Isaiah 7:19

19 And they will come, covering all the waste valleys, and the holes of the rocks, and the thorns, and all the watering-places.

Isaiah 7:19 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 7:19

And they shall come
The Egyptian and Assyrian armies, when the Lord calls for them in his providence, and his time is come to make use of them as a scourge to his people: and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys:
made so by war; this is said in allusion to flies and bees resting on trees and flowers; and signifies that these armies, after long and tedious marches, should all of them, without being diminished by the way, enter the land of Judea, fill all places, and take up their abode there for a while: and in the holes of the rocks.
Kimchi thinks that the former phrase designs cities in valleys, and this fortified cities which are upon rocks: and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes;
in allusion to flies and bees. Kimchi interprets this of unwalled towns and villages. The Targum of the whole verse is,

``and they shall all of them come and dwell in the streets of the cities, and in the clifts of the rocks, and in all deserts full of sedges, and in all houses of praise.''
The sense is, that they should be in all cities, towns, and villages, whether fortified or not, and in all houses of high and low, rich and poor, in cottages and in palaces; there would be no place free from them, nor no escaping out of their hands.

Isaiah 7:19 In-Context

17 The Lord is about to send on you, and on your people, and on your father's house, such a time of trouble as there has not been from the days of the separating of Ephraim from Judah; even the coming of the king of Assyria.
18 And it will be in that day that the Lord will make a piping sound for the fly which is in the end of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee which is in the land of Assyria.
19 And they will come, covering all the waste valleys, and the holes of the rocks, and the thorns, and all the watering-places.
20 In that day will the Lord take away the hair of the head and of the feet, as well as the hair of the face, with a blade got for a price from the other side of the River; even with the king of Assyria.
21 And it will be in that day that a man will give food to a young cow and two sheep;
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