Isaiah 32:12

12 beating your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,

Isaiah 32:12 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 32:12

They shall lament for the teats
Either of the beasts of the field, that should be dried up, and give no milk, through the great drought that should be upon the land; or through the waste of the herbage by the enemy; or else of the women, their breasts and paps, which should afford no milk for their infants, through the famine that should press them sore, which would occasion great lamentation, both in mothers and children; though some think are to be understood of the fields, and are explained by them in the next clause; the fruitful earth being compared to a woman, its fields are like breasts or paps, which yield food and nourishment, but now should not afford any, and therefore there would be cause of lamentation. Jarchi interprets it, "they shall beat upon their breasts" F13 a gesture used in lamentation to express exceeding great grief and sorrow, ( Luke 18:13 ) ( 23:48 ) some, because the word rendered "lament" is of the masculine gender, and so not applicable to women, render the words in connection with the preceding verse ( Isaiah 32:11 ) thus,

``gird sackcloth on your loins, and on your mourning breasts'' F14;
though they may be interpreted indefinitely, "there shall be lamentation for the teats", among all sorts of people, men, women, and children: for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine;
as the fields are when covered with corn and grass, and the vines with clusters of grapes, but now should not be, either through drought, or by being foraged and trampled on by the enemy.
FOOTNOTES:

F13 So it is explained in T. Bab. Moed Katon, fol. 27. 2.
F14 So Castalio.

Isaiah 32:12 In-Context

10 In a little over a year, the carefree will shudder, because the grape harvest will fail; the vintage won't arrive.
11 Tremble, all of you who are at ease; shudder, all of you who are secure! Strip yourselves, bare your skin, and tie mourning clothes around your waist,
12 beating your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,
13 for my people's soil growing barbs and thorns, for all the joyous houses in the jubilant town.
14 The palace will be deserted, the crowded city abandoned. Stronghold and watchtower will become empty fields forever, suited for the pleasure of wild donkeys, and a pasture for flocks—
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