Isaiah 24:17

17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.

Isaiah 24:17 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 24:17

Fear, and the pit, and the snare, [are] upon thee, O
inhabitant of the earth.
] This is to be understood not of the land of Judea only, and the inhabitants of it, but of all the earth; Kimchi interprets it of the nations of the world, particularly the Greeks and Turks; but the whole world, and the inhabitants of it, are meant, as the following verses show. There is an elegant play on words in the Hebrew, which cannot well be expressed in English, in the words "pachad, pachath, pach", fear, pit, and a snare; which are expressive of a variety of dangers, difficulties, and distresses; there seems to be an allusion to creatures that are hunted, who flee through fear, and fleeing fall into pits, or are entangled in snares, and so taken. Before the last day, or second coming of Christ to judge the world, there will be great perplexity in men's minds, great dread and fear upon their hearts, and much distress of nations; and the coming of the Son of Man will be as a snare upon the earth; see ( Luke 21:25 Luke 21:26 Luke 21:35 ) .

Isaiah 24:17 In-Context

15 Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea.

16 From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said , My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously ; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously .

17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.

18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open , and the foundations of the earth do shake .

19 The earth is utterly broken down , the earth is clean dissolved , the earth is moved exceedingly .