Isaiah 21:4

Bible in Basic English

My mind is wandering, fear has overcome me: the evening of my desire has been turned into shaking for me.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
My heart staggers;horror terrifies me.He has turned my last glimmer of hopeinto sheer terror.

Hebrew Names Version
My heart flutters, horror has frightened me; the twilight that I desired has been turned into trembling to me.

King James Version
My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me.

English Standard Version
My heart staggers; horror has appalled me; the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.

New American Standard Bible
My mind reels, horror overwhelms me; The twilight I longed for has been turned into trembling for me.

New Century Version
I am worried, and I am shaking with fear. My pleasant evening has become a night of fear.

Amplified Bible
My mind reels, horror overwhelms me; The twilight I longed for has been turned into fear and trembling for me.

World English Bible
My heart flutters, horror has frightened me; the twilight that I desired has been turned into trembling to me.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Mine heart failed: fearefulnesse troubled me: the night of my pleasures hath he turned into feare vnto me.

Legacy Standard Bible
My heart reels; horror terrorizes me;The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.

Berean Standard Bible
My heart staggers; fear makes me tremble. The twilight of my desire has turned to horror.

Contemporary English Version
My head spins; I'm horrified! Early evening, my favorite time, has become a nightmare.

Complete Jewish Bible
My mind reels, shuddering assails me. The twilight I longed for terrifies me.

Darby Translation
My heart panteth, horror affrighteth me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into trembling unto me.

Easy-to-Read Version
I am worried and shaking with fear. My pleasant evening has become a nightmare.

George Lamsa Translation
My heart failed, pangs made me quake; the beauty of my pleasures has been turned into terror to me.

Good News Translation
My head is spinning, and I am trembling with fear. I had been longing for evening to come, but it has brought me nothing but terror.

Lexham English Bible
My mind staggers; fear terrifies me; the twilight I desired brought me fear.

Literal Translation
My heart wanders; terror overwhelms me; He has made the twilight of my desire into a fear.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Myne herte paunted, I trembled for feare. The darcknesse made me fearfull in my mynde.

American Standard Version
My heart fluttereth, horror hath affrighted me; the twilight that I desired hath been turned into trembling unto me.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
My heart is bewildered, terror hath overwhelmed me; the twilight that I longed for hath been turned for me into trembling.

King James Version (1611)
My heart panted, fearefulnesse affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into feare vnto me.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
My heart panted, fearefulnesse came vpon me: the nyght of my voluptuousnesse hath he turned agaynst me into feare.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
My heart wanders, and transgression overwhelms me; my soul is occupied with fear.

English Revised Version
My heart panteth, horror hath affrighted me: the twilight that I desired hath been turned into trembling unto me.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Myn herte fadide, derknessis astonieden me; Babiloyne, my derlyng, is set to me in to myracle.

Update Bible Version
My heart flutters, horror has frightened me; the twilight that I desired has been turned into trembling to me.

Webster's Bible Translation
My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear to me.

New English Translation
My heart palpitates, I shake in fear; the twilight I desired has brought me terror.

New King James Version
My heart wavered, fearfulness frightened me; The night for which I longed He turned into fear for me.

New Living Translation
My mind reels and my heart races. I longed for evening to come, but now I am terrified of the dark.

New Life Bible
My mind turns. Fear has come over me. The evening I have waited so long for has been turned into a time of shaking with fear.

New Revised Standard
My mind reels, horror has appalled me; the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
My heart fluttereth, A horror, terrifieth me, - My twilight of pleasure, hath he turned for me into a time of trembling.

Douay-Rheims Bible
My heart failed, darkness amazed me: Babylon my beloved is become a wonder to me.

Revised Standard Version
My mind reels, horror has appalled me; the twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.

Young's Literal Translation
Wandered hath my heart, trembling hath terrified me, The twilight of my desire He hath made a fear to me,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
My mind reels, horror overwhelms me; The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.

Contextual Overview

¹ The word about the waste land. As storm-winds in the South go rushing through, it comes from the waste land, from the land greatly to be feared. ² A vision of fear comes before my eyes; the worker of deceit goes on in his false way, and the waster goes on making waste. Up! Elam; to the attack! Media; I have put an end to her sorrow. ³ For this cause I am full of bitter grief; pains like the pains of a woman in childbirth have come on me: I am bent down with sorrow at what comes to my ears; I am shocked by what I see. ⁴ My mind is wandering, fear has overcome me: the evening of my desire has been turned into shaking for me. ⁵ They make ready the table, they put down the covers, they take food and drink. Up! you captains; put oil on your breastplates. ⁶ For so has the Lord said to me, Go, let a watchman be placed; let him give word of what he sees: ⁷ And when he sees war-carriages, horsemen by twos, war-carriages with asses, war-carriages with camels, let him give special attention. ⁸ And the watchman gave a loud cry, O my lord, I am on the watchtower all day, and am placed in my watch every night: ⁹ See, here come war-carriages with men, horsemen by twos: and in answer he said, Babylon is made low, is made low, and all her images are broken on the earth. ¹⁰ O my crushed ones, the grain of my floor! I have given you the word which came to me from the Lord of armies, the God of Israel.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

