Isaiah 33:18

Bible in Basic English

Your heart will give thought to the cause of your fear: where is the scribe, where is he who made a record of the payments, where is he by whom the towers were numbered?

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Your mind will meditate on the past terror:“Where is the accountant?Where is the tribute collector?Where is the one who spied out our defenses?”

Hebrew Names Version
Your heart shall muse on the terror: Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed [the tribute]? where is he who counted the towers?

King James Version
Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?

English Standard Version
Your heart will muse on the terror: "Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed the tribute? Where is he who counted the towers?"

New American Standard Bible
Your heart will meditate on terror: "Where is one who counts? Where is one who weighs? Where is one who counts the towers?"

New Century Version
You will think about the terror of the past: "Where is that officer? Where is the one who collected the taxes? Where is the officer in charge of our defense towers?"

Amplified Bible
Your mind will meditate on the terror [asking]: "Where is he who counts? Where is he who weighs [the tribute]? Where is he who counts the towers?"

World English Bible
Your heart shall muse on the terror: Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed [the tribute]? where is he who counted the towers?

Geneva Bible (1587)
Thine heart shall meditate feare, Where is the scribe? where is the receiuer? where is hee that counted the towres?

Legacy Standard Bible
Your heart will meditate on terror:"Where is he who counts?Where is he who weighs?Where is he who counts the towers?"

Berean Standard Bible
Your mind will ponder the former terror: "Where is he who tallies? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers?"

Contemporary English Version
Then you will ask yourself, "Where are those officials who terrified us and forced us to pay such heavy taxes?"

Complete Jewish Bible
Your mind will meditate on the terror: "Where is the man who did the counting? Where is the man who did the weighing? Where is the man who numbered the towers?"

Darby Translation
Thy heart shall meditate on terror: Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?

Easy-to-Read Version
When you think about the troubles you had in the past, you will wonder, "Where are those foreigners who spoke languages we could not understand. Where are the officials and tax collectors from other lands? Where are the spies who counted our defense towers?"

George Lamsa Translation
Your heart shall learn reverence. Where is the scribe? Where is the weigher? Where is he who counted towers for a mighty people?

Good News Translation
Your old fears of foreign tax collectors and spies will be only a memory.

Lexham English Bible
Your mind will meditate on the terror: "Where is the one who counted? Where is the one who weighed out? Where is the one who counted the towers?"

Literal Translation
Your heart shall ponder terror: Where is he counting? Where is he weighing? Where is he counting the towers?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and his herte shal delite in the feare of God. What shal then become of the scrybe? of the Senatoure? what of him that teacheth childre?

American Standard Version
Thy heart shall muse on the terror: Where is he that counted, where is he that weighed the tribute? where is he that counted the towers?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Thy heart shall muse on the terror: 'Where is he that counted, where is he that weighed? Where is he that counted the towers?'

King James Version (1611)
Thine heart shall meditate terrour; Where is the scribe? where is the receiuer? where is he that counted the towres?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thine heart studied for feare thinking thus: What shall then become of the scribe? of the receauer of our money? what of hym that taxed our fairest houses?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Your soul shall meditate terror. Where are the scribes? where are the counsellors, where is he that numbers them that are growing up,

English Revised Version
Thine heart shall muse on the terror: where is he that counted, where is he that weighed the tribute? where is he that counted the towers?

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Eliachym, thin herte schal bithenke drede; where is the lettrid man? Where is he that weieth the wordis of the lawe? where is the techere of litle children?

Update Bible Version
Your heart shall muse on the terror: Where is he that counted, where is he that weighed [the tribute]? where is he that counted the towers?

Webster's Bible Translation
Thy heart shall meditate terror. Where [is] the scribe? where [is] the receiver? where [is] he that counted the towers?

New English Translation
Your mind will recall the terror you experienced, and you will ask yourselves, "Where is the scribe? Where is the one who weighs the money? Where is the one who counts the towers?"

