He will give the rain for your seed, with which you will sow the ground; and bread of the increase of the ground will be rich and plentiful. In that day, your livestock will feed in large pastures.
Parallel Translations
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He will give the rain for your seed, with which you will sow the ground; and bread of the increase of the ground will be rich and plentiful. In that day, your livestock will feed in large pastures.
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Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.
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And He will give the rain for thy seed, wherewith thou sowest the ground, and bread of the increase of the ground, and it shall be fat and plenteous; in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.
Cross-references (26)
Passages linked to Isaiah 30:23 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Zechariah 8:11-12 But now I will not be to the remnant of this people as in the former days,” says Yahweh of Armies. “For the seed of peace and the vine will yield its fruit, and the ground will give its increase, and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things.
- Psalms 65:9-13 You visit the earth, and water it. You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water. You provide them grain, for so you have ordained it. You drench its furrows. You level its ridges. You soften it with showers. You bless it with a crop. You crown the year with your bounty. Your carts overflow with abundance. The wilderness grasslands overflow. The hills are clothed with gladness. The pastures are covered with flocks. The valleys also are clothed with grain. They shout for joy! They also sing.
- Isaiah 32:20 Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, who send out the feet of the ox and the donkey.
- Genesis 41:18 and behold, there came up out of the river seven cattle, fat and sleek. They fed in the marsh grass;
- Psalms 36:8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the abundance of your house. You will make them drink of the river of your pleasures.
- Psalms 104:13-14 He waters the mountains from his rooms. The earth is filled with the fruit of your works. He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth:
- Psalms 144:12-14 Then our sons will be like well-nurtured plants, our daughters like pillars carved to adorn a palace. Our barns are full, filled with all kinds of provision. Our sheep produce thousands and ten thousands in our fields. Our oxen will pull heavy loads. There is no breaking in, and no going away, and no outcry in our streets.
- Isaiah 58:11 and Yahweh will guide you continually, satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones strong. You will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters don’t fail.
- Joel 2:21-26 Land, don’t be afraid. Be glad and rejoice, for Yahweh has done great things. Don’t be afraid, you animals of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness spring up, for the tree bears its fruit. The fig tree and the vine yield their strength. “Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in Yahweh, your God; for he gives you the early rain in just measure, and he causes the rain to come down for you, the early rain and the latter rain, as before. The threshing floors will be full of wheat, and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the great locust, the grasshopper, and the caterpillar, my great army, which I sent among you. You will have plenty to eat, and be satisfied, and will praise the name of Yahweh, your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and my people will never again be disappointed.
- Amos 4:7-8 “I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city. One place was rained on, and the piece where it didn’t rain withered. So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied: yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
- Zechariah 10:1 Ask of Yahweh rain in the spring time, Yahweh who makes storm clouds, and he gives rain showers to everyone for the plants in the field.
- Malachi 3:10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says Yahweh of Armies, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there will not be room enough for.
- 1 Timothy 4:8 For bodily exercise has some value, but godliness has value in all things, having the promise of the life which is now, and of that which is to come.
- Genesis 41:26 The seven good cattle are seven years; and the seven good heads of grain are seven years. The dream is one.
- Psalms 107:35-38 He turns a desert into a pool of water, and a dry land into water springs. There he makes the hungry live, that they may prepare a city to live in, sow fields, plant vineyards, and reap the fruits of increase. He blesses them also, so that they are multiplied greatly. He doesn’t allow their livestock to decrease.
- Isaiah 4:2 In that day, Yahweh’s branch will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the beauty and glory of the survivors of Israel.
- Isaiah 5:6 I will lay it a wasteland. It won’t be pruned or hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.”
- Isaiah 44:2-4 This is what Yahweh who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you says: “Don’t be afraid, Jacob my servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring: and they will spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses.
- Isaiah 55:10-11 For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth, and makes it grow and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so is my word that goes out of my mouth: it will not return to me void, but it will accomplish that which I please, and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do.
- Jeremiah 14:22 Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the sky give showers? Aren’t you he, Yahweh our God? Therefore we will wait for you; for you have made all these things.
- Ezekiel 36:25-26 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness, and from all your idols. I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
- Hosea 2:21-23 It will happen in that day, I will respond,” says Yahweh, “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth; and the earth will respond to the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they will respond to Jezreel. I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; and I will tell those who were not my people, ‘You are my people;’ and they will say, ‘My God!’ ”
- Malachi 4:2 But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall.
- Matthew 6:33 But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.
- Genesis 41:47 In the seven plenteous years the earth produced abundantly.
- Hosea 4:16 For Israel has behaved extremely stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer. Then how will Yahweh feed them like a lamb in a meadow.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 30:23 Then shall he give the rain of…
Isa 30:23 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.
