It shall happen, that because of the abundance of milk which they shall give he shall eat butter; for everyone will eat butter and honey that is left within the land.
Parallel Translations
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It shall happen, that because of the abundance of milk which they shall give he shall eat butter; for everyone will eat butter and honey that is left within the land.
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And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land.
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and it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give, he shall eat curd; for curd and honey shall every one eat that is left in the midst of the land.
Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to Isaiah 7:22 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 7:15 He shall eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil and choose the good.
- 2 Samuel 17:29 honey, butter, sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David, and for the people who were with him, to eat; for they said, “The people are hungry, weary, and thirsty in the wilderness.”
- Matthew 3:4 Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain The number of men shall be so small, that…
The number of men shall be so small, that a few beasts shall be able to nourish all abundantly.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 7:22 And it shall come to pass, for…
Isa 7:22 And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk [that] they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land.
Ver. 22. For the abundance of milk.] Yielded him by his two cows, through the paucity of people, and plenty of grass.
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He shall eat butter.] Eat his fill, since there are none to buy it from him; none to pull it out of his mouth.
For butter and honey shall every one eat.] Not delicacies and dainties, {as Isa 5:12} but mean fare, such as he can get; as wild honey, such as the Baptist fed on.
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 For the abundance of milk that they shall give;…
For the abundance of milk that they shall give; because they shall have excellent and large pastures, by reason of the great scarcity of cattle; whereas formerly their lands were ofttimes overstocked with cattle.
Butter and honey may be here mentioned, either,
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1. As mean and vulgar food, being very common in those parts; which are opposed to that flesh and corn, and other excellent fruits of the earth, wherewith their land formerly abounded. Or,
2. As very good and pleasant food, which the poorer sort had formerly used to sell, to procure more necessary and cheaper food for themselves; but now the land should be so destitute of people, that there were none to whom they could sell them, and those few who did survive might freely eat all sorts of provisions.
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 And it shall come to pass, for the abundance…
And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give,.... The cow and the two sheep, having large pastures, and few cattle to feed upon them, those few would give such abundance of milk, that the owner of them would make butter of it, and live upon it, having no occasion to eat milk; and there being few or none to sell it to:
he shall eat butter; the milk producing a sufficient quantity of it for himself and his family:
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for butter and honey shall everyone eat that is left in the land: signifying that though they would be few, they would enjoy a plenty of such sort of food as their small flocks and herds would furnish them with, and the bees produce. The Targum and Jarchi interpret this of the righteous that shall be left in the land; but it is rather to be extended unto all, righteous and unrighteous.
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 Abundance - Because they shall have large pastures, by…
Abundance - Because they shall have large pastures, by reason of the great scarcity of cattle. Butter - Which the poorer sort had formerly used to sell, to procure them cheaper food for themselves: but now the land should be so destitute of people, that there were none to whom they could sell them.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For the abundance of milk ... - On account,…
For the abundance of milk ... - On account, or by means of the great quantity of milk. This image also denotes that the land should be desolate, and abandoned by its inhabitants. Such a range would the cow and sheep have in the lands lying waste and uncultivated, that they would yield abundance of milk.
For butter and honey - This shall be the condition of all who are left in the land. Agriculture shall be abandoned, The land shall be desolate. The few remaining inhabitants shall be dependent on what a very few cows and sheep shah produce, and on the subsistence which may be derived from honey obtained from the rocks where bees would lodge. Perhaps, also, the swarms of bees would be increased, by the fact that the land would be forsaken, and that it would produce abundance of wild flowers for their subsistence. The general idea is plain, that the land would be desolate. Butter and honey, that is, butter mingled with honey, is a common article of food in the East; see the note at Isa 7:15. D’Arvieux being in the camp of an Arab prince who lived in much splendor, and who treated him with great regard, was entertained, he tells us, the first morning of his being there, with little loaves, honey, new-churned butter, and cream more delicate than any he ever saw, together with coffee. - “Voy. dans la Pal.,” p. 24. And in another place, he assures us that one of the principal things with which the Arabs regale themselves at breakfast is cream, or new butter mingled with honey. - p. 197. The statement of the prophet here, that the poor of the land should eat butter and honey, is not inconsistent with this account of D’Arvieux, that it is regarded as an article of food with which even princes treat their guests, for the idea of the prophet is, that when the land should be desolate and comparatively uninhabited, the natural luxuriant growth of the soil would produce an abundance to furnish milk, and that honey would abound where the bees would be allowed to multiply, almost without limit; see Harmer’s Obs., vol. ii. p. 55. Ed. Lond. 1808.
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 Land. Pastures shall be so large, (Menochius) though uncultivated,…
Land. Pastures shall be so large, (Menochius) though uncultivated, the greatest part of the inhabitants being removed.
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 abundance--by reason of the wide range of land lying…
abundance--by reason of the wide range of land lying desolate over which the cows and sheep (including goats) may range.
butter--thick milk, or cream.
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honey--(See on Isa 7:15). Food of spontaneous growth will be the resource of the few inhabitants left. Honey shall be abundant as the bees will find the wild flowers abounding everywhere.
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 22. butter and honey become the staple food of…
22. butter and honey become the staple food of the country; in normal circumstances they were only eaten as delicacies along with bread and flesh (Gen_18:8; 2Sa_17:29). Immanuel is the representative of the young generation nourished on this frugal fare (Isa_7:15).
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 For the abundance of milk that they shall give.…
For the abundance of milk that they shall give. The small number of the cattle will allow of each having abundant pasture. Hence they will give an abundance of milk. He shall eat butter; rather, curds the solid food most readily obtained from milk (comp. above, ver. 15). Curdled milk and wild honey should form the simple diet of the remnant left in the land. It is, of course, possible to understand this in a spiritual sense, of simple doctrine and gospel honey out of the flinty rock of the Law; but there is no reason to think that the prophet intended his words in any but the most literal sense.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.