Isaiah 30:24

24 And thy bulls and colts of asses, that work the land, shall eat barley with chaff meddled together, as it is winnowed in the cornfloor. (And thy bulls and the colts of donkeys, that work the land, shall eat barley mixed, or mingled, together with chaff, after that it is winnowed on the threshing floor.)

Isaiah 30:24 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 30:24

The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground,
&c.] Or till it; for though these might not be joined together in a yoke, yet they were made use of separately in ploughing land, ( Deuteronomy 22:10 ) :

shall eat clean provender;
the word for "provender" signifies a mixture, such as cattle eat, especially horses, as beans, oats, barley, and fitches, and of which there should be such plenty, that the cattle should eat of it; not of the chaff and husks of these, nor these in their husk and straw, but as cleansed from them, as follows:

which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan:
with the former of which the corn was raised up and shook, and with the latter fanned. Now this is expressive of great plenty, that cattle should feed on winnowed corn. The Septuagint indeed render it,

``they shall eat chaff mixed with winnowed barley;''

but if they were to eat chaff with it, there would be no need to winnow it. This may be mystically understood of apostles, and of apostolical men, as Jerom; and of all Gospel preachers, especially in the latter day, who labour in the word and doctrine, and feed upon the pure food of the Gospel themselves, and bring it to others; see ( 1 Corinthians 9:9 1 Corinthians 9:10 ) ( 1 Timothy 5:17 1 Timothy 5:18 ) .

Isaiah 30:24 In-Context

22 And thou shalt defoul the plates of the graven images of thy silver, and the cloak of the molten image of thy gold; and thou shalt scatter them, as the uncleanness of a woman in unclean blood; Go thou out, and thou shalt say to it. (And thou shalt defile thy carved idols plated with silver, and thy cast idols cloaked in gold; and thou shalt throw them away, like the unclean cloth of a woman in unclean blood; and thou shalt say to them, Go thou away.)
23 And rain shall be given to thy seed, wherever thou shalt sow in [the] earth, and the bread of [the] fruits of [the] earth shall be most plenteous and fat; in that day a lamb shall be fed largely in thy possession (on that day thy cattle shall be fed in large, or broad, pastures).
24 And thy bulls and colts of asses, that work the land, shall eat barley with chaff meddled together, as it is winnowed in the cornfloor. (And thy bulls and the colts of donkeys, that work the land, shall eat barley mixed, or mingled, together with chaff, after that it is winnowed on the threshing floor.)
25 And strands of running waters shall be on each high mountain, and on each little hill raised (and on each raised up little hill), in the day of (the) slaying of many men, when towers fall down.
26 And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day in which the Lord shall bind together the wound of his people, and shall make whole the smiting of the wound(s) thereof. (And the light of the moon shall be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, like the light of seven days, on the day when the Lord shall bind up the wounds of his people, yea, when he shall make whole, or shall heal, all their wounds.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.