“Before she travailed, she gave birth. Before her pain came, she delivered a son.
Parallel Translations
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“Before she travailed, she gave birth. Before her pain came, she delivered a son.
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Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.
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Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child.
Cross-references (2)
Passages linked to Isaiah 66:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Revelation 12:1-5 A great sign was seen in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child. She cried out in pain, laboring to give birth. Another sign was seen in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven crowns. His tail drew one third of the stars of the sky, and threw them to the earth. The dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. Her child was caught up to God, and to his throne.
- Galatians 4:26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (18 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Meaning, that the restoration of the Church should be…
Meaning, that the restoration of the Church should be so sudden and contrary to all men’s opinions, as when a woman is delivered before she looked for it, and that without pain in travail.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 66:7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before…
Isa 66:7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.
Ver. 7. Before she travailed, she brought forth.] Quum nondum parturiret peperit; understand it of Zion, or of the Church Christian, which receiveth her children, that is, converts, suddenly on a cluster before she thought to have done, and in far greater numbers than she could ever have believed. {a} That lady that brought forth as many at a birth as are days in the year {b} was nothing to her: nor those Hebrew women. {Exo 1:10}
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She was delivered of a man child.] For the which there is so great joy, {Joh 16:21} and which is usually more able and active than a woman child. So, good and bold Christians, strong in faith; unless he meaneth Christ himself, saith Diodat, who is formed by faith in every believer’s heart. {Gal 4:19}
{a} Subito ac simul. Suddenly and at the same time.
{b} Margaret, Countess of Henneburg.
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 whole verse is expressive of a great and…
The whole verse is expressive of a great and sudden salvation, which God would work for his church, like the delivery of a woman, and that of a
man child, before her travail, and without pain. The only doubt is, whether it referreth to the deliverance of the people out of Babylon, or the world’s surprisal with the Messiah, and the sudden and strange propagation of the gospel, and it is a question not easily determined. The delivery of the Jews out of Babylon, indeed, was without strugglings or any pain; not like their deliverance from Egypt, after the wasting of their enemies by ten successive plagues, but by the kind proclamation of Cyrus. But it seems not to have been sudden, only as to the day, and hour, and manner; for Daniel understood by books that the time was come, Dan 9:2, and the people had a prospect of it seventy years before, Jer 25:12; 29:10. The prophecy therefore seems rather to refer to the coming of Christ, and the sudden propagation of the gospel. The popish interpreters applying it to the Virgin Mary bringing forth Christ, is like other of their fond dreams.
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 Before she travailed, she brought forth,.... That is, Zion,…
Before she travailed, she brought forth,.... That is, Zion, as appears from the following verse: lest it should be thought that the interest of Christ would be swallowed up and lost in the destruction of the Jews, this, and what follows, are said concerning the conversion of many of that people, both in the first times of the Gospel, and in the latter day, as well as concerning the calling of the Gentiles, and the uniting of both in one church state. Zion, or the church of God, is here compared to a pregnant woman, that brings forth suddenly and easily, without feeling any pain, or going through any travail, or having any birth throes; at least, feeling very little pain and travail, and having very few pangs, and those, as soon as they come, are gone, and an immediate delivery ensues:
before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child; like a woman before she is scarcely sensible of any pain; as soon as ever she perceives the least uneasiness of this kind, is delivered of a son, to her great joy, and the joy of all about her. This is to be understood, not of the sudden and easy deliverance of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, by the proclamation of Cyrus, which occasioned great joy; much less of the birth of Christ, of the Virgin Mary at the inn, and in the stable, which is the sense of some Popish interpreters; much better do some Jewish writers interpret it of the birth and appearance of Christ, before the troubles of their nation came on; so the Targum,
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"before distress comes to her, she shall be redeemed; and before trembling comes upon her, her King shall be revealed;''
that is, the King Messiah; and so some copies have it, according to Galatinus (r); who also makes mention of another exposition of this passage, by R. Moses Haddarsan, if it may be depended on,
"before he should be born that should bring Israel into the last captivity, the Redeemer should be born;''
that is, as he explains it, before the birth of Titus, who destroyed the temple and city of Jerusalem, the Messiah should be born; but the passage refers not to his natural but mystical birth, or the regeneration of a spiritual seed in his church; or of the conversion of the first Christians both in Judea and in the Gentile world; who were like a man child, strong and robust, able to bear and did endure great hardships for the sake of Christ, and do him much work and service, in which they persevered to the end; see Gal 4:26, as the first Christians did through various persecutions, until the times of Constantine, by whom they were delivered from them, and who is prophesied of as the church's man child, as in Rev 12:2.
