Isaiah 30:14

14 And he breaks it like a vessel of {a potter} breaks, [that] is crushed; he has no compassion, and no potsherd is found among its fragments {to take fire} from [the] hearth, or {to skim} water from [the] 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 this: "Because you [are] rejecting this word and you trust in oppression and {cunning} and you rely on it,

13 therefore this iniquity shall come for you like a breach about to fall, bulging out on a high wall {that breaks} suddenly, [in] an instant.

14 And he breaks it like a vessel of {a potter} breaks, [that] is crushed; he has no compassion, and no potsherd is found among its fragments {to take fire} from [the] hearth, or {to skim} water from [the] cistern."

15 For the Lord Yahweh, the holy one of Israel, said this: "In returning and rest you shall be saved; your strength shall be in quietness and in trust." But you were not willing,

16 and you said, "No! For we will flee on horses!" Therefore you shall flee! And, "We will ride on swift horses!" Therefore your pursuers shall be swift!

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "someone who forms"
• [b]. Hebrew "fragment"
• [c]. Literally "for the taking away of fire"
• [d]. Literally "for the skimming off of"