Isaiah 33:19

19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering[a] tongue, that thou canst not understand.

Isaiah 33:19 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 33:19

Thou shalt not see a fierce people
A people of a fierce countenance, as in ( Daniel 8:23 ) fierce in their looks, furious in their temper, cruel and bloodthirsty in their practices, confirmed and hardened in their sins, whose consciences are seared as with a red hot iron; a character given of the Papists, ( 1 Timothy 4:2 ) these shall be no more seen nor feared: a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive;
than the people in common could, having their worship and devotion not in their mother tongue, but in the Latin tongue: of a stammering tongue, [that thou canst] not understand:
meaning the same as before, a barbarous language, as everyone is to those who understand it not; so the Syriac and Assyrian languages were to the Jews, ( 2 Kings 18:26 ) and so the Roman language to other nations; but now no more to be used in religious worship; nor shall the church of God be any more visited by Turks or Papists, and be in any dread of them more.

Isaiah 33:19 In-Context

17 Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.
18 Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.
20 Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.
21 But there the glorious LORD will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. stammering: or, ridiculous
The King James Version is in the public domain.