(r) De Arcan. Cathol. Ver. I. 4. c. 11. p. 219.
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 Before - The whole verse is expressive of a…
Before - The whole verse is expressive of a great and sudden salvation, which God would work for his church, like the delivery of a woman, and that of a man-child, before her travail, and without pain. Doubtless it refers to the coming of Christ, and the sudden propagation of the gospel.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Isa 66:7-8. Here begins a new paragraph of the…
Isa 66:7-8. Here begins a new paragraph of the prophet’s discourse, containing a description of the sudden and great increase of the Christian Church, upon God’s rejecting the Jews, and destroying their temple and worship: “the very destruction of the Jewish polity making way for the reception and spread of the gospel, inasmuch as it abated that opposition which the Jewish zealots all along made to its progress; and the abolishing the Jewish worship contributed very much to the abrogating the law of Moses, and burying it with silence and decency.” See Rom 11:11, and Lowth. This paragraph, however, is not unconnected with what precedes. “It is,” as Vitringa observes, “another consolatory argument, directed to those who reverenced the word of Jehovah, and formed the true Zion, taken from the rapid and wonderful increase of the church among the Gentiles, superior to all human thought, all expectation. For when in the former section Isaiah had done two things; first, had predicted the calling of the Gentiles, (chap. 65:1,) and then the punishment of the ungodly, and such as rejected the gospel; in this section, after he had repeated the indignation conceived by God against the hypocrites and those who did not obey the gospel, he in the same manner comforts the pious Jews, from the unexpected event of the most wished-for success of the calling of the Gentiles, who, joined with them in one body, should form one church, and inherit the earth.” Before she travailed she brought forth — The church is represented here as a travailing woman, the mother of all true believers: see Isa 54:1; Gal 4:26. The whole verse is expressive of a great and sudden salvation which God would work for his church, like the delivery of a woman, and that before her travail, and without pain, of a man-child. It undoubtedly refers to the introduction of the gospel, and its rapid and unexpected progress. Who hath heard such a thing? — The prophet here calls either to the whole world, or to such as feared God among the Jews, to admire his stupendous work of providence and grace, in the sudden erection and wonderful enlargement of the gospel church. Who hath seen such things? — Who hath witnessed such an extraordinary event? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day, or shall a nation, &c. — “The suddenness of this event is as surprising as if the fruits of the earth, which are brought to perfection by slow degrees, should blossom and ripen all in one day. And the fruitfulness of this spiritual increase is as wonderful as if a whole nation were born at once, or by one woman.” For as soon as Zion travailed — As soon as the fulness of time came for erecting the gospel church; she brought forth her children — In great multitudes, without pain or difficulty, no inauspicious circumstance occurring to prevent their birth: see Act 2:41; and Act 4:4.
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 Before she travailed, she brought forth - That is,…
Before she travailed, she brought forth - That is, Zion. The idea here is, that there would be a great and sudden increase of her numbers. Zion is here represented, as it often is, as a female (see Isa 1:8), and as the mother of spiritual children (compare Isa 54:1; Isa 49:20-21). The particular idea here is, that the increase would be sudden - as if a child were born without the usual delay and pain of parturition. If the interpretation given of Isa 66:6 be correct, then this refers probably to the sudden increase of the church when the Messiah came, and to the great revivals of religion which attended the first preaching of the gospel. Three thousand were converted on a single day Acts 2, and the gospel was speedily propagated almost all over the known world. Vitringa supposes that it refers to the sudden conversion of the Gentiles, and their accession to the church.
