In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: “Surely many houses will be desolate, even great and beautiful, unoccupied.
Parallel Translations
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In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: “Surely many houses will be desolate, even great and beautiful, unoccupied.
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In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
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In mine ears said the LORD of hosts: of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Isaiah 5:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Matthew 23:38 Behold, your house is left to you desolate.
- Isaiah 22:14 Yahweh of Armies revealed himself in my ears, “Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.
- Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord Yahweh will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.
- Amos 5:11 Therefore, because you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.
- 2 Chronicles 36:21 to fulfill Yahweh’s word by Jeremiah’s mouth, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. As long as it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
- 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 6:11-12 Then I said, “Lord, how long?” He answered, “Until cities are waste without inhabitant, houses without man, the land becomes utterly waste, and Yahweh has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many within the land.
- Isaiah 27:10 For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness. The calf will feed there, and there he will lie down, and consume its branches.
- Amos 6:11 “For, behold, Yahweh commands, and the great house will be smashed to pieces, and the little house into bits.
- Matthew 22:7 When the king heard that, he was angry, and sent his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain I have heard the complaint and cry of the…
I have heard the complaint and cry of the poor.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 5:9 In mine ears [said] the LORD of…
Isa 5:9 In mine ears [said] the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, [even] great and fair, without inhabitant.
Ver. 9. In mine ears, said the Lord of hosts.] Or, In the ears of the Lord of hosts - q.d., God well heareth and knoweth all your cunning contrivances, your coloured and cloaked covetousness, as it is called {1Th 2:5 2Pe 1:3} The cries also of those poor whom you have by fraud or force unroosted and undone, is come into God’s ears, {Deu 15:9; Deu 24:15} and he will reckon with you, though by your greatness you can bear out your wrong dealing, because it is facinus maioris abollae. Yet God will arraign you one day for an Abaddon; and in the meanwhile,
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Of a truth many houses shall be desolate.] You shall be driven out of your great and fair houses, aut a milite, aut a morte, either by the enemy or by death, who shall come upon you with a firmae eiectione, forceful ejection and then the place of your habitation shall know you no more; a poor fool God will make of you. {Jer 17:11 Luk 12:20} If many houses be not desolate, never trust him more - if they be not left for caddows and jackdaws {a} to dwell in.
{a} The common name of the daw (Corvus monedula), one of the smallest of the crow family, which frequents old buildings, church towers, etc.; it is easily tamed and taught to imitate the sound of words, and is noted for its loquacity and thievish propensities.
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 In mine ears said the Lord; I heard God…
In mine ears said the Lord; I heard God speak what I now about to utter. Heb. In the ears of the Lord; may relate either,
1. To the foregoing words; The cry of your sins, and of the oppressed, as come into God’s he hears and sees it, and will certainly punish it.
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2. To the following clause, which being of great importance, he ushers in with an oath; I speak it in God’s as well as in yours; I call God to witness the truth of what I say. My houses shall be desolate; the houses you have so greedily coveted shall cast you out, and become desolate.
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 mine ears, said the Lord of hosts,.... This…
In mine ears, said the Lord of hosts,.... This may be understood either of the ears of the Lord of hosts, into which came the cry of the sins of covetousness and ambition before mentioned; these were taken notice of by the Lord, and he was determined to punish them; or of the ears of the prophet, in whose hearing the Lord said what follows: so the Targum,
"the prophet said, with mine ears I have heard, when this was decreed from before the Lord of hosts:''
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of a truth many houses shall be desolate; or "great" ones (z); such as the houses of the king, of the princes, and nobles, judges, counsellors, and great men of the earth; not only the house of God, the temple, but a multitude of houses in Jerusalem and elsewhere; which was true not only at the taking of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, but at the destruction of it by the Romans, to which this prophecy belongs, Mat 23:38 the words are a strong asseveration, and in the form of an oath, as Jarchi and Kimchi observe; , "if not"; if many houses are not left desolate, let it be so or so, I swear they shall:
even great and fair, without inhabitants: houses of large and beautiful building shall be laid in such a ruinous condition, that they will not be fit for any to dwell in, nor shall any dwell in them: and this is the judgment upon them for joining house to house; that for laying field to field follows.
(z) "domus magnificae, sive sumptuosae", Vatablus.
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 In mine ears - I heard God speak what…
In mine ears - I heard God speak what I am about to utter.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 9. In mine ears. - "To mine ear"]…
Verse 9. In mine ears. - "To mine ear"] The sentence in the Hebrew text seems to be imperfect in this place; as likewise in Isa 22:14, where the very same sense seems to be required as here. See the note there; and compare 1Sa 9:15. In this place the Septuagint supply the word ηκουσθη, and the Syriac אשתמע eshtama, auditus est JEHOVAH in auribus meis, i.e., נגלה niglah, as in Isa 22:14.
Many houses] This has reference to what was said in the preceding verse: "In vain are ye so intent upon joining house to house, and field to field; your houses shall be left uninhabited, and your fields shall become desolate and barren; so that a vineyard of ten acres shall produce but one bath (not eight gallons) of wine, and the husbandman shall reap but a tenth part of the seed which he has sown." Kimchi says this means such an extent of vineyard as would require ten yoke of oxen to plough in one day.
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 mine ears - This probably refers to the…
In mine ears - This probably refers to the prophet. As if he had said, ‘God has revealed it to me,’ or ‘God has said in my ears,’ i. e, to me. The Septuagint reads it, ‘These things are heard in the ears of the Lord of hosts,’ that is, the wishes” of the man of avarice. The Chaldee, ‘The prophet said, In my ears I have heard; a decree has gone from the Lord of hosts,’ etc.
