Isaiah 8:21

Discouragement and depression

¹⁹ When men tell you to consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who whisper and mutter, shouldn’t a people consult their God instead? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?

²⁰ To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.

They 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.

²² Then they will look to the earth and see only distress and darkness and the gloom of anguish. And they will be driven into utter darkness.

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: They 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.
KJV: 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.
WEB: They 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,
ASV: And 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:
DARBY: And 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:
BLB: And he will pass over into it hard pressed and hungry, and it will be [that] when he is hungry and becomes angry, that he will think little of his king and of his gods, and he will turn upward,

ÅB: da skal de dra gjennom landet hårdt plaget og hungrige, og når de hungrer, så blir de harme og forbanner sin konge og sin Gud. De skal vende sine øyne mot det høye,
OTB: De skal vandre gjennom landet, bekymret og sultne; når de er utsultet, vil de bli rasende og, mens de ser oppover, forbanne sin konge og sin Gud.
B1930: da skal de dra gjennem landet hårdt plaget og hungrige, og når de hungrer, så blir de harme og forbanner sin konge og sin Gud. De skal vende sine øine mot det høie,

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Proverbs 19:3
A man’s own folly subverts his way, yet his heart rages against the LORD.
Read in context
Isaiah 9:20
They carve out what is on the right, but they are still hungry; they eat what is on the left, but they are still not satisfied. Each one devours the flesh of his own offspring.
Read in context
Jeremiah 14:18
If I go out to the country, I see those slain by the sword; if I enter the city, I see those ravaged by famine! For both prophet and priest travel to a land they do not know.’”
Read in context
2 Kings 25:3
By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.
Read in context
Jeremiah 52:6
By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.
Read in context
Lamentations 4:9–10
Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.
Read in context
Revelation 16:9–11
And the people were scorched by intense heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had authority over these plagues; yet they did not repent and give Him glory.
Read in context
Job 2:9
Then Job’s wife said to him, “Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die!”
Read in context