She was delivered of a man child - Jerome understands this of the Messiah. who was descended from the Jewish church. Grotius supposes that the whole verse refers to Judas Maccabeus, and to the liberation of Judea under him before anyone could have hoped for it! Calvin (Commentary in loc.) supposes that the word male here, or manchild, denotes the manly or generous nature of those who should be converted to the church; that they would be vigorous and active, not effeminate and delicate (generosam prolem, non mollem aut effeminatam). Vitringa refers it to the character and rank of those who should be converted, and applies it particularly to Constantine, and to the illustrious philosophers, orators, and senators, who were early brought under the influence of the gospel. The Hebrew word probably denotes a male, or a man-child, and it seems to me that it is applied here to denote the character of the early converts to the Christian faith. They would not be feeble and effeminate; but vigorous, active, energetic. It may, perhaps, also be suggested, that, among the Orientals, the birth of a son was deemed of much more importance, and was regarded as much more a subject of congratulation than the birth of a female. If an allusion be had to that fact, then the idea is, that the increase of the church would be such as would be altogether a subject of exultation and joy.
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 Before, &c. This relates to the conversion of the…
Before, &c. This relates to the conversion of the Gentiles, who were born as it were all on a sudden to the Church of God. (Challoner) --- Sion furnished the first preachers of the Gospel. (Haydock)
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).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain 7 Before she travailed, she brought forth;
7. THE WONDERFUL PRODUCTIVE POWER OF THE NEW PRINCIPAL OF LIFE.
Isa_66:7-9
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7 Before she travailed, she brought forth;
Before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.
8 Who hath heard such a thing?
Who hath seen such things?
14Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day?
Or shall a nation be born at once?
For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not 15cause to bring forth? saith the Lord:
16Shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith thy God.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. With wonderful rapidity Zion will be surrounded by the blessing of numerous children (Isa_66:7). In other cases a long time is needed for a land to be peopled, for a family to expand into a nation. But in the case of Zion this will happen with incredible quickness (Isa_66:8). Such is the power inherent in that new principle of life which Jehovah cannot possibly in a forced and artificial way restrain (Isa_66:9).—[Our author speaks of a new principle of life and its wonderful power. The Prophet, however, makes no mention of this new principle of life, but of the working of Jehovah Himself.—D. M.]
2. Before she travailed—saith thy God, Isa_66:7-9.—[While the immediately preceding verses speak of judgment falling on the disobedient and rebellious mass of the people, we learn here how the Israel of God shall receive a sudden and unexampled enlargement. Vitringa sees here a prophecy of the vocation of the Gentiles and of their accession to the Church, while the unbelieving Jews are cast off.—D. M.]—We have here in the main the same thought which the Prophet had expressed, Isa_49:18 sqq.; Isa_54:1 sqq.; Isa_60:4 sqq. Here he makes specially prominent the rapidity and suddenness with which, contrary to the ordinary Jaws of nature, Zion will be enlarged, and this he does most ingeniously and in a manner characteristic of Isaiah. הִמְלִיט, to let slip away, is used as Piel Isa_34:15 (comp. Job_21:10). זָכָר must in this connection be primarily chosen to intimate that the birth takes place easily and quickly, though the child is a male. For male children are wont to be larger and stronger; hence their birth is attended with more difficulty. But it is just as certain that the Prophet does not think of the birth of a single child in a literal sense. In Isa_66:8 he puts בָּנֶיהָ for זָכָר. He means, therefore, that זָכָר should be taken collectively, and at the same time wishes to indicate that this collective birth is a male child strong and vigorous. This seems to be the meaning put upon our place in Rev_12:5, which latter passage