Isaiah 22:4

4 Therefore, I said, "Don't look at me; let me weep bitterly. Don't try to comfort me about the destruction of my dearly loved people."

Isaiah 22:4 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 22:4

Therefore said I
Not God to the ministering angels, as Jarchi; but the prophet to those that were about him, his relations, friends, and acquaintance: look away from me;
turn away from me, look another way; cease from me, let me alone; leave me to myself, that I may weep in secret, take my fill of sorrow, and give full vent to it: I will weep bitterly;
or, "I will be bitter", or, "bitter myself in weeping" ^F14; it denotes the vehemence of his grief, the greatness of his sorrow, and the strength of his passion: labour not to comfort me;
make use of no arguments to persuade me to lay aside my mourning; do not be urgent and importunate with me to receive consolation, for my soul refuses to be comforted: because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people;
his countrymen, which were as dear to him as a daughter to a tender parent, now spoiled, plundered, and made desolate by the ravages of the enemy, in many cities of Judea.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 (ykbb rrma) "amarificabo me in fletu", Montanus; "amaritudine afficiam me in isto fletu", Junius & Tremellius.

Isaiah 22:4 In-Context

2 you who are filled with noise, you roaring city, you party town? Your dead weren't slaughtered by the sword; they didn't die in battle.

3 All your leaders escaped together but were captured without a single bow shot. All your escapees were bound together, even though they fled far away.

4 Therefore, I said, "Don't look at me; let me weep bitterly. Don't try to comfort me about the destruction of my dearly loved people."

5 The LORD God of heavenly forces has a day of tumult and trampling and turmoil in the Valley of Vision, a breaking down of walls, a cry for help to the mountains.

6 Elam carried the quiver with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.