These two things have happened to you— who will grieve with you?— desolation and destruction, and famine and the sword. How can I comfort you?
Parallel Translations
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These two things have happened to you— who will grieve with you?— desolation and destruction, and famine and the sword. How can I comfort you?
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These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?
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These two things are befallen thee; who shall bemoan thee? desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword; how shall I comfort thee?
Cross-references (17)
Passages linked to Isaiah 51:19 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 47:9 But these two things will come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children and widowhood. They will come on you in their full measure, in the multitude of your sorceries, and the great abundance of your enchantments.
- Amos 7:2 When they finished eating the grass of the land, then I said, “Lord Yahweh, forgive, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small.”
- Job 2:11 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him.
- Job 42:11 Then came there to him all his brothers, and all his sisters, and all those who had been of his acquaintance before, and ate bread with him in his house. They comforted him, and consoled him concerning all the evil that Yahweh had brought on him. Everyone also gave him a piece of money, and everyone a ring of gold.
- Psalms 69:20 Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found none.
- Ecclesiastes 4:1 Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold, the tears of those who were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter.
- Isaiah 14:30 The firstborn of the poor will eat, and the needy will lie down in safety; and I will kill your root with famine, and your remnant will be killed.
- Isaiah 22:4 Therefore I said, “Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Don’t labor to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
- Isaiah 61:2 to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn,
- Jeremiah 9:17-21 Yahweh of Armies says, “Consider, and call for the mourning women, that they may come. Send for the skillful women, that they may come. Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids gush out with waters. For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, ‘How we are ruined! We are greatly confounded because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.’ ” Yet hear Yahweh’s word, you women. Let your ear receive the word of his mouth. Teach your daughters wailing. Everyone teach her neighbor a lamentation. For death has come up into our windows. It has entered into our palaces to cut off the children from outside, and the young men from the streets.
- Lamentations 1:9 Her filthiness was in her skirts. She didn’t remember her latter end. Therefore she has come down astoundingly. She has no comforter. “See, Yahweh, my affliction; for the enemy has magnified himself.”
- Lamentations 1:12 “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look, and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which is brought on me, with which Yahweh has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
- Lamentations 1:16-17 “For these things I weep. My eye, my eye runs down with water, because the comforter who should refresh my soul is far from me. My children are desolate, because the enemy has prevailed.” Zion spreads out her hands. There is no one to comfort her. Yahweh has commanded concerning Jacob, that those who are around him should be his adversaries. Jerusalem is among them as an unclean thing.
- Ezekiel 14:21 For the Lord Yahweh says: “How much more when I send my four severe judgments on Jerusalem, the sword, the famine, the evil animals, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and animal!
- 2 Corinthians 7:6-7 Nevertheless, he who comforts the lowly, God, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not by his coming only, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you while he told us of your longing, your mourning, and your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more.
- 2 Corinthians 7:13 Therefore we have been comforted. In our comfort we rejoiced the more exceedingly for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good work and word.
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 Whereof the one is outward, as of the things…
Whereof the one is outward, as of the things that come to the body, as war, and famine, and the other is inward, and appertaineth to the mind: that is, to be without comfort: therefore he saith, How shalt thou be comforted?
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 51:19 These two [things] are come unto thee;…
Isa 51:19 These two [things] are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?
Ver. 19. These two things are come unto thee.] As they seldom are separated; as some write of the asp, that he never wanders alone without his companion.
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Who shall be sorry for thee?] Condole and comfort thee.
Desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword,] i.e., Desolation by famine, and destruction by the sword; or, as some will have it, desolation by famine and sword, and want of consolation. {as Isa 51:18}
By whom shall I comfort thee?] By whom but by myself, when thou art at thy greatest under, and even forsaken of thy hopes. See Isa 51:12.
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 These two things; either,
These two things; either,
1. Those which were now mentioned:
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1. That she was drunk with the cup of God’s wrath, Isa 51:17.
