Isaiah 30:14

14 its breaking is like that of a potter's vessel that is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a sherd is found for taking fire from the hearth, or dipping water out of 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 thus says the Holy One of Israel: Because you reject this word, and put your trust in oppression and deceit, and rely on them;

13 therefore this iniquity shall become for you like a break in a high wall, bulging out, and about to collapse, whose crash comes suddenly, in an instant;

14 its breaking is like that of a potter's vessel that is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a sherd is found for taking fire from the hearth, or dipping water out of the cistern.

15 For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength. But you refused

16 and said, "No! We will flee upon horses"— therefore you shall flee! and, "We will ride upon swift steeds"— therefore your pursuers shall be swift!