evidently refers to the one before us. However erroneous it would be to apply this solely to the birth of Christ, it would in my opinion be equally one-sided to exclude the latter. For does not the whole New Testament blessing of abundance of children begirt with the birth of Christ? Without the birth of Christ this blessing could not be realized. “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,” the Prophet had said Isa_9:5. And to this child is promised “increase of government,” consequently, a populous and mighty kingdom,—this child, with what belongs to it, is it not a male, strong child? I look upon it as possible that the Prophet had here before him his earlier utterance Isa_9:5. [This view is in accordance with the Targum: “Before distress cometh upon her, she shall be redeemed: and before trembling cometh upon her, as travail upon a woman with child, her king shall be revealed.”—D. M.]. Such a case never before occurred that a land (אֶרֶץ must denote here both land and people, the idea of the people being predominant, and hence the word is used as a masculine, comp. on Isa_14:17) or nation suddenly, all at once arose. [“The causative sense given to יוּחַל in the English and some other versions is not approved by the later lexicographers, who make it a simple passive.” Alexander.]. How comes it that in the case of Zion, travailing and bringing forth her children coincided? Everything was well arranged beforehand for the birth. The time was fulfilled. The proper moment had come. Peter’s speech on the day of Pentecost and the conversion of the three thousand are facts in which the rapidity of that process of bringing forth is mirrored. And when such an astonishing and rapid success is founded in the nature of the case, can the Lord interfere to check and restrain? This is the meaning of Isa_66:8. [Dr. Naegelsbach interprets the first part of Isa_66:9 by describing the process of parturition with a particularity which some would think hardly in accordance with good taste. It is sufficient to give the explanation of Gesenius in his Lexicon: “Shall I cause to break open (the womb), and not cause to bring forth?” D. M.]. The second hemistich of Isa_66:9 repeats according to the law of the Parallelismus membrorum the same thought in another form. עָצַר is often used of the closing of the uterus, i. e., of the barrenness of a woman. But here it is not the making unfruitful, but the hindering of the birth that is spoken of. It is, therefore, better to take עָצַר in the sense of cohibere, retinere, in which it occurs frequently elsewhere (comp. e.g., Jdg_13:15-16). [The words of Hezekiah are here almost taken up Isa_37:3.” Shall that long and painful national history not have for its issue the birth of a true Israel?” Kay. “The meaning of the whole is, that God designed the great and sudden increase of His Church; that the plan was long laid; and that having done this, He would not abandon it, but would certainly effect His designs.” Barnes. D. M.]. In regard to the alternating יאֹמַר וגו׳ and אָמַר א׳ in Isa_66:9, I refer in general to the remarks on Isa_40:1. In the place before us, the Prophet has certainly no other reason for the change than a rhetorical one.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Before . . . travailed . . . brought…
she--Zion.
Before . . . travailed . . . brought forth--The accession of numbers, and of prosperity to her, shall be sudden beyond all expectation and unattended with painful effort (Isa 54:1, Isa 54:4-5). Contrast with this case of the future Jewish Church the travail-pains of the Christian Church in bringing forth "a man child" (Rev 12:2, Rev 12:5). A man child's birth is in the East a matter of special joy, while that of a female is not so; therefore, it here means the manly sons of the restored Jewish Church, the singular being used collectively for the plural: or the many sons being regarded as one under Messiah, who shall then be manifested as their one representative Head.
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 7-9. Before she — That is, Zion. Before she…
7-9. Before she — That is, Zion. Before she came to such throes as described above, she brought forth a man child. Some suppose the birth of Jesus Christ is here intended. Others, more consistently, hold, in accordance with Isa_49:18-23, where the thought is substantially the same as here, that Zion already is beginning to be the joyful mother of a strong host of converts from Jews and Gentiles.