2. That she had none to support or comfort her in that condition, Or,
2. Those which here follow, which although they be expressed in four words, yet they may fitly be reduced to two things, the desolation or devastation of the land, and the destruction of the people, by famine and sword. So
famine and
sword are not named as new evils, but only as the particular ways or means of bringing the
destruction there mentioned; and the words may be thus rendered, desolation and destruction, even (this Hebrew particle being oft taken expositively, whereof many instances have been given) famine (or, by famine) and sword. Or two, nay be put indefinitely for many, as double is put for abundantly more, Job 11:6; Isa 40:2; 61:7; Zec 9:12, and elsewhere. By whom shall I comfort thee? I cannot find any man who is able to comfort and relieve thee.
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 These two things are come unto thee,.... Affliction from…
These two things are come unto thee,.... Affliction from the hand of God, though by means of enemies, and no friends to help, support, and comfort, as before hinted: or else this respects what follows, after it is said,
who shall be sorry for thee? lament or bemoan thee? they of the earth will rejoice and be glad, and others will not dare to show any concern outwardly, whatever inward grief may be in their breasts, Rev 11:10,
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desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword; which may be the two things before mentioned, for though there are four words, they are reducible to two things, desolation, which is the sword, and by it, and destruction, which is the famine, and comes by that, as Kimchi observes: or the words may be rendered thus, "desolation, and destruction, even the famine and the sword"; so that there is no need of making these things four, and of considering them as distinct from the other two, as the Targum makes them, which paraphrases the whole thus,
"two tribulations come upon thee, O Jerusalem, thou canst not arise; when four shall come upon thee, spoiling and breach, and the famine and the sword, there shall be none to comfort thee but I.''
All this was literally true of Jerusalem, both at the destruction of it by the Chaldeans and by the Romans, and will be mystically true of the church at the slaying of the witnesses by the sword of antichrist; when there will be a famine, not of bread, nor of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord; and which will bring great devastation and desolation on the interest of Christ:
by whom shall I comfort thee? there being no ministry of the word, nor administration of the ordinances, the usual means of comfort, the witnesses being slain; see Lam 1:9.
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 These things - Those which follow, which tho' expressed…
These things - Those which follow, which tho' expressed in four words, may fitly be reduced to two things, the desolation or devastation of the land, and the destruction of the people by famine and sword. So famine and sword are not named as new evils, but only as the particular ways of bringing the destruction. By whom - I cannot find any man who is able to comfort and relieve thee.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 19. These two things - desolation, and destruction,…
Verse 19. These two things - desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword] That is, desolation by famine, and destruction by the sword, taking the terms alternately: of which form of construction see other examples. De S. Poesi, Heb. Prael. xix., and Prelim. Dissert. p. xxx. The Chaldee paraphrast, not rightly understanding this, has had recourse to the following expedient: "Two afflictions are come upon thee, and when four shall come upon thee, depredation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword - " Five MSS. הרעב haraab, without the conjunction ו vau; and so the Septuagint and Syriac.
By whom shall I comfort thee - "Who shall comfort thee"] A MS., the Septuagint, Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate have it in the third person, ינחמך yenachamech, which is evidently right.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain These two things are come unto thee - Margin,…
These two things are come unto thee - Margin, ‘Happened.’ That is, two sources of calamity have come upon thee; to wit, famine and the sword, producing desolation and destruction; or desolation by famine, and destruction by the sword (see Lowth on Hebrew Poetry, Lect. xix.) The idea here is, that far-spread destruction had occurred, caused by the two things, famine and the sword.
Who shall be sorry for thee? - That is, who shall be able so to pity thee as to furnish relief?
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Desolation - By famine.
And destruction - Margin, as Hebrew, ‘Breaking.’ refers to the calamities which would be inflicted by the sword. The land would be desolated, and famine would spread over it. This refers, doubtless, to the series of calamities that would come upon it in connection with the invasion of the Chaldeans.
By whom shall I comfort thee? - This intimates a desire on the part of Yahweh to give them consolation. But the idea is, that the land would be laid waste, and that they who would have been the natural comforters should be destroyed. There would be none left to whom a resort could be had for consolation.
