Isaiah 13:12

12 I will make people scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir.

Isaiah 13:12 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
English Standard Version (ESV)
12 I will make people more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir.
New Living Translation (NLT)
12 I will make people scarcer than gold— more rare than the fine gold of Ophir.
The Message Bible (MSG)
12 Proud humanity will disappear from the earth. I'll make mortals rarer than hens' teeth.
American Standard Version (ASV)
12 I will make a man more rare than fine gold, even a man than the pure gold of Ophir.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
12 I will make people harder to find than pure gold and human beings more rare than gold from Ophir.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
12 I will make man scarcer than gold, and mankind more rare than the gold of Ophir.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
12 He'll make men harder to find than pure gold. They will be harder to find than gold from Ophir.

Isaiah 13:12 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 13:12

I will make a man more precious than fine gold
Which may denote either the scarcity of men in Babylon, through the slaughter made of them; so things that are scarce and rare are said to be precious, ( 1 Samuel 3:1 ) or the resolution of the Medes to spare none, though ever so much gold were offered to them, they being not to be bribed therewith, ( Isaiah 13:17 ) or that such should be the fear of men, that they would not be prevailed upon to take up arms to defend themselves or their king, whatever quantity of gold, even the best, was proposed unto them, a man was not to be got for money: even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir;
which designs the same thing in different words. The Targum gives another sense of the whole, paraphrasing it thus,

``I will love them that fear me more than gold, of which men glory; and those that keep the law more than the fine gold of Ophir;''
understanding it of the Israelites, that were in Babylon when it was taken, and who were precious and in high esteem with the Medes and Persians, more than gold, and whose lives they spared. Jarchi interprets it particularly of Daniel, and of the honour that was done him by Belshazzar, upon his reading and interpreting the writing on the wall, ( Daniel 5:29 ) . This is interpreted by the Jews also of the King Messiah; for in an ancient writing F7 of theirs, where having mentioned this passage, it is added, this is the Messiah, that shall ascend and be more precious than all the children of the world, and all the children of the world shall worship and bow before him. Some take "Phaz", the word for fine gold, to be the name of a place from whence it came, and therefore was so called; and that the kingdom of Phez, in Africa, has its name from hence; and Ophir is taken to be Peru in America; though others place it in India; and the Arabic version renders it, "a man shall be more precious than a little stone that is" brought "from India"; and the Septuagint version is, "than a stone in", or "of sapphire".
FOOTNOTES:

F7 Zohar in Gen. fol. 71, 1.

Isaiah 13:12 In-Context

10 The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.
11 I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
12 I will make people scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORD Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.
14 Like a hunted gazelle, like sheep without a shepherd, they will all return to their own people, they will flee to their native land.

Cross References 2

Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.