Who hath heard such a thing — Such an increase of Zion’s children is a marvel.
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Shall a nation be born at once — It has never before so occurred. In the prophet’s eye the world, according to the divine order, is soon to be ready for such an event.
Bring to the birth — On his part God has conducted human history so as to fully inaugurate the gospel age through and among all peoples.
Man child — Every one of the human kind now entitled to the benefits of Christ’s salvation. The new dispensation takes in all mankind collectively as the one “man child.” Faithful co-operation between man and Messiah shall now be fruitful of grandest ingatherings to Jehovah, and of universal joy through earth and heaven.
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 7–9. The sudden repopulation of the city by her…
7–9. The sudden repopulation of the city by her children. The figure is taken from ch. Isa_49:17-21, Isa_54:1; the fact set forth being the instantaneous return of the exiled Israelites, by which, without effort, the poor and struggling Jewish community becomes at once a great nation.
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 (7) Before she travailed . . .—The mother, as…
(7) Before she travailed . . .—The mother, as the next verse shows, is Zion; the man-child, born at last without the travail-pangs of sorrow, is the new Israel, the true Israel of God. The same figure has met us in Isa_49:17-21; Isa_54:1, and is implied in Mat_24:8. Its antithesis is found in Isa_37:3.
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 Vers. 7, 8. Before she travailed, etc. Without any…
Vers. 7, 8. Before she travailed, etc. Without any long delay, without any labour pains, Zion will bring forth a man-child a whole nation, which wilt be born at once, and not grow up by slow degrees. The occupation of Jerusalem by the great body of the returned exiles (Ezr_2:1 Ezr_3:1) is intended. Such a second birth of a nation was strange, and without precedent. (comp. Isa_42:9 Isa_43:19) Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? rather, can a land be brought forth in one day? It is not only a people, but a country, that is born anew; not only the Jews, but Judaea.
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 Before she travailed, she brought forth
Isa_66:7-9
Before she travailed, she brought forth
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The new Israel
The predictive message of our prophet is now so far advanced that the future promised is at the door; the Church of the future is already like a child ripe for birth, and about to separate from the womb of Zion hitherto barren.
The God, who has already prepared everything so far, will suddenly make Zion a mother; a man-child, i.e a whole nation after Jehovahs heart, will suddenly lie in her lap; and this new-born Israel, not the corrupt mass, will build Jehovah a Temple. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
The birth of the Gentile Church
It is perfectly sufficient to understand the parturition as a figure for the whole eventful crisis of the change of dispensations, and the consequent change in the condition of the Church. This indestructible ideal person, when she might have seemed to be reduced to nothing by the defection of the natural Israel, is vastly and suddenly augmented by the introduction of the Gentiles, a succession of events which is here most appropriately represented as the birth of a male child without the pains of child-birth. (J. A. Alexander.)
The birth of the Christian Church
The children born to Christ were so numerous, and so suddenly and easily produced, that they were rather like the dew from the mornings womb than like the son from the mothers womb (Psalm Exo_3:1-22). (M. Henry.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain Isa 66:7; Isa 66:8. (See Scofield "Mic 5:1")
travailed
Isa 66:7; Isa 66:8. (See Scofield "Mic 5:1")
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues speaking.
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Before she goes into labor, she gives birth; before pain is upon her, she gave birth to a son
Yahweh speaks about Zion as if it were a woman who is about to give birth. Although Zion was destroyed and the people no longer lived there, Yahweh promises that without delay and with little effort an entire nation will come from her. (See: Metaphor)
Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Will a land be born in one day? Can a nation be established in one moment?
Yahweh uses questions to emphasize how unique this event will be. The series of questions builds tension until Zion is finally mentioned. (See: Rhetorical Question)
translationWords
labor pains
nation
Zion
children
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 66:7 birth pains . . . gives birth to…
66:7 birth pains . . . gives birth to a son: See 9:6-7; 54:1-3.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.