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 Two. War and famine cause desolation and destruction. (Worthington)…
Two. War and famine cause desolation and destruction. (Worthington) --- Jerusalem was reduced to the greatest misery in the last siege under Nabuchodonosor, Lamentations iv. 3. (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 two--classes of evils, for he enumerates four, namely, desolation…
two--classes of evils, for he enumerates four, namely, desolation and destruction to the land and state; famine and the sword to the people.
who shall be sorry for thee--so as to give thee effectual relief: as the parallel clause, "By whom shall I comfort thee?" shows (Lam 2:11-13).
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 19. These two things] (ch. Isa_47:9), i.e. two kinds…
19. These two things] (ch. Isa_47:9), i.e. two kinds of calamities; namely, devastation and destruction on land and city; famine and sword on the inhabitants.
who shall be sorry for thee] Better who condoles with thee (Jer_15:5; Nah_3:7), i.e. “thou hast no sympathizers.” To “condole” is in Hebr. to shake the head (cf. Jer_16:5; Job_2:11; Job_42:11 &c.), a similar gesture, expressed by a different verb, denotes contempt (see on ch. Isa_37:22).
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by whom shall I comfort thee?] Rather: how (lit. who) shall I comfort thee? The idiom cannot be reproduced exactly; see Amo_7:2; Amo_7:5 and comp. Davidson’s Synt. § 8 R. 1 (where it is suggested that the peculiar use of the pronoun may be provincial or colloquial). The Ancient Versions, however, read the third person, which is far easier; “who comforts thee?”
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 (19) These two things . . .—The two things…
(19) These two things . . .—The two things are amplified into four: (1) the two effects, and (2) the two causes.
Who shall be sorry for thee?—Better, Be sorry with thee, or who shall console thee? Even Jehovah is represented as failing, or seeming to fail, in finding a comforter for such affliction.
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 These two things. What are the "two things," it…
These two things. What are the "two things," it is asked, since four are mentioneddesolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword? The right answer seems to be that of Aben Ezra and Kimchi, that the two things are "desolation," or rather "wasting" within, produced by "famine;" and "destruction" without, produced by "the sword." Who shall be sorry for thee? rather, who will mourn with thee? Jerusalem is without friends; no man condoles with her over her misfortunes. God alone feels compassion; but even he scarce knows how to comfort. By whom? rather, how? (comp. Amo_7:2, Amo_7:5)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — 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 Israel.
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who will grieve with you? ... Who will comfort you?
Isaiah uses questions to emphasize that now there is no one to weep with them or comfort them. These questions may be written as statements. AT: "but there is no one to grieve with you ... There is no one to comfort you." (See: Rhetorical Question)
These two troubles
The two troubles refer to the following two phrases: "desolation and destruction" and "the famine and the sword."
desolation and destruction
These words have similar meanings and emphasize the destruction of the land caused by the opposing army. AT: "your enemies have left your city empty and ruined" (See: Doublet)
the famine and the sword
The words "famine" and "sword" describe the trouble that will come upon the people. The "sword" refers to "war." AT: "many of you have died from hunger and war" (See: Metonymy)
they lie at every street corner
This is generalization. Many children will lie in the street, but not necessarily on every street corner. AT: "they lie on the street" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)
like an antelope in a net
This speaks of the children being exhausted and helpless as if they were an antelope caught in a trap. AT: "they are helpless, like an antelope caught in a net" or "as helpless as a trapped antelope" (See: Simile)
antelope
This is an animal, similar to a deer, that has horns and runs very fast. AT: "deer" (See: Translate Unknowns)
they are filled with the anger of Yahweh, the rebuke of your God
The "anger of Yahweh" refers to Yahweh punishing his people because of his anger against them. This speaks of the people having been severely punished as if they had become full of Yahweh's anger. Also, the word "rebuke" can be written as a verb. AT: "they have been severely punished by Yahweh because he was angry with them and rebuked them" (See: Metaphor and Abstract Nouns)
translationWords
desolate
famine
sword
son
rebuke
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.