For you have made a city into a heap, a fortified city into a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city. It will never be built.
Parallel Translations
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For you have made a city into a heap, a fortified city into a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city. It will never be built.
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For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.
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For Thou hast made of a city a heap, of a fortified city a ruin; a castle of strangers to be no city, it shall never be built.
Cross-references (12)
Passages linked to Isaiah 25:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 13:22 Wolves will cry in their fortresses, and jackals in the pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, and her days will not be prolonged.
- Isaiah 17:1 The burden of Damascus. “Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap.
- Isaiah 25:12 He has brought the high fortress of your walls down, laid low, and brought to the ground, even to the dust.
- Deuteronomy 13:16 You shall gather all its plunder into the middle of its street, and shall burn with fire the city, with all of its plunder, to Yahweh your God. It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again.
- Isaiah 14:23 “I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and pools of water. I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” says Yahweh of Armies.
- Isaiah 21:9 Behold, here comes a troop of men, horsemen in pairs.” He answered, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the engraved images of her gods are broken to the ground.
- Isaiah 23:13 Behold, the land of the Chaldeans. This people didn’t exist. The Assyrians founded it for those who dwell in the wilderness. They set up their towers. They overthrew its palaces. They made it a ruin.
- Jeremiah 51:26 They won’t take a cornerstone from you, nor a stone for foundations; but you will be desolate forever,” says Yahweh.
- Nahum 3:12-15 All your fortresses will be like fig trees with the first-ripe figs: if they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater. Behold, your troops among you are women. The gates of your land are set wide open to your enemies. The fire has devoured your bars. Draw water for the siege. Strengthen your fortresses. Go into the clay, and tread the mortar. Make the brick kiln strong. There the fire will devour you. The sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the grasshopper. Multiply like grasshoppers. Multiply like the locust.
- Revelation 18:2-3 He cried with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and she has become a habitation of demons, a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird! For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality, the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from the abundance of her luxury.”
- Revelation 18:19 They cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and mourning, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had their ships in the sea were made rich by reason of her great wealth!’ For she is made desolate in one hour.
- Isaiah 17:3 The fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria. They will be as the glory of the children of Israel,” says Yahweh of Armies.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, a place whereas all vagabonds may live…
That is, a place whereas all vagabonds may live without danger, and as it were at ease, as in a palace.
Not only of Jerusalem, but also of these other cities which have been thine enemies.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 25:2 For thou hast made of a city…
Isa 25:2 For thou hast made of a city an heap; [of] a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.
Ver. 2. For thou hast made of a city an heap.] Babylonem intelligit, say some. Narratur eversio urbis Romae, say others; the ruin of Rome is here foretold; which is therefore also, say they, called a palace of strangers; {a} because Antichrist with his adherents reigneth there. Jerome saith the Jews understand it to be Rome, which shall be in the end destroyed, and then their poor nation shall be relieved. {as Isa 25:4} It may be so.
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{a} Aσεβων πολις. - Sept.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain A city; which is put collectively for cities. He…
A city; which is put collectively for cities. He speaks of the cities of
strangers, as the following clause explains it, or of enemies of God, and of his people. And under the name cities he comprehends their countries and kingdoms, of which cities are an eminent and commonly the strongest part.
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A palace of strangers; the royal cities, in which were the palaces of strangers, i.e. of the kings of strange people, or of the Gentiles.
