Isaiah 8 · Verse 21

Isaiah 8:21

And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.
Isaiah 8:21, King James Version

Isaiah 8:21 in other translations

BSBThey will roam the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged; and looking upward, they will curse their king and their God.
WEBThey will pass through it, very distressed and hungry. It will happen that when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse their king and their God. They will turn their faces upward,
ASVAnd they shall pass through it, sore distressed and hungry; and it shall come to pass that, when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse by their king and by their God, and turn their faces upward:
YLT--And it hath passed over into it, hardened and hungry, And it hath come to pass, That it is hungry, and hath been wroth, And made light of its king, and of its God, And hath looked upwards.
DARBYAnd they shall pass through it, hard pressed and hungry; and it shall come to pass when they are hungry, they will fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and will gaze upward:
BBEAnd he will go through the land in bitter trouble and in need of food; and when he is unable to get food, he will become angry, cursing his king and his God, and his eyes will be turned to heaven on high;
WebsterAnd they shall pass through it, distressed and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.

What does Isaiah 8:21 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 8:21-22
21-22. More detailed description of the despair, which they shall fall into, who sought necromancy instead of God; Is 8:20 implies that too late they shall see how much better it would have been for them to have sought "to the law," &c. (De 32:31). But now they are given over to despair. Therefore, while seeing the truth of God, they only "curse their King and God"; foreshadowing the future, like conduct of those belonging to the "kingdom of the beast," when they shall be visited with divine plagues (Re 16:11; compare Jr 18:12). through it--namely, the land. hardly bestead--oppressed with anxiety. hungry--a more grievous famine than the temporary one in Ahaz' time, owing to Assyria; then there was some food, but none now (Is 7:15, 22; Le 26:3-5, 14-16, 20). their king ... God--Jehovah, King of the Jews (Psa 5:2; 68:24). look upward ... unto the earth--Whether they look up to heaven, or down towards the land of Judea, nothing but despair shall present itself. dimness of anguish--darkness of distress (Pr 1:27). driven to darkness--rather, "thick darkness" (Jr 23:12). Driven onward, as by a sweeping storm. The Jewish rejection of "their King and God," Messiah, was followed by all these awful calamities.

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 21 Hardly bestead "Distressed" - Instead of נקשה niksheh, distressed, the Vulgate, Chaldee, and Symmachus manifestly read נכשל nichshal, stumbling, tottering through weakness, ready to fall; a sense which suits very well with the place. And look upward "And he shall cast his eyes upward" - The learned professor Michaelis, treating of this place (Not. in de Sacr. Poes. Hebr. Prael. ix.) refers to a passage in the Koran which is similar to it. As it is a very celebrated passage, and on many accounts remarkable, I shall give it here at large, with the same author's farther remarks upon it in another place of his writings. It must be noted here that the learned professor renders נבט nibbat, הביט hibbit, in this and the parallel place, Isa 5:30, which I translate he looketh by it thundereth, from Schultens, Orig. Ling. Hebr. Lib. 1 cap. 2, of the justness of which rendering I much doubt. This brings the image of Isaiah more near in one circumstance to that of Mohammed than it appears to be in my translation: - "Labid, contemporary with Mohammed, the last of the seven Arabian poets who had the honor of having their poems, one of each, hung up in the entrance of the temple of Mecca, struck with the sublimity of a passage in the Koran, became a convert to Mohammedism; for he concluded that no man could write in such a manner unless he were Divinely inspired. "One must have a curiosity to examine a passage which had so great an effect upon Labid. It is, I must own, the finest that I know in the whole Koran: but I do not think it will have a second time the like effect, so as to tempt any one of my readers to submit to circumcision. It is in the second chapter, where he is speaking of certain apostates from the faith. 'They are like,' saith he, 'to a man who kindles a light. As soon as it begins to shine, God takes from them the light, and leaves them in darkness that they see nothing. They are deaf, dumb, and blind; and return not into the right way. Or they fare as when a cloud, full of darkness, thunder, and lightning, covers the heaven. When it bursteth, they stop their ears with their fingers, with deadly fear; and God hath the unbelievers in his power. The lightning almost robbeth them of their eyes: as often as it flasheth they go on by its light; and when it vanisheth in darkness, they stand still. If God pleased, they would retain neither hearing nor sight.' That the thought is beautiful, no one will deny; and Labid, who had probably a mind to flatter Mohammed, was lucky in finding a passage in the Koran so little abounding in poetical beauties, to which his conversion might with any propriety be ascribed. It was well that he went no farther; otherwise his taste for poetry might have made him again an infidel." Michaelis, Erpenii Arabische Grammatik abgekurzt, Vorrede, s. 32.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 8:17-22

