Isaiah 22:4

4 Therefore I said: “Look away from me; ¹let me weep bitter tears; do not labor to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my 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 full of shoutings, tumultuous city, exultant town? Your slain are not slain with the sword or dead in battle.

3 All your leaders have fled together; without the bow they were captured. All of you who were found were captured, though they had fled far away.

4 Therefore I said: “Look away from me; let me weep bitter tears; do not labor to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people. ”

5 For the Lord God of hosts has a day of tumult and trampling and confusion in the valley of vision, a battering down of walls and a shouting to the mountains.

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

Cross References

• 1. 22:4 Jer. 9:1; Mic. 1:8