Isaiah 30:13

13 therefore this wickedness shall be to you as a breaking falling down, and sought in an high wall; for suddenly while it is not hoped, the breaking thereof shall come. (and so this wickedness shall be to you like a high wall that hath a crack running down it; and then suddenly, when it is not expected, its breaking shall come.)

Isaiah 30:13 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 30:13

Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready
to fall
Or, "as a falling breach" ^F13; contempt of the word of God, and trusting in wickedness, rejecting the counsel of God, and placing confidence in the creature, these would be the cause of ruin; which ruin is signified by the breach of a falling wall, or by a breach in a wall, by reason of which it is in danger of falling, and is just ready to fall: swelling out in a high wall;
like a wall that bellies out and bulges, and which, when it once begins to do, suddenly falls; and the higher it is, it comes with more force, and the greater is the fall: whose breaking cometh suddenly, at an instant;
and so it is suggested, should be the ruin of this people; the high towering confidence they had in Egypt would fall with its own weight, and they with it, and be broken to pieces in a moment; and which is further illustrated by another simile.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 (lpwn Urpk) "sicut ruptura cadens", Montanus, Cocceius, De Dieu. Ben Melech observes, that a breach is after the building is fallen; for the breach does not fall, but it is said on account of the end of it, or what it is at last, as in Isa. xlvii. 2. "grind meal" or "flour".

Isaiah 30:13 In-Context

11 Do ye away from me the way, bow ye away from me the path; the Holy of Israel cease from our face. (Who say, Get ye out of my way, turn ye away from me on the path; make the Holy One of Israel to go away from us.)

12 Therefore the Holy of Israel saith these things, For that that ye reproved this word, and hoped on false challenge, and on noise, and trusted on it, (And so the Holy One of Israel saith these things, Because ye have rebuked this word, and hoped in oppression, and noise, and trusted in it,)

13 therefore this wickedness shall be to you as a breaking falling down, and sought in an high wall; for suddenly while it is not hoped, the breaking thereof shall come. (and so this wickedness shall be to you like a high wall that hath a crack running down it; and then suddenly, when it is not expected, its breaking shall come.)

14 And it shall be made less, as a vessel of a potter is broken with full strong breaking; and a sherd shall not be found of the gobbets, either remnants, thereof, in which sherd a little fire shall be borne of (the) burning, either a little of water shall be drawn of the ditch. (And it shall be made less, like the vessel of a potter is broken with great breaking; and a shard shall not be found of its pieces, or of its remnants, by which shard a little of the fire can be carried out of the burning, or a little of the water can be drawn out of the ditch.)

15 For why the Lord God, the Holy of Israel, saith these things, If ye turn again, and rest, ye shall be safe; in stillness and in hope shall be your strength. And ye would not. (For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, saith these things, If ye return, and rest, ye shall be safe; in stillness and in hope shall be your strength. But ye would not listen to me/But ye would not do it.)