Isaiah 7:19

19 They will come and settle in the steep ravines, in the cracks of the cliffs, in all the thornbushes, and in all the watering holes.

Isaiah 7:19 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 7:19

And they shall come
The Egyptian and Assyrian armies, when the Lord calls for them in his providence, and his time is come to make use of them as a scourge to his people: and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys:
made so by war; this is said in allusion to flies and bees resting on trees and flowers; and signifies that these armies, after long and tedious marches, should all of them, without being diminished by the way, enter the land of Judea, fill all places, and take up their abode there for a while: and in the holes of the rocks.
Kimchi thinks that the former phrase designs cities in valleys, and this fortified cities which are upon rocks: and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes;
in allusion to flies and bees. Kimchi interprets this of unwalled towns and villages. The Targum of the whole verse is,

``and they shall all of them come and dwell in the streets of the cities, and in the clifts of the rocks, and in all deserts full of sedges, and in all houses of praise.''
The sense is, that they should be in all cities, towns, and villages, whether fortified or not, and in all houses of high and low, rich and poor, in cottages and in palaces; there would be no place free from them, nor no escaping out of their hands.

Isaiah 7:19 In-Context

17 The LORD will bring upon you, upon your people, and upon your families days unlike any that have come since the day Ephraim broke away from Judah—the king of Assyria."
18 On that day, the LORD will whistle for the flies from the remotest streams of Egypt and for the bees that are in the land of Assyria.
19 They will come and settle in the steep ravines, in the cracks of the cliffs, in all the thornbushes, and in all the watering holes.
20 On that day, the Lord will shave with a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates—with the king of Assyria—the head and the pubic hair, and will cut off the beard as well.
21 On that day, one will raise a young cow and two sheep
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