Isaiah 30:14

14 Its breaking is like the breaking of a storage jar that is totally shattered. No piece from among its fragments will be large enough to take fire from a hearth, or to dip water from a cistern.

Isaiah 30:14 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 30:14

And he shall break it as the breaking of the potter's
vessel
That is, their confidence in an arm of flesh, and they that place it there; and this either God shall do, or the enemy, and God by him; or rather it may he rendered impersonally, "it shall be broken"; and may refer to the wall to which the ruin of this people is compared, that that when it falls shall be broke to pieces, as a potter's vessel is when it falls upon a pavement, or is dashed against anything, or, struck with a rod of iron: that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare;
or that is broken in pieces without mercy, as the Targum; no pity shall be shown by the enemy, nor mercy from the Lord: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to
take fire from the hearth, or to take water [withal] out of the
pit;
as poor people are wont to do, to take fire from the hearth, and water out of a well, in a piece of a broken pitcher ^F14; but this vessel should be broke into so many shivers, that there should not be such a piece left of it as could be made use of for such purposes. This denotes the utter and irreparable ruin and destruction of these people, which, though it was not at this time, yet afterwards by the Babylonians, and especially by the Romans.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 Vid. Misn. Sabbat, c. 8. sect. 7.

Isaiah 30:14 In-Context

12 Therefore, the holy one of Israel says: Because you reject this word and trust in oppression and cunning and rely on them,

13 your sin will be like a crack in a high wall; it bulges, about to fall: suddenly, in an instant, it breaks!

14 Its breaking is like the breaking of a storage jar that is totally shattered. No piece from among its fragments will be large enough to take fire from a hearth, or to dip water from a cistern.

15 Therefore, the LORD God, the holy one of Israel, says: In return and rest you will be saved; quietness and trust will be your strength— but you refused.

16 You said, "No! We'll flee on horses"— therefore, you will indeed flee— "and we'll ride off; on swift steeds we will ride"— therefore, your pursuers will be swift.