New King James Version
Your heart will meditate on terror: "Where is the scribe? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers?"

New Living Translation
You will think back to this time of terror, asking, "Where are the Assyrian officers who counted our towers? Where are the bookkeepers who recorded the plunder taken from our fallen city?"

New Life Bible
Your heart will think about fear, asking, "Where is he who numbers? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who numbers the towers?"

New Revised Standard
Your mind will muse on the terror: "Where is the one who counted? Where is the one who weighed the tribute? Where is the one who counted the towers?"

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Thy heart, may murmur in terror, - Where is the scribe? Where - the receiver? Where - he that maketh a list of the towers?

Douay-Rheims Bible
Thy heart shall meditate fear: where is the learned? where is he that pondered the words of the law? where is the teacher of little ones?

Revised Standard Version
Your mind will muse on the terror: "Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed the tribute? Where is he who counted the towers?"

Young's Literal Translation
Thy heart doth meditate terror, Where [is] he who is counting? Where [is] he who is weighing? Where [is] he who is counting the towers?

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Your heart will meditate on terror: "Where is he who counts? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers?"

Contextual Overview

¹³ Give ear, you who are far off, to what I have done: see my power, you who are near. ¹⁴ The sinners in Zion are full of fear; the haters of God are shaking with wonder. Who among us may keep his place before the burning fire? who among us may see the eternal burnings? ¹⁵ He whose ways are true, and whose words are upright; he who gives no thought to the profits of false acts, whose hands have not taken rewards, who will have no part in putting men to death, and whose eyes are shut against evil; ¹⁶ He will have a place on high: he will be safely shut in by the high rocks: his bread will be given to him; his waters will be certain. ¹⁷ Your eyes will see the king in his glory: they will be looking on a far-stretching land. ¹⁸ Your heart will give thought to the cause of your fear: where is the scribe, where is he who made a record of the payments, where is he by whom the towers were numbered? ¹⁹ Never again will you see the cruel people, a people whose tongue has no sense for you; whose language is strange to you. ²⁰ Let your eyes be resting on Zion, the town of our holy feasts: you will see Jerusalem, a quiet resting-place, a tent which will not be moved, whose tent-pins will never be pulled up, and whose cords will never be broken. ²¹ But there the Lord will be with us in his glory, Three dots are used where it is no longer possible to be certain of the true sense of the Hebrew words, and for this reason no attempt has been made to put them into Basic English. wide rivers and streams; where no boat will go with blades, and no fair ship will be sailing. ²² For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our law-giver, the Lord is our king; he will be our saviour.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

heart: Isaiah 38:9-22, 1 Samuel 25:33-36, 1 Samuel 30:6, Psalms 31:7, Psalms 31:8, Psalms 31:22, Psalms 71:20, 2 Corinthians 1:8-10, 2 Timothy 3:11

Where is the scribe: 1 Corinthians 1:20

receiver: Heb. weigher, Genesis 23:16, 2 Kings 15:19, 2 Kings 18:14, 2 Kings 18:31

where is he: Isaiah 10:16-19

Reciprocal: Psalms 48:12 - tell Isaiah 51:13 - where is Daniel 4:9 - no secret

Cross-References

Genesis 25:20
Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramaean of Paddan-aram, and the sister of Laban the Aramaean, to be his wife.

Genesis 28:2
But go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father, and there get yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

Genesis 33:6
Then the servants and their children came near, and went down on their faces.

Genesis 33:7
And Leah came near with her children, and then Joseph and Rachel, and they did the same.

Genesis 35:9
Now when Jacob was on his way from Paddan-aram, God came to him again and, blessing him, said,

Genesis 46:15
All these, together with his daughter Dinah, were the children of Leah, whom Jacob had by her in Paddan-aram; they were thirty-three in number.

Joshua 24:1
Then Joshua got all the tribes of Israel together at Shechem; and he sent for the responsible men of Israel and their chiefs and