Isaiah 30:14

14 You will be smashed like a piece of pottery— shattered so completely that there won’t be a piece big enough to carry coals from a fireplace or a little water from the well.”

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 This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel: “Because you despise what I tell you and trust instead in oppression and lies,

13 calamity will come upon you suddenly— like a bulging wall that bursts and falls. In an instant it will collapse and come crashing down.

14 You will be smashed like a piece of pottery— shattered so completely that there won’t be a piece big enough to carry coals from a fireplace or a little water from the well.”

15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it.

16 You said, ‘No, we will get our help from Egypt. They will give us swift horses for riding into battle.’ But the only swiftness you are going to see is the swiftness of your enemies chasing you!