heart panted: or, mind wandered

the night: Isaiah 5:11-14, 1 Samuel 25:36-38, 2 Samuel 13:28, 2 Samuel 13:29, Esther 5:12, Esther 7:6-10, Job 21:11-13, Jeremiah 51:39, Jeremiah 51:57, Daniel 5:1, Daniel 5:5, Daniel 5:30, Nahum 1:10, Luke 21:34-36

turned: Heb. put

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 28:5 - he was afraid 1 Kings 1:49 - General Job 4:15 - the hair Job 20:23 - rain it Job 30:31 - General Psalms 38:10 - heart Psalms 69:23 - make their Psalms 73:19 - they are Psalms 91:5 - terror Ecclesiastes 7:4 - the heart Isaiah 5:14 - he that rejoiceth Isaiah 13:8 - pangs Isaiah 14:11 - pomp Isaiah 22:13 - behold Isaiah 47:8 - given Jeremiah 4:9 - that the heart Jeremiah 50:43 - king Daniel 5:6 - so that Amos 6:7 - and the Amos 8:10 - I will turn Luke 6:25 - mourn Luke 17:27 - General 1 Thessalonians 5:3 - Peace 1 Thessalonians 5:7 - and they Hebrews 11:25 - the pleasures

Cross-References

Genesis 21:10
So she said to Abraham, Send away that woman and her son: for the son of that woman is not to have a part in the heritage with my son Isaac.

Genesis 21:12
But God said, Let it not be a grief to you because of the boy and Hagar his mother; give ear to whatever Sarah says to you, because it is from Isaac that your seed will take its name.

Genesis 21:22
Now at that time, Abimelech and Phicol, the captain of his army, said to Abraham, I see that God is with you in all you do.

Genesis 21:23
Now, then, give me your oath, in the name of God, that you will not be false to me or to my sons after me, but that as I have been good to you, so you will be to me and to this land where you have been living.

Exodus 12:48
And if a man from another country is living with you, and has a desire to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all the males of his family undergo circumcision, and then let him come near and keep it; for he will then be as one of your people; but no one without circumcision may keep it.

Leviticus 12:3
And on the eighth day let him be given circumcision.

Deuteronomy 12:32
You are to keep with care all the words I give you, making no addition to them and taking nothing from them.

Luke 1:6
They were upright in the eyes of God, keeping all the rules and orders of God, and doing no wrong.

Luke 1:59
And on the eighth day they came to see to the circumcision of the child, and they would have given him the name of Zacharias, his father's name;

Luke 2:21
And when, after eight days, the time came for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name which the angel had given to him before his birth.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

My heart panted,.... Fluttered about, and could hardly keep its place: or, "my mind wandered" r; like a person in distraction and confusion, that knew not what to think say or do:

fearfulness affrighted me; the terror of Cyrus's army seized him, of its irruption into the city, and of his being destroyed by it; the writing on the wall threw him into a panic, and the news of the Medes and Persians being entered the city increased it:

the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me; in which he promised himself so much pleasure, at a feast he had made for his princes, wives, and concubines; either in honour of his god, as some think s, being an annual one; or, as Josephus ben Gorion t says, on account of the victory he had obtained over the Medes and Persians; and so was quite secure, and never in the least thought of destruction being at hand; but in the midst of all his revelling, mirth, and jollity, the city was surprised and taken, and he slain, Daniel 5:1. So mystical Babylon, in the midst of her prosperity, while she is saying that she sits a queen, and knows no sorrow, her judgment and plagues shall come upon her, Revelation 18:7.

r תעה לבבי "erravit cor meum", Montanus; "errat animus meus", Junius Tremellius "errat cor meum", Piscator. s Vid. Herodot. l. 1. c. 191. Xenophon. l. 7. c. 23. t L. 1. c. 5. p. 24. Ed. Braithaupt.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

My heart panted - Margin, ‘My mind wandered.’ The Hebrew word rendered ‘panted’ (תעה tâ‛âh) means to wander about; to stagger; to be giddy; and is applied often to one that staggers by being intoxicated. Applied to the heart, it means that it is disquieted or troubled. The Hebrew word “heart” here is to be taken in the sense of “mind.”

The night of my pleasure - There can be no doubt that the prophet here refers to the night of revelry and riot in which Babylon was taken. The prophet calls it the night of “his” pleasure, because he represents himself as being “in” Babylon when it should be taken, and, therefore, uses such language as an inhabitant of Babylon would use. “They” would call it the night of their pleasure, because it was set apart to feasting and revelry.

Hath he turned into fear - God has made it a night of consternation and alarm. The prophet here refers to the fact that Babylon would be taken by Cyrus during that night, and that consternation and alarm would suddenly pervade the affrighted and guilty city (see Daniel 5:0).