Isaiah 24:18

18 Then it will be that he who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit, And he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare; For the ¹windows above * are opened, and the ²foundations of the earth shake.

Isaiah 24:18 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 24:18

And it shall come to pass, [that] he who fleeth from the
noise of the fear
From the fearful noise that will be made, the voices and thunderings heard in the heavens above, the sea and waves roaring below; or from wars, and rumours of wars, and terrible armies approaching and pursuing, ( Luke 21:25 ) ( Matthew 24:6 Matthew 24:7 ) or rather at the report of an object to be feared and dreaded by wicked men, even the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, ( Revelation 1:7 ) : shall fall into the pit;
of ruin and destruction, dug for the wicked, ( Psalms 94:13 ) just as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fell into the slime pits, when they fled from their conquerors, ( Genesis 14:10 ) : and he that comes up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in
the snare;
the meaning is, that he that escapes one trouble should fall into another, so that there will be no safety anywhere. Jarchi's note is,

``he that escapes the sword of Messiah ben Joseph, shall fall upon the sword of Messiah ben David; and he that escapes from thence shall be taken in a snare in the war of Gog:''

for the windows from on high are open;
not hereby signifying, as Jerom thinks, that the Lord would now see all the sins of men, which, because he did not punish before, he seemed by sinners to be ignorant of; but the allusion is to the opening of the windows of heaven at the time of the deluge, ( Genesis 7:11 ) and intimates, that the wrath of God should be revealed from heaven, and the severest judgments be denounced, made manifest, and come down from thence in a very visible, public, and terrible manner, like an overflowing tempest of rain: and the foundations of the earth do shake:
very probably the dissolution of the world may be attended with a general earthquake; or this may denote the dread and terror that will seize the inhabitants of it.

Isaiah 24:18 In-Context

16 From the ends of the earth we hear songs, "Glory to the Righteous One," But I say, "Woe to me! Woe to me! Alas for me! The treacherous deal treacherously, And the treacherous deal very treacherously."

17 Terror and pit and snare Confront you, O inhabitant of the earth.

18 Then it will be that he who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit, And he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare; For the windows above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake.

19 The earth is broken asunder, The earth is split through, The earth is shaken violently.

20 The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard And it totters like a shack, For its transgression is heavy upon it, And it will fall, never to rise again.

Cross References

• 1. Genesis 7:11
• 2. Psalms 18:7; Psalms 46:2; Isaiah 2:19, 21; Isaiah 13:13

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "sound of terror"
• [b]. Lit "goes up from the midst of"
• [c]. Lit "from the height;" i.e. heaven