Isaiah 32:12

12 super ubera plangite super regione desiderabili super vinea fertili

Isaiah 32:12 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 32:12

They shall lament for the teats
Either of the beasts of the field, that should be dried up, and give no milk, through the great drought that should be upon the land; or through the waste of the herbage by the enemy; or else of the women, their breasts and paps, which should afford no milk for their infants, through the famine that should press them sore, which would occasion great lamentation, both in mothers and children; though some think are to be understood of the fields, and are explained by them in the next clause; the fruitful earth being compared to a woman, its fields are like breasts or paps, which yield food and nourishment, but now should not afford any, and therefore there would be cause of lamentation. Jarchi interprets it, "they shall beat upon their breasts" F13 a gesture used in lamentation to express exceeding great grief and sorrow, ( Luke 18:13 ) ( 23:48 ) some, because the word rendered "lament" is of the masculine gender, and so not applicable to women, render the words in connection with the preceding verse ( Isaiah 32:11 ) thus,

``gird sackcloth on your loins, and on your mourning breasts'' F14;
though they may be interpreted indefinitely, "there shall be lamentation for the teats", among all sorts of people, men, women, and children: for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine;
as the fields are when covered with corn and grass, and the vines with clusters of grapes, but now should not be, either through drought, or by being foraged and trampled on by the enemy.
FOOTNOTES:

F13 So it is explained in T. Bab. Moed Katon, fol. 27. 2.
F14 So Castalio.

Isaiah 32:12 In-Context

10 post dies et annum et vos conturbabimini confidentes consummata est enim vindemia collectio ultra non veniet
11 obstupescite opulentae conturbamini confidentes exuite vos et confundimini accingite lumbos vestros
12 super ubera plangite super regione desiderabili super vinea fertili
13 super humum populi mei spina et vepres ascendent quanto magis super omnes domos gaudii civitatis exultantis
14 domus enim dimissa est multitudo urbis relicta est tenebrae et palpatio factae sunt super speluncas usque in aeternum gaudium onagrorum pascua gregum
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.