The prophet foresaw that the Lord would hide his face; but he would look for his return in favour to them again. Though not miraculous signs, the children's names were memorials from God, suited to excite attention. The unbelieving Jews were prone to seek counsel in difficulties, from diviners of different descriptions, whose foolish and sinful ceremonies are alluded to. Would we know how we may seek to our God, and…

Read the full comment on Isaiah 8:17-22 →

Isaiah 8:21 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.

וְעָ֥בַרve.'A.varand it will passH5674
בָּ֖הּbahin it
נִקְשֶׁ֣הnik.Shehhard pressedH7185
וְרָעֵ֑בve.ra.'Evand hungryH7457
וְהָיָ֨הve.ha.Yahand it will beH1961
כִֽי\־khi-thatH3588
יִרְעַ֜בyir.'Avit will be hungryH7456
וְהִתְקַצַּ֗ףve.hit.ka.Tzafand it will be enragedH7107
וְקִלֵּ֧לve.ki.Leland it will curseH7043
בְּמַלְכּ֛וֹbe.mal.Ko<in> king itsH4428
וּבֵאלֹהָ֖יוu.ve.lo.Havand <in> God itsH430
וּפָנָ֥הu.fa.Nahand it will turnH6437
לְמָֽעְלָה\׃le.Ma.'e.lah<to> upwards <towards>H4605

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

Cross references for Isaiah 8:21

  • Proverbs 19:3

    The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the Lord.

  • Isaiah 9:20

    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:

  • 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.

  • 2 Kings 25:3

    And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.

  • Jeremiah 52:6

    And in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.

  • Lamentations 4:9-10

    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. The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children: they were their meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people.

  • 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.

  • Job 2:9

    Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.

  • Job 2:5

    But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.

  • Revelation 9:20-21

    And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

  • Deuteronomy 28:53-57

    And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee: So that the man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he shall leave: So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates. The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, …

  • Exodus 22:28

    Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
through.
7,8
hardly bestead.
9:20; De 28:33,34,53-57; 2Ki 25:3; Jer 14:18; 52:6; La 4:4,5,9,10
they shall fret.
Pr 19:3
curse.
Ex 22:28; 2Ki 6:33; Job 1:11; 2:5,9; Re 9:20,21; 16:9-11

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

Context

  • Isaiah 8:20

    To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

  • Isaiah 8:21

    And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.

  • Isaiah 8:22

    And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.

Read all of Isaiah 8

Isaiah 8:21 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Y pasarán por él fatigados y hambrientos, y acontecerá que teniendo hambre, se enojarán y maldecirán á su rey y á su Dios, levantando el rostro en alto.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et il passera là, affligé et ayant faim; et il arrivera que, lorsqu’il aura faim, il se dépitera, et maudira son roi et son Dieu; et il regardera en haut,
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und es wird darin umherziehen, schwer gedrückt und hungernd. Und es wird geschehen, wenn es Hunger leidet, so wird es erzürnt sein und seinen König und seinen Gott verfluchen.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Et transibit per eam, corruet, et esuriet; et cum esurierit, irascetur. Et maledicet regi suo, et Deo suo, et suscipiet sursum,