Isaiah 51:19-23

Cross-references For Better Understanding a Related Topics b Additional Materials c

Summary

• Famine - an environmental issue - was one of the things that came to Israel, as part of God's judgment against the nation.

• God is in control of judgment. In this passage, God says he will end Israel's judgment, and begin the judgment of those who had afflicted them.

See: God's Control over Judgment.

Details and/or Comments

• Though God's mercy is great, and though he delays a nation's deserved judgment until the people have gone into wickedness far beyond the "point of no return," judgment just eventually come.

Scripture

Isaiah 51:19-23

Scripture Passage	Comments and Links
Isa 51:19 These two things have happened to you. Who will bemoan you? Desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword; how shall I comfort you? Isa 51:20 Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of Yahweh, the rebuke of your God.	Their devastation... included famine. Famine God had warned them many centuries before, that this would happen if they abandoned God and went after idols. See: Leviticus 26:1-45; also Deuteronomy 29:1-29.
Isa 51:21 Therefore hear now this, you afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine: Isa 51:22 Thus says your Lord Yahweh, and your God who pleads the cause of his people, "Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of my wrath; you shall no more drink it again: Isa 51:23 and I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, 'Bow down, that we may walk over you;' and you have laid your back as the ground, and as the street, to those who walk over."	Judgment - soon to be taken from them and given to their enemies. Israel's return to the land (which came after the judgment of Babylon) was also foretold: Deuteronomy 30:1-20. The Judgment of the Wicked Grapes, Wine, Drunkenness (and the results of drunkenness) - These are often used (symbolically) to illustrate judgment. The book of Habakkuk describes Israel's judgment by a nation that was even more wicked... and later, that nation would be judged. (The Isaiah passage refers to the same event.) Habakkuk 1:5-6; 2:8 Using the Babylonians to judge Israel: Hab 1:5-6 - "Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe though it is told you. For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs..." Judging the Babylonians: Hab 2:8 - "Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it." (etc.)

Scripture Passages (Only books that have relevance to this study have active links. The others are in italics.) Genesis  •  Exodus  •  Leviticus  •  Numbers  •  Deuteronomy  •  Joshua  •  Judges  •  Ruth  •  1 Samuel  •  2 Samuel  •  1 Kings  •  2 Kings  •  1 Chronicles  •  2 Chronicles  •  Ezra  •  Nehemiah  •  Esther  •  Job  •  Psalms  •  Proverbs  •  Ecclesiastes  •  Song of Solomon  •  Isaiah  •  Jeremiah  •  Lamentations  •  Ezekiel  •  Daniel  •  Hosea  •  Joel  •  Amos  •  Obadiah  •  Jonah  •  Micah  •  Nahum  •  Habakkuk  •  Zephaniah  •  Haggai  •  Zechariah  •  Malachi Matthew  •  Mark  •  Luke  •  John  •  Acts  •  Romans  •  1 Corinthians  •  2 Corinthians  •  Galatians  •  Ephesians  •  Philippians  •  Colossians  •  1 Thessalonians  •  2 Thessalonians  •  1 Timothy  •  2 Timothy  •  Titus  •  Philemon  •  Hebrews  •  James  •  1 Peter  •  2 Peter  •  1 John  •  2 John  •  3 John  •  Jude  •  Revelation

—— To avoid any copyright issues, all Scripture is either from a public domain translation (such as the World English Bible), my own translation, or a combination of these. ——

The name "Yahweh," when present in an Old Testament passage, represents the Hebrew name for the God of the Bible.

Unless otherwise noted, all notes and comments are © by Dennis Hinks.