Isaiah 51:18

18 There is no one to lead you, no one among your people to take you by the hand.

Isaiah 51:18 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 51:18

There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath
brought forth
Still alluding to drunken persons staggering in the streets, that can scarcely stand on their feet, and do not know their way, and yet have none to hold them up and guide them, not even of their friends and relations: neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that
she hath brought up;
to hold her up from falling, of which there is danger by reeling to and fro, through the intoxicating liquor; and this, either for want of sons, these being dead, or through want of filial affection in them. This was true of Jerusalem, literally understood, at the time of her last destruction by the Romans, when she had no king, priest, nor prophet, to counsel and direct, defend and protect her; and will be the case of the church of God at the slaying of the witnesses, when their own friends will be shy of them, and refuse or neglect to do any kind offices, or show any respect unto them, signified by not suffering their dead bodies to be put into graves, ( Revelation 11:9 ) .

Isaiah 51:18 In-Context

16 I stretched out the heavens and laid the earth's foundations; I say to Jerusalem, "You are my people! I have given you my teaching, and I protect you with my hand.' "
17 Jerusalem, wake up! Rouse yourself and get up! You have drunk the cup of punishment that the Lord in his anger gave you to drink; you drank it down, and it made you stagger.
18 There is no one to lead you, no one among your people to take you by the hand.
19 A double disaster has fallen on you: your land has been devastated by war, and your people have starved. There is no one to show you sympathy.
20 At the corner of every street your people collapse from weakness; they are like deer caught in a hunter's net. They have felt the force of God's anger.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.