Isaiah 31:5

5 Like birds flying [overhead], so Yahweh of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver [it]; he will pass over and rescue [it].

Isaiah 31:5 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 31:5

As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend
Jerusalem
As the preceding metaphor expresses the mighty power of God, this his tenderness and affection, as well as his speed and swiftness in the deliverance of his people. As birds in the air, at a distance, especially the eagle, have their eye upon their nests, and their young ones in them, and when in danger fly to their assistance, and hover over them, and about them, to keep off those that would hurt them, or carry them away; so the Lord, on high, sees his people when in distress, and hastens to help them, and does surround, protect, and defend them: thus the Lord did, when Sennacherib with his army besieged Jerusalem; who boasted, with respect to other nations, that he had "found as a nest the riches of the people", and that "there was none that moved the wing against him", ( Isaiah 10:14 ) to which it is thought the allusion is here: defending also he will deliver [it];
from present distress, the siege of the Assyrian army: [and] passing over he will preserve [it];
passing over the city of Jerusalem to the army of the king of Assyria, that lay encamped against it; and smiting that by an angel with a sudden destruction, preserved the city from the ruin it was threatened with. The allusion is rightly thought to be to the Lord's passing over the houses of the Israelites, when he destroyed the firstborn in Egypt, ( Exodus 12:23 ) where the same word is used as here, and nowhere else.

Isaiah 31:5 In-Context

3 And the Egyptians [are] human and not God, and their horses [are] flesh and not spirit. And Yahweh stretches out his hand, and [the] helper will stumble, and [the] one being helped will fall, and together all of them will come to an end.

4 For Yahweh said this to me: "As which [a] lion growls and [a] young lion over its prey when {a full group} of shepherds is called against him, it is not terrified by their voice, and to their noise it does not respond, so Yahweh of hosts will come down to fight upon Mount Zion and upon its hill.

5 Like birds flying [overhead], so Yahweh of hosts will protect Jerusalem; he will protect and deliver [it]; he will pass over and rescue [it].

6 Turn back to [the one against] whom the sons of Israel have made deep rebellion.

7 For on that day, each one will reject his idols of silver and his idols of gold which your hands have made [in] sin for you.