All the hills that were cultivated with the hoe, you shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending out of oxen, and for sheep to tread on.”
Parallel Translations
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All the hills that were cultivated with the hoe, you shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending out of oxen, and for sheep to tread on.”
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And on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle.
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And all the hills that were digged with the mattock, thou shalt not come thither for fear of briers and thorns, but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheep.
Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to Isaiah 7:25 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 5:17 Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.
- Isaiah 7:21-22 It shall happen in that day that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep. 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.
- Isaiah 13:20-22 It will never be inhabited, neither will it be lived in from generation to generation. The Arabian will not pitch a tent there, neither will shepherds make their flocks lie down there. But wild animals of the desert will lie there, and their houses will be full of jackals. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will frolic there. Wolves will cry in their fortresses, and jackals in the pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, and her days will not be prolonged.
- Isaiah 17:2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken. They will be for flocks, which shall lie down, and no one shall make them afraid.
- Zephaniah 2:6 The sea coast will be pastures, with cottages for shepherds and folds for flocks.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain The mountains contrary to their wont, shall be tilled…
The mountains contrary to their wont, shall be tilled by such as shall flee to them for succor.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 7:25 And [on] all hills that shall be…
Isa 7:25 And [on] all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle.
Ver. 24. And on all the hills that shall be digged, &c.] A good translation of a text is instead of a good commentary. Some very learned {a} render the words thus: And on the hills that had wont to be digged with mattock or spade, that no fear of brier or thorn might come thither, shall a place also be for sending in of oxen and the treading of lesser cattle; which shall range and graze freely, say they by way of gloss, after their wonted manner in those places, from whence they and their owners had formerly been ejected and excluded by the violent oppressions and undue enclosures of the richer and greater sort. {Isa 5:17}
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{a} Assemb. Annot.
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 That shall be digged; or, that were digged, to…
That shall be digged; or, that were digged, to wit, formerly; that used to be digged and dressed for the planting of vines, or other choice fruit trees.
There shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns: the words thus rendered sound like a promise, but that doth no way agree with the scope of the place. And they may be, and are by some, understood not of briers and thorns growing in those grounds, which would hinder the feeding of cattle there, but of such wherewith they were fenced, and by which the cattle were affrighted or hindered from breaking into them, which cause of their fear being now removed by the general devastation, they might now enter there, and feed at pleasure, as the next words imply. Or they may be rendered thus, as they are by a late learned interpreter,
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that there might not come thither, & c., which is mentioned as the reason why they were digged and dressed, that they might be freed from briers and thorns. And so there is only a defect of the Hebrew particle asher, which is frequent, and that not only as it signifies which, but as it is taken finally for that, as Isa 5:11; 10:2, and elsewhere.
It shall be; or, even (as this particle is oft rendered) there shall be, to wit, a place; which word is understood, 2Sa 7:1; 1Ki 18:12. Or the words may be thus rendered, and all hills that shall be digged—and thorns, even they or each of them shall be; the singular being taken collectively, as is very usual.
For the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle; all sorts of cattle may fairly enter, and feed there, the fences being broken down, and the owners generally slain, or carried into captivity.
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 on all hills that shall be digged with…
And on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock,.... Which could not be ploughed with a plough, but used to be dug with a mattock or spade, and then sowed with corn:
there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns; where thorns and briers used not to grow, and where there was no fear or danger of being overrun with them, as the vineyards in the valleys and champaign country; yet those places should become desolate in another way; or rather, there shall be now no fences made of briers and thorns, which deter cattle from entering into fields and vineyards thus fenced:
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but it shall be for the setting forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle; there being no fence of briers and thorns to keep them out, cattle both of the greater and lesser sort should get into the corn, and feed upon it, and make such places desolate, where much pains were taken to cultivate them. The Targum is,
"it shall be for a place of lying down of oxen, and for a place of dwelling of flocks of sheep;''
not for pastures, but for folds for them; though the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, suggest these places should become pastures; and therefore some understand this as a prophecy of a change in the country for the better, and of the great fruitfulness of it after the Jews' return from the Babylonish captivity.
Next: Isaiah Chapter 8
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 Digged - That used to be digged and dressed…
Digged - That used to be digged and dressed for the planting of vines, or other choice fruit-trees. The fear - That they might be freed from briars and thorns. Cattle - All sorts of cattle may enter, and feed there, the fences being broken down, and the owners slain, or carried into captivity.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain And on all hills ... - All the fertile…
And on all hills ... - All the fertile places in the mountains that used to be cultivated with the spade. Vineyards were often planted on the sides of hills; and those places were among the most productive and fertile in the land; see Isa 5:1.
