In that day he will cry out, saying, “I will not be a healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing. You shall not make me ruler of the people.”
Parallel Translations
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In that day he will cry out, saying, “I will not be a healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing. You shall not make me ruler of the people.”
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In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.
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In that day shall he swear, saying: 'I will not be a healer; for in my house is neither bread nor a mantle; ye shall not make me ruler of a people.'
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Isaiah 3:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Hosea 5:13 “When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to king Jareb: but he is not able to heal you, neither will he cure you of your wound.
- Genesis 14:22 Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted up my hand to Yahweh, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth,
- Deuteronomy 32:40 For I lift up my hand to heaven and declare, as I live forever,
- Isaiah 58:12 Those who will be of you will build the old waste places. You will raise up the foundations of many generations. You will be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of Paths with Dwellings.
- Jeremiah 14:19 Have you utterly rejected Judah? Has your soul loathed Zion? Why have you struck us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of healing, and behold, dismay!
- Lamentations 2:13 What shall I testify to you? What shall I liken to you, daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare to you, that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion? For your breach is as big as the sea. Who can heal you?
- Ezekiel 34:4 You haven’t strengthened the diseased. You haven’t healed that which was sick. You haven’t bound up that which was broken. You haven’t brought back that which was driven away. You haven’t sought that which was lost, but you have ruled over them with force and with rigor.
- Hosea 6:1 “Come! Let’s return to Yahweh; for he has torn us to pieces, and he will heal us; he has injured us, and he will bind up our wounds.
- Revelation 10:5-6 The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to the sky, and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there will no longer be delay,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Fear shall rather cause him to forswear himself, than…
Fear shall rather cause him to forswear himself, than to take such a dangerous charge upon him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 3:7 In that day shall he swear, saying,…
Isa 3:7 In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house [is] neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.
Ver. 7. In that day shall he swear, saying.] It is come to pass in some places at this day, Ut ambigant prudentiores, otium, an officium aliquod Reip. sint persecuturi, that wise men doubt whether they had best bear office or not; but true goodness is public spirited, though to private disadvantage.
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I will not be an healer,] i.e., A ruler. I will not be a binder up, {a} or a surgeon, for this State is no better than a great spittle; the whole head is sick and the whole heart heavy, &c. I dare not therefore meddle with it, since it is incurable, incorrigible. The Septuagint render it, I will not be thy prince. A king hath his name in Greek from healing, {b} as Plutarch observeth, because he is to be the physician or surgeon of the commonwealth.
In mine house is neither bread nor clothing.] I have not for mine own, much less for you. A prince had need to be well underlaid, that he may not need to pill and poll his subjects, or in judging to gape after gain.
{a} In caducum parietem non inclinabo.
{b} ‘Aναξ from ακος medela cure.
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 He shall swear, Heb. he shall lift up; understand…
He shall swear, Heb. he shall lift up; understand either,
1. His voice; he shall cry aloud, to show his earnestness in refusing the offer; or,
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2. His hand, which was the usual gesture in swearing, Gen 14:22; Deu 32:40, &c., to show his resolvedness.
An healer; a repairer of the ruins of the state.
In my house is neither bread nor clothing; I have not sufficient provisions, either of food or raiment, for my own family; much less, as you falsely suppose, for the discharge of so high a trust.
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 In that day shall he swear,.... Or "lift up",…
In that day shall he swear,.... Or "lift up", that is, his hand (e), which was a gesture used in swearing, and therefore is so rendered; the meaning is, that he shall at once immediately give an answer, and for the solemn confirmation of it shall say an oath with it, saying,
I will not be a healer, or "a binder"; that is, of wounds, of political wounds, made in the nation, and which were incurable. See Isa 1:6 for the meaning is, that he neither was fit to be, nor could he be, a healer of the distempered state of the nation, it was so desperately bad. The Targum is,
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"I am not fit to be a head or governor;''
and so Kimchi explains it of a governor, who, he says, is so called, because he binds and imprisons those that transgress his commands; and to this sense Jarchi and Abarbinel:
for in my house is neither bread nor clothing; not a sufficiency of either to support such grandeur and dignity; not enough to keep a proper table, and a suitable equipage:
make me not a ruler of the people; this shows that the state of the nation must be very bad indeed, that men, who are naturally ambitious of power and honour, should refuse government when offered to them.
(e) "attollet manum", Piscator.
