Isaiah 30:14

14 It will break like pottery. It will be smashed, and nothing will be left of it. No piece will be big enough to carry live coals from a fireplace or to dip water from a reservoir.

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.

---

FOOTNOTES:

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

Isaiah 30:14 In-Context

12 This is what the Holy One of Israel says: You have rejected this warning, trusted oppression and deceit, and leaned on them.

13 That is why your sin will be like a high wall with a bulging crack, ready to fall. All of a sudden it will fall.

14 It will break like pottery. It will be smashed, and nothing will be left of it. No piece will be big enough to carry live coals from a fireplace or to dip water from a reservoir.

15 This is what the Almighty LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: You can be saved by returning to me. You can have rest. You can be strong by being quiet and by trusting me. But you don't want that.

16 You've said, "No, we'll flee on horses." So you flee. You've added, "We'll ride on fast horses." So those who chase you will also be fast.