Ver. 23. Then shall he give the rain of thy seed.] Or, For thy seed, or to thy seed. A figurative description of God’s superabundant blessings, viz., the spiritual blessing, saith Diodate. This was fulfilled in the letter, under Hezekiah and Ezra: in the figure, under Christ.
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In that day shall thy cattle feed.] This branch properly belongeth to the next verse. The Bible was not distinguished into verses till of late years; and it is not done very skilfully in some places, as this for one. Versuum in Scripturis sectiones pio quidem, at tumultuario Roberti Stephani studio excogitatae, imperitissime plerunque, texture dissecant. {a}
{a} Scultet.
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 The rain of thy seed; or rather, as others…
The rain of thy seed; or rather, as others render it; to or for thy seed, when thou hast newly sown thy seed, which was called the former rain; or such as thy seed requires, which may include both the former and the latter rain. Their sins, the cause of all God’s judgments which had befallen them, being removed by their sincere repentance, and God’s gracious pardon, God showereth down all his blessings upon them.
Bread of the increase of the earth; which shall be the fruit of thy own land and labour; which is a great mercy and comfort.
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It shall be fat and plenteous; thy bread shall be excellent for quality, which is called fat. Deu 32:14, and abundant for quantity.
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 Then shall he give thee rain of thy seed,…
Then shall he give thee rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal,.... Or, "rain to thy seed" (f); that is, when the seed is sown in the earth, the Lord will give the former rain, and cause it to take root, and spring up:
and bread of the increase of the earth; the earth, being watered with rain, should give its increase of corn, of which bread should be made; so that there would be seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, as in Isa 55:10,
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and it shall be fat and plenteous; or "fat and fat"; very fat and rich, exceeding good bread, and plenty of it; and after the siege of the city by Sennacherib's army was broke up, and that was destroyed, for years following there was great fruitfulness in the land, as was foretold, Isa 37:30 and this may denote the great fruitfulness of the Gospel, and the excellency of the spiritual food of it, and of the blessings of grace that come by it:
in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures; signifying that there should be pastures for cattle in the several parts of the country, and these large ones, where cattle should feed, and enjoy great plenty. This clause belongs to the next verse Isa 30:24, and should of right begin it. The Targum interprets it thus,
"and the righteous shall be nourished with their cattle at that time, with the fat of tender and fat things;''
as the earth would be fruitful, the cattle would be well fed; and so there would be plenty of provision for man and beast.
(f) "sementi tuae", Piscator; "semini tuo", V. L. Tigurine version.
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 Bread - Which shall be the fruit of thy…
Bread - Which shall be the fruit of thy own land and labour: and excellent for quality, which is called, fat, Deut. xxxii, 14, and abundant for quantity.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Isa 30:23-24. Then shall he give thee the rain…
Isa 30:23-24. Then shall he give thee the rain of thy seed — Or rather, to, or for thy seed, namely, when thou hast newly sown it, which was called the former rain; or, such as thy seed requires, which may include both the former and the latter rain. Their sins, the cause of all God’s judgments, being removed by their sincere repentance and God’s gracious pardon, God showers down his blessings upon them. “When he gives them their teachers,” says Henry, “and they give him their hearts, so that they begin to seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then all other things are added unto them.” And bread of the increase of the earth — Which shall be the fruit of thy own land and labour. And it shall be fat and plenteous — Excellent for quality, which is called fat, Deu 32:14, and abundant for quantity. This promise, by the special blessing of God, was remarkably fulfilled after the defeat of Sennacherib, (Isa 37:30,) God thus repairing the losses they sustained by that devastation. The oxen likewise, &c., shall eat clean provender — There shall be such plenty of corn that the very beasts, instead of straw, shall eat corn; and that not in the ear, or with the straw, but the pure grain. Vitringa, with some other commentators, thinks it appears plainly, from the next two verses, that the prophet is to be understood in this passage as speaking, not so much literally as figuratively, and that the words contain a splendid promise of pure and abundant spiritual provision, made by the Lord for his people, in the ministry of the word, the spiritual sowing; the effusions of his Spirit, the rain of the seed; and in the due administration of his various ordinances, the large pastures in which his flock feeds.
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 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed…
Then shall he give the rain of thy seed - That is, he shall send rain on the seed which is sown. You will be allowed to cultivate the soil without molestation, and God will give you fruitful seasons and abundant harvests. This is a poetic description of a happy or golden age, when there would be peace and prosperity (compare the notes at Isa 11:6-7).
And bread of the increase of the earth - And bread which the ground shall produce.
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And it shall be fat and plenteous - It shall be rich and abundant; that is, there shall be prosperity and an ample supply for your needs.
Feed in large pastures - This is a description of security when their cattle should be permitted to roam at large, and have abundant pasturage - an image of prosperity that would be very gratifying to a people whose main conception of wealth consisted in abundance of flocks and herds.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain rain of--rather, "for thy seed." Physical prosperity accompanies national…
rain of--rather, "for thy seed." Physical prosperity accompanies national piety; especially under the Old Testament. The early rain fell soon after the seed was sown in October or November; the latter rain in the spring, before the ripening of the corn. Both were needed for a good harvest.
increase--the produce.