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 An healer - A repairer of the ruins of…
An healer - A repairer of the ruins of the state.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 7. In that day shall he swear -…
Verse 7. In that day shall he swear - "Then shall he openly declare"] The Septuagint, Syriac, and Jerome, read וישא veyissa, adding the conjunction, which seems necessary in this place.
I will not be a healer] I am not a leche. - Old MS. Bible. Leech was the ancient English word for a physician.
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For in my house is neither bread nor clothing - "For in my house is neither bread nor raiment"] "It is customary through all the East," says Sir J. Chardin, "to gather together an immense quantity of furniture and clothes; for their fashions never alter." Princes and great men are obliged to have a great stock of such things in readiness for presents upon all occasions. "The kings of Persia," says the same author, "have great wardrobes, where there are always many hundreds of habits ready, designed for presents, and sorted," Harmer, Observ., II. 11 and 88. A great quantity of provision for the table was equally necessary. The daily provision for Solomon's household, whose attendants were exceedingly numerous, was proportionately great, 1Kg 4:22-23. Even Nehemiah, in his strait circumstances, had a large supply daily for his table; at which he received a hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, besides those that came from among the neighbouring heathen, Neh 5:17-18.
This explains the meaning of the excuse made by him that is desired to undertake the government. He alleges that he has not wherewithal to support the dignity of the station, by such acts of liberality and hospitality as the law of custom required of persons of superior rank. See Harmer's Observations, I. 340, II. 88.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain In that day shall he swear - Hebrew, ישׁא…
In that day shall he swear - Hebrew, ישׁא yı̂shā' ‘Shall he lift up’ - that is, the voice, or the hand. To lift up the hand was one of the modes of taking an oath. Perhaps it means only that he should lift up “the voice” - that is, “should answer;” compare Num 14:1. The Vulgate, the Septuagint, and the Chaldee, read it simply ‘he shall answer.’
I will not be an healer - Hebrew, ‘a binder up,’ Isa 1:6. The Vulgate renders it, ‘I am not a physician.’ The Septuagint and the Chaldee, ‘I am not sufficient to be a leader.’ The meaning is, that the state of affairs was so ruinous and calamitous that he would not attempt to restore them; as if, in the body, disease should have so far progressed that he would not undertake to restore the person, and have him “die” under his hands, so as to expose himself to the reproach of being an unsuccessfill and unskillful physician.
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Is neither bread nor clothing - I am not rich. I have not the means of providing for the needs of the people, or to maintain the rank of a ruler. ‘It is customary,’ says Sir John Chardin, ‘to gather together an immense quantity of clothes, for their fashions never alter.’ ‘The kings of Persia have great wardrobes, where they have always many hundreds of habits ready, designed for presents, and sorted.’ - “Lowth.” The description here is one of very great calamity and anarchy. So great would be the ruin and danger, that men would be unwilling to be chosen to the office of princes and rulers, and none could be found who would desire to possess the highest honors of the nation. Generally men “aspire” to office; here they were unwilling, on account of the disordered and ruined state of affairs, even to accept of it.
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 Clothing. The indigent were excluded from dignities, for fear…
Clothing. The indigent were excluded from dignities, for fear lest they should seek to enrich themselves by unjustifiable means, Exodus xviii. 22. (Plut.[Plutarch?] in Sol.) (Pliny, [Natural History?] xvi. 19.) (Calmet)
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 swear--literally, "lift up," namely, his hand; the gesture used…
swear--literally, "lift up," namely, his hand; the gesture used in solemn attestation. Or, his voice, that is, answer; so Vulgate.
healer--of the body politic, incurably diseased (Isa 1:6).
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neither . . . clothing--so as to relieve the people and maintain a ruler's dignity. A nation's state must be bad indeed, when none among men, naturally ambitious, is willing to accept office.
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 7. swear] better, protest, lit. “lift up (sc. his…
7. swear] better, protest, lit. “lift up (sc. his voice).”
healer] lit. “binder-up” (of the wounds of the state), see Isa_1:6
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in my house … clothing] “I am as poor as any of you.”
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.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain In that day shall he swear; or, lift up…
In that day shall he swear; or, lift up his voice speaking with emotion (Kay). I will not be a healer; literally, a binder-up; (comp. Isa_1:6) "I will not undertake to heal the calamities of the state." In my house is neither bread nor clothing; i.e. "I am not a wealthy man; I have no stores laid up; I am quite unfit to be the people"s ruler." Make me not; or, ye shall not make me. The decently clad man entirely declines to be advanced to the helm of the state.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.