It shall never be built; their cities and palaces have been or shall be utterly and irrecoverably destroyed.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For thou hast made of a city an heap,....…
For thou hast made of a city an heap,.... Which is to be understood, not of Samaria, nor of Jerusalem; rather of Babylon; though it is best to interpret it of the city of Rome, as Jerom says the Jews do; though they generally explain it of many cities, which shall be destroyed in the times of Gog and Magog, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi; and so the Targum has it in the plural number; perhaps not only the city of Rome, but all the antichristian states, the cities of the nations, all within the Romish jurisdiction are meant; which shall all fall by the earthquake, sooner or later, and become a heap:
of a defenced city, a ruin; or, "for a fall" (c); the same thing is meant as before: it designs the fall of mystical Babylon or Rome, called the great and mighty city, Rev 18:2,
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a palace of strangers; which Kimchi interprets of Babylon, which, he says, was a palace to the cities of the Gentiles, who are called strangers; and it is said, that that city was originally built for strangers, that dwelt in tents, in Arabia Deserts; but it is best to understand it of Rome, as before, which is the palace of such who are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, who have introduced a strange religion, and are the worshippers of strange gods, Dan 11:38. The Targum renders it,
"the house of the gods of the people in the city of Jerusalem;''
and this will be made
to be no city, it shall never be built; any more, when once it is destroyed, signified by the angels casting a millstone into the sea, which shall never be taken up again, or found more, Rev 18:21.
(c) "in lapsum".
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain A city - Which is put for cities: or…
A city - Which is put for cities: or of enemies of God and his people. And under the name cities he comprehends their countries and kingdoms. Strangers - The royal cities, in which were the palaces of strangers, of Gentiles. No city - Their cities and palaces have been or shall be utterly and irrecoverably destroyed.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. A city - "The city"] Nineveh, Babylon,…
Verse 2. A city - "The city"] Nineveh, Babylon, Ar, Moab, or any other strong fortress possessed by the enemies of the people of God.
For the first מעיר meir, of a city, the Syriac and Vulgate read העיר hair, the city; the Septuagint and Chaldee read ערים arim, cities, in the plural, transposing the letters. After the second מעיר meir, a MS. adds לגל lagol, for a heap.
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A palace of strangers - "The palace of the proud ones"] For זרים zarim, strangers, MS. Bodl. and another read זדים zedim, the proud: so likewise the Septuagint; for they render it ασεβων here, and in Isa 25:5, as they do in some other places: see De 18:20; De 18:22. Another MS. reads צרים tsarim, adversaries; which also makes a good sense. But זרים zarim, strangers, and זדים zedim, the proud, are often confounded by the great similitude of the letters ד daleth and ר resh. See Mal 3:15; Mal 4:1; Ps 19:14, in the Septuagint; and Ps 54:5, where the Chaldee reads זדים zedim, compared with Ps 86:16.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Isa 25:2. Thou hast made of a city a…
Isa 25:2. Thou hast made of a city a heap — Nineveh, Babylon, Ar of Moab, or any other strong city, or fortress, possessed by the enemies of the people of God. Vitringa has made it appear probable that Babylon is chiefly meant, “which was emphatically called the city; which was remarkably fortified, and which was inhabited by strangers, as the Assyrians and Babylonians are commonly called in prophetical language, and in the destruction of which the ancient believers rejoiced most especially, having therein a pledge and earnest of future deliverance, and particularly a type of the deliverance of the Christian Church from persecution, by the fall of spiritual Babylon.” See Rev 18:20; and Rev 19:1. A palace of strangers — A royal city, in which were the palaces of strangers, that is, of the kings of strange people, or of the Gentiles. Bishop Lowth on the authority of two MSS., instead of זרים, strangers, reads זדים, proud ones: which reading, he thinks, the LXX. countenance, as they render the word ασεβων, the ungodly. To be no city; it shall never be built — It has been, or shall be, utterly and irrecoverably destroyed.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For thou hast made - This is supposed to…
For thou hast made - This is supposed to be uttered by the Jews who should return from Babylon, and therefore refers to what would have been seen by them. In their time it would have occurred that God had made of the city an heap.
Of a city - I suppose the whole scope of the passage requires us to understand this of Babylon. There has been, however, a great variety of interpretation of this passage. Grotius supposed that Samaria was intended. Calvin that the word is used collectively, and that various cities are intended. Piscator that Rome, the seat of antichrist, was intended. Jerome says that the Jews generally understand it of Rome. Aben Ezra and Kimchi, however, understand it to refer to many cities which they say will be destroyed in the times of Gog and Magog. Nearly all these opinions may be seen subjected to an examination, and shown to be unfounded, in Vitringa.
