ont langui, ils sont couchés au coin de toutes les rues comme un bœuf sauvage dans un rets; ils sont remplis de la fureur de l’ Éternel, de la répréhension de ton Dieu.
German Elberfelder 1871	Deine Kinder sind ohnmächtig hingesunken, sie lagen an allen Straßenecken wie eine Antilope im Netze; sie waren voll des Grimmes Jehovas, des Scheltens deines Gottes.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Filii tui projecti sunt, dormierunt in capite omnium viarum sicut oryx illaqueatus, pleni indignatione Domini, increpatione Dei tui.