Many houses shall be desolate - Referring to the calamities that should come upon the nation for its crimes.
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 Things. Unjust practices. --- Inhabitant. What will your avarice…
Things. Unjust practices. --- Inhabitant. What will your avarice avail, (Haydock) since you must abandon all? (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 In mine ears . . . the Lord--namely, has…
In mine ears . . . the Lord--namely, has revealed it, as in Isa 22:14.
desolate--literally, "a desolation," namely, on account of the national sins.
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great and fair--houses.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 9, 10. Many houses shall be desolate — Without…
9, 10. Many houses shall be desolate — Without occupant, desolation dwelling there, because of the invasion invoked below, in Isa_5:26-30.
Great and fair — Aristocratic though they be.
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Ten acres — An acre was a space of ground ploughed by a man with a yoke of oxen in one day, about three fourths of an English acre. Ten acres of vineyard, it is estimated, (Kay,) might be expected ordinarily to produce 32,000 pints of wine, or 500 baths, instead of which it is here said they shall produce but one.
A homer — About ten bushels, enough to sow ten acres, but here only one bushel is promised. A bath was a liquid measure, in capacity one tenth of a “homer,” a dry measure. Eze_45:11-14. God directly permits devastation like this as a punishment for these specified sins. Compare Lev_26:20 with Isa_24:7 and Joe_1:10-12.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 9. In mine ears said the Lord of hosts]…
9. In mine ears said the Lord of hosts] The verb is to be supplied as in Isa_22:14 : In my ears (hath revealed himself) Jehovah.… It is a prophetic “audition”; the words which follow seem actually to sound in his ears. The great houses shall be uninhabited, because—
9, 10. The divine judgment on this evil. Cf. Amo_5:11.
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 (9) In mine ears said the Lord.—The italics show…
(9) In mine ears said the Lord.—The italics show that there is no verb in the Hebrew, the text, if it be correct, giving the emphasis of abruptness; but it is rightly supplied in the Authorised Version. The sentence that follows is one of a righteous retribution: There shall be no profit or permanence in the property thus unjustly gained.
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 Either something has fallen out in the first clause…
Either something has fallen out in the first clause of this verse, or there is a most unusual ellipse of the verb said" which our translators have supplied, very properly. There seems to be nothing emphatic in the words, "on mine ears". (see Isa_22:14 Eze_9:1, 5 10:13) Many houses shall be desolate. The greed of adding house to house will be punished by the death of those who have so sinned, and the extinction of their families, either through war, or through a more direct divine judgment.
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 Many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair,…
Isa_5:9
Many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant
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Empty houses
(To children):--Empty houses! We all know what they look like.
From afar we can see the bills in the windows--This house to let, or To be let, or, still more curtly, To let; and when we come nearer, the black windows, without blinds or curtains, gape and yawn at us. In the garden the long matted grass has overrun the lawn, and covered nearly all the beds. The door creaks on its hinges as we enter, as though it had been asleep and did not wish to be wakened. There are other houses that are not quite empty. They are comfortably furnished; but the family has gone to the seaside. A servant or an old lady has been kept in the house as caretaker, and as she usually lives in the back part of the house she is often not seen from one weeks end to the other.
I. This world is like a house comfortably and beautifully furnished, and in which we men and women have been placed to dress it and to keep it. But THE WORLD WITHOUT GOD IS LIKE AN EMPTY HOUSE. God is the builder of this house; and He is the tenant too. Cowper, in his Task, speaks of some men who untenant the Creator of His universe. There are some who say that God made this house, and put us in it as caretakers, and then went to live in His own grand mansion in heaven; and there He sits, receiving our letters, which are our prayers, and sending His servants to do His commands. But we believe that God always lives in this house. He is in every room, in England, and in the Continent, and in Africa, and in America. It is Gods name that is woven into the beautiful carpet of grass and flowers, that is carved into the rocks, and worked into the mossy couches, and painted in the beautiful landscape pictures, and reflected in the mirror-like lakes and ponds and rivers. If God were not in the world it would be like a desolate house, though great and fair.
II.
But there is another kind of house that is sometimes found to be empty.
Life is like a house. Its length, however, is measured, not by feet and yards, but by days and months and years. Some lives are long and some are very short. Its breadth is measured by its sympathy and influence. Sometimes the tenant is not a good one. A selfish purpose takes possession, and then the house is like the house of a miser, long, and narrow, and low. And sometimes the house is like a house of feasting, from which there comes the sound of music and dancing, and the clink of glasses and of plates. That is when the desire for pleasure becomes a tenant. But there are some of these houses that are without an inhabitant. For A LIFE WITHOUT A PURPOSE IS LIKE AN EMPTY HOUSE. Some people do not know why they live. They eat and drink and sleep; but they have no great aims, no noble purposes. Their lives are like empty houses. Take Christ with you into your life. And then your life will grow up like a grand temple, upon which there will be inscribed: Holiness unto the Lord; in which there will be perpetual peace and happiness; and from which there will ever come the sound of holy chant and psalm.
III. And then there is another house of which I thought. It was a small house, but large enough to accommodate one man. It was built in the face of a rock, and a great stone door was placed before it. It belonged to a man named Joseph; but another tenant was put in. He did not remain there long: it was too dark, and cold, and dreary. That house was the tomb of Jesus. And A TOMB WITHOUT A SAVIOUR IS LIKE AN EMPTY HOUSE. There are many houses of that kind built in these days; and they are all full. But a time is coming when a trumpet shall sound, and the doors of these dreary houses shall be opened, and the tenants shall all come out. And then their houses shall be empty like the tomb of Jesus. (W. V. Robinson, B. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.