Isaiah 49:17
15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.
16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.
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.
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.
This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- Your builders hasten back; your destroyers and wreckers depart from you.
- KJV
- Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.
- WEB
- Your children hurry. Your destroyers and those who devastated you will leave you.
- ASV
- Thy children make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth from thee.
- DARBY
- Thy sons shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that laid thee waste shall go forth from thee.
- BLB
- Your builders are hurrying; those overthrowing you and those destroying you will go out from you.
- ÅB
- Dine barn kommer i hast; de som brøt deg ned og ødela deg, de skal dra bort fra deg.
- OTB
- Dine barn skynder seg tilbake, og de som la deg øde skal dra bort fra deg.
- B1930
- Dine barn kommer i hast; de som brøt dig ned og ødela dig, de skal dra bort fra dig.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
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?
Read in contextIsaiah 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.
Read in contextIsaiah 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:
Read in contextEzekiel 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.
Read in contextIsaiah 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.
Read in contextIsaiah 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.
Read in contextIsaiah 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.
Read in contextEzra 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.
Read in context