The mattock - The spade; the garden hoe; or the weeding-hook. An instrument chiefly used, probably, in vineyards.
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There shall not come thither - There shall not be.
The fear of briers and thorns - This does not make sense; or if it does, it is not a sense consistent with the connection. The idea of the whole passage is, that the land, even the most fertile parts of it, should be given up to briers and thorns; that is, to desolation. The Hebrew here, is ambiguous. It may mean, ‘thou shalt not come there, for fear of the briers and thorns.’ That is, the place that was formerly so fertile, that was cultivated with the spade, shall now be so completely covered with thorns, and shall furnish so convenient a resting place for wild beasts and reptiles, as to deter a man from going there. The Septuagint, and the Syriac, however, understand it differently - as denoting that those places should be still cultivated. But this is evidently a departure from the sense of the connection. Lowth understands it in the past tense; ‘where the fear of briers and thorns never came.’ The general idea of the passage is plain, that those places, once so highly cultivated, would now be desolate.
Shall be for the sending forth ... - Shall be wild, uncultivated, and desolate - vast commons on which oxen and sheep shall feed at large. “Lesser cattle.” Hebrew ‘Sheep, or the flock.’ Sheep were accustomed to range in deserts and uncultivated places, and to obtain there, under the guidance of the shepherd, their subsistence. The description, therefore, in these verses, is one of extensive and wide desolation; and one that was accomplished in the calamities that came upon the land in the invasions by the Egyptians and Assyrians.
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 shall be--rather, "were once."
shall be--rather, "were once."
digged--in order to plant and rear vines (Isa 5:6).
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there shall not come--that is, none shall come who fear thorns, seeing that thorns shall abound on all sides [MAURER]. Otherwise, "Thou shalt not come for fear of thorns" [GESENIUS]. Only cattle shall be able to penetrate the briery ground.
lesser cattle--sheep and goats.
The first seven verses of the ninth chapter belong to this section. The eighth chapter continues the subject of the seventh chapter, but at a later period (compare Isa 8:4 with Isa 7:16); implying that the interval till the accomplishment is shorter now than then. The tone of Isa 8:17, Isa 8:21-22, expresses calamity more immediate and afflictive than Isa 7:4, Isa 7:15, Isa 7:22.
Next: Isaiah Chapter 8
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 25. a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings] i.e.…
25. a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings] i.e. “silver shekels.” Schrader reckons the silver shekel as equal to about half-a-crown of our money, which would make the price of the vineyard about £125. But the estimate neglects the important element of variation in the purchasing power of money. The traveller Burckhardt, who found it the custom in Syria to estimate the value of a vineyard according to the number of vines, tells us that good vines are valued at less than three pence each.
25. And on all hills … mattock] And as for all the hills that used to be hoed with the mattock. Such hills were the best sites for vineyards (ch. Isa_5:2).
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there shall not come thither the fear …] This could only mean, in the present connexion, that there would be no more anxiety about thorns, &c., because the place was hopelessly overgrown by them. It is better to render with R.V. thou shalt not come thither for fear of, &c., although the construction is certainly harsh. Or the words might be taken as a continuation of the relative clause, thus: “And as for … mattock, whither no fear of thorns, &c. used to come, it shall be, &c.” This is perhaps preferable.
for the sending forth of oxen] i.e. a place where oxen are sent forth (cf. ch. Isa_32:20). the treading (ch. Isa_5:5) of lesser cattle (R.V. sheep).
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 (25) And on all hills that shall be digged…
(25) And on all hills that shall be digged . . .—Better, “that are digged” or that used to be digged with the hoe. The picture of devastation is completed. On the hill-sides, every inch of which was once brought under careful vine culture, “Thou wilt not enter for fear of thorns and briars” i.e., thou wilt not venture on the task of tilling the soil in face of such disarrangements. What would be the use of hoeing such a tangled mass of brushwood? At the best it must be left for such pasturage as oxen and sheep might find there as they browsed, and they by their trampling should but increase the mischief. The rendering of the Authorised version conveys the thought that where there was the careful culture thus described, there should be an exception to the general desolation. Below this, if we accept it, there may be a spiritual meaning like that of Jer_4:3 (Kay).
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 On all hills that shall be digged; rather, that…
On all hills that shall be digged; rather, that shall have been digged in former times, whether for corn cultivation or for any other. There shall not come thither the fear of briers (so Ewald and Kay). But almost all other commentators translate, "Thou shalt not come thither for fear of briers," etc. The briers and thorns of the East tear the clothes and the flesh. It shall be; i.e. "each such place shall be." For the sending forth of oxen; rather, for the sending in of oxen. Men shall send their cattle into them, as alone able to penetrate the jungle without hurt.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.