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An heap - It is reduced to ruins (see the notes at Isa. 13; 14) The ruin of Babylon commenced when it was taken by Cyrus, and the Jews were set at liberty; it was not completed until many centuries after. The form of the Hebrew here is, ‘Thou hast placed from a city to a ruin:’ that is, thou hast changed it from being a city to a pile of ruins.
Of a defensed city - A city fortified, and made strong against the approach of an enemy. How true this was of Babylon may be seen in the description prefixed to Isa. 13.
A palace - This word properly signifies the residence of a prince or monarch Jer 30:18; Amo 1:4, Amo 1:7, Amo 1:10, Amo 1:12. Here it is applied to Babylon on account of its splendor, as if it were a vast palace, the residence of princes.
Of strangers - Foreigners; a term often given to the inhabitants of foreign lands, and especially to the Babylonians (see the note at Isa 1:7; compare Eze 28:7; Joe 3:17). It means that this was, by way of eminence, The city of the foreigners; the capital of the whole Pagan world; the city where foreigners congregated and dwelt.
It shall never be built - (See the notes at Isa 13:19-22)
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain City; Jerusalem, or rather Babylon, (chap. xxi.; Calmet) or…
City; Jerusalem, or rather Babylon, (chap. xxi.; Calmet) or every city (Haydock) in the world. (Menochius) --- Strangers: the temples of idols.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain a city . . . heap--Babylon, type of the…
a city . . . heap--Babylon, type of the seat of Antichrist, to be destroyed in the last days (compare Jer 51:37, with Rev. 18:1-24, followed, as here, by the song of the saints' thanksgiving in Rev. 19:1-21). "Heaps" is a graphic picture of Babylon and Nineveh as they now are.
palace--Babylon regarded, on account of its splendor, as a vast palace. But MAURER translates, "a citadel."
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of strangers--foreigners, whose capital pre-eminently Babylon was, the metropolis of the pagan world. "Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise" (Isa 29:5; Eph 2:12; see in contrast, Joe 3:17).
never be built-- (Isa 13:19-20, &c.).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. The fall of a hostile city. The word…
2. The fall of a hostile city. The word “city” can hardly in this case be understood collectively, although the terms of the description are too vague to shew what historic city is intended. All that appears is that it is a city which, in the age of the prophet, symbolised the hostility of the world to the kingdom of God; its identification will depend on the date assigned to the prophecy. If for instance the author lived during or shortly after the Exile, the “defenced city” would be most naturally identified with Babylon (see however on the next verse).
a palace of strangers] Better, of aliens (as in ch. Isa_1:7).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) Thou hast made of a city an heap.—The…
(2) Thou hast made of a city an heap.—The city spoken of as “the palace of strangers” was, probably in the prophet’s thought, that which he identified with the oppressors and destroyers of his people—i.e., Nineveh or Babylon; but that city was also for him the representation of the world-power which in every age opposes itself to the righteousness of God’s kingdom. The Babylon of Isaiah becomes the type of the mystical Babylon of the Apocalypse. The words as they stand expand the thought of Isa_24:10. (Comp. Isa_27:10.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Thou hast made of a city a heap. No…
Thou hast made of a city a heap. No particular city is pointed at. The prophet has in his mind the fate of all those cities which have been enemies of Jehovah and persecutors of the saints upon earth. A defended city; i.e. "a fenced, or fortified, city." A palace of strangers. As the "city" of this passage is not an individual city, so the "palace" is not an individual palace. All the palaces of those who were "strangers" to God and his covenant have ceased to be they are whelmed in the general destruction. (see Isa_24:20) They will never rise again out of their ruins.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.