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fat--bread made of the best wheat flour (compare Gen 49:20; Deu 32:14).
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 23. the rain of thy seed] the “early rain”…
23. the rain of thy seed] the “early rain” falling in the month of October.
bread of the increase of the earth] Perhaps: “bread-corn (Isa_28:28) the produce of the ground.” Cf. ch. Isa_37:30.
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23–26. The temporal blessings of the new dispensation.
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 (23) Then shall he give the rain . .…
(23) Then shall he give the rain . . .—Following in the steps of Joel (Joe_2:21-26), the prophet draws a picture of the outward plenty that should follow on the renewal of the nation’s inner life.
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 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed,…
Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; rather, then shall he give rain for thy seed, wherewith thou sowest the ground. God, having forgiven his people, will once more renew the blessings of his ordinary providence, giving them "rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness". (Act_14:17) Bread of the increase of the earth; rather, bread , the produce of the ground; i.e. ordinary bread, not "bread from heaven," like the manna in the wilderness. Fat and plenteous; literally, rich and fat. Thy cattle. To complete the general prosperity, there should be plentiful pasture for the flocks and herds.
Vers. 23-26. The glories of Christ"s kingdom shown in figure.
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Isaiah gives us several descriptions of Christ"s kingdom, all of them more or less allegorical. (see Isa_4:2-6 Isa_11:1-9 Isa_35:1-10 Isa_60:1-22) In the present description all is allegory. The blessings of the kingdom are
I RICH AND ABUNDANT HARVESTS, by which would seem to be signified a great conversion of the nations by the preaching of the gospel, (Mat_9:37, 38 Joh_4:35) together with the display of a great zeal to do abundant good works. (Mat_7:16-20)
II FREQUENT RAIN; i.e. an abundant shedding upon the earth of the dew of God"s blessing; a continued pouring down from him of refreshing, invigorating, healthful, life-giving influences. By these the rich harvests would be produced, the pastures made luxuriant, and God"s creatures upon the earth, both men and animals, rendered happy.
III CONDUITS EVERYWHERE, TO CONVEY THE LIFE-GIVING FLUID FAR AND WIDE. These appear to represent appointed means of grace artificially constructed channels whereby the heavenly influences are ordinarily communicated to the faithful. They flow everywhere, not only in the valleys and plains, but also upon the mountains and high hills the remotest and most inaccessible parts of the kingdom.
IV FLOODS OF LIGHT EVERYWHERE AND AT ALL TIMES; i.e. general illumination and enlightenment the spread of spiritual knowledge and true wisdom through all parts of the Church and all ranks of Christians; the disappearance of spiritual darkness, of ignorance, folly, and blinded consciences. This appears to be mentioned as the crowning glory of all, beyond which description cannot go, and with which therefore the allegorical sketch comes to an end.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Then shall He give the rain of thy seed
Isa_30:23
Then shall He give the rain of thy seed
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The effusion of the Holy Spirit
These words are, in their literal sense, a promise of a bountiful supply from God of the showers of dew and rain, by which the earth would be made abundantly fruitful.
The promise is given with reference to the casting away of their idols by the Jewish people. But the words are capable of a larger interpretation. The whole chapter looks to blessings greater than any that can be counted by the numbers of time. The plentiful effusion of the Holy Spirit of God, which is so often spoken of under the emblem of rain and dew, is hereby intended. As the rain and dew could elicit no fertility without preparation of the ground, and industrious tilling upon the part of man,--as the concurrence of both these conditions is requisite in order to secure a produce,--so is it true likewise with regard to spiritual husbandry. There must be on the part of man the use of means, as well as the bestowing of His gifts on the part of God. But it may be asked, How is Gods grace to be obtained? Have any means or channels been appointed for its supply?
1. Prayer is one appointed channel.
2. So is hearing the Word of God.
3. The sacraments. (H. J. Hastings, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Isaiah continues speaking to the people of Judah.
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He will give
"Yahweh will give"
bread with abundance from the ground
Here "bread" represents food in general. AT: "he will cause the ground to produce plenty of food for you to eat" (See: Synecdoche)
In that day
"At that time"
that has been winnowed with a shovel and a fork
Shovels and forks were used to throw the grain in the air so the wind would blow away the chaff, leaving only the part that could be eaten. This can be stated in active form. AT: "that you have winnowed with a shovel and a pitchfork" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
seed
plant
bread
cow
cow
donkey
winnow
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 30:23-24 The people of Judah would again enjoy covenant…
30:23-24 The people of Judah would again enjoy covenant blessings rather than curses (see Lev 26:4).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.