Isaiah 24:17

17 Fear, and a snare, and a gin, [Are] on thee, O inhabitant of the land.

Isaiah 24:17 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 24:17

Fear, and the pit, and the snare, [are] upon thee, O
inhabitant of the earth.
] This is to be understood not of the land of Judea only, and the inhabitants of it, but of all the earth; Kimchi interprets it of the nations of the world, particularly the Greeks and Turks; but the whole world, and the inhabitants of it, are meant, as the following verses show. There is an elegant play on words in the Hebrew, which cannot well be expressed in English, in the words "pachad, pachath, pach", fear, pit, and a snare; which are expressive of a variety of dangers, difficulties, and distresses; there seems to be an allusion to creatures that are hunted, who flee through fear, and fleeing fall into pits, or are entangled in snares, and so taken. Before the last day, or second coming of Christ to judge the world, there will be great perplexity in men's minds, great dread and fear upon their hearts, and much distress of nations; and the coming of the Son of Man will be as a snare upon the earth; see ( Luke 21:25 Luke 21:26 Luke 21:35 ) .

Isaiah 24:17 In-Context

15 Therefore in prosperity honour ye Jehovah, In isles of the sea, the name of Jehovah, God of Israel.
16 From the skirt of the earth we heard songs, The desire of the righteous. And I say, `Leanness [is] to me, Leanness [is] to me, wo [is] to me.' Treacherous dealers dealt treacherously, Yea, treachery, treacherous dealers dealt treacherously.
17 Fear, and a snare, and a gin, [Are] on thee, O inhabitant of the land.
18 And it hath come to pass, He who is fleeing from the noise of the fear Doth fall into the snare, And he who is coming up from the midst of the snare, Is captured by the gin, For windows on high have been opened, And shaken are foundations of the land.
19 Utterly broken down hath been the land, Utterly broken hath been the land, Utterly moved hath been the land.
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.