Isaiah 34:4

4 The sun, moon, and stars will crumble to dust. The sky will disappear like a scroll being rolled up, and the stars will fall like leaves dropping from a vine or a fig tree. 1

Isaiah 34:4 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 34:4

And all the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved
"Pine away" F9, as with sickness, grow languid, become obscure, lose their light, and be turned into blood and darkness; this figure is used to express the horror of this calamity, as if the very heavens themselves, and the sun, and moon, and stars, were affected with it; see ( Isaiah 13:10 ) and the heavens shall be rolled gether as a scroll;
a book, or volume, which when rolled up, one letter of it could not be read; and it was the manner formerly of making and writing books in the form of a roll; hence the word volume; and here it signifies that there should be such a change in the heavens, as that not a star should be seen, much less the sun or moon; and may signify the utter removal and abolition of all dignities and offices, supreme and subordinate, civil and ecclesiastical, in the whole Roman jurisdiction; thus the destruction of Rome Pagan is described in ( Revelation 6:14 ) as the destruction of Rome Papal is here; from whence the language seems to be borrowed: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from
the vine, and as a falling [fig] from the fig tree;
that is, the stars should fall down: by whom may be meant persons in office, that made a considerable figure; who shall fall from their stations, in which they shone with much splendour and grandeur, as leaves fall from trees in autumn, particularly the vine; or as unripe and rotten figs fall from the fig tree when shaken by a violent wind; the same metaphor is used in ( Revelation 6:13 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F9 (wqmn) "tabescet", Vatablus; "centabescet", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "contabescent", Cocceius, Gataker.

Isaiah 34:4 In-Context

2 The Lord is angry with all the nations and all their armies. He has condemned them to destruction.
3 Their corpses will not be buried, but will lie there rotting and stinking; and the mountains will be red with blood.
4 The sun, moon, and stars will crumble to dust. The sky will disappear like a scroll being rolled up, and the stars will fall like leaves dropping from a vine or a fig tree.
5 The Lord has prepared his sword in heaven, and now it will strike Edom, those people whom he has condemned to destruction.
6 His sword will be covered with their blood and fat, like the blood and fat of lambs and goats that are sacrificed. The Lord will offer this sacrifice in the city of Bozrah; he will make this a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

Cross References 1

  • 1. 34.4Matthew 24.29;Mark 13.25;Luke 21.26;Revelation 6.13, 14.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.