Isaiah 32:4

4 and the heart of fools shall understand knowing, and the tongue of stuttering men shall speak swiftly, and plainly.

Isaiah 32:4 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 32:4

The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge
Such who have been hasty and precipitant, as the word F3 signifies; who have not given themselves time to consider what they have read or heard, or has been proposed unto them, and have hastily received every thing that has been suggested to them, especially by carnal sense and reason, shall now sit down, and coolly consider things, and so gain an understanding of divine and spiritual knowledge, of the knowledge of Christ, of his person, offices, grace, righteousness, and salvation; an experimental knowledge and understanding of these things, heart and not head knowledge: and the tongue of the stammerer shall be ready to speak plainly;
or, "shall make haste to speak neatly" F4; elegantly and politely; such who hesitated in their speech, and spoke in a blundering manner, and scarcely intelligibly, especially when they spoke of divine and spiritual things, yet now, without the least hesitation, in the freest and most ready manner, with all plainness and propriety shall talk of these things, to the great delight, satisfaction, and use of those that hear them: this was true of the apostles of Christ, those babes and sucklings, out of whose mouth God ordained praise, and who were most of them Galilaeans, very illiterate and unpolished, and yet these, especially when they had the gift of tongues, spake the great things of God very readily, and in good language; and also is true of other ministers of the word, raised up among the barbarous nations of the world.


FOOTNOTES:

F3 (Myrhmn) "inconsideratorum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "praecipatorum", Montanus.
F4 (twxu rbdl rhmt) "festinabit loqui nitida", Pagninus; "polite", Munster; "diserte", Calvin; "loqui venusta", Cocceius.

Isaiah 32:4 In-Context

2 And a man shall be, as he that is hid from [the] wind, and hideth himself from tempest; as streams of waters in thirst (like streams of water in thirst), and (like) the shadow of a stone standing far out in a desert land.
3 The eyes of seers, that is, prophets, shall not dim, and the ears of hearers shall harken diligently;
4 and the heart of fools shall understand knowing, and the tongue of stuttering men shall speak swiftly, and plainly.
5 He that is unwise shall no more be called prince, and a guileful man shall not be called the greater. (He who is unwise shall no more be called a leader, and the deceitful shall no more be called great, or honourable.)
6 Forsooth a fool shall speak folly things, and his heart shall do wickedness, that he perform feigning, and speak to the Lord guilefully (so that he act falsely, and speak deceitfully, even to the Lord); and he shall make void the soul of an hungry man, and shall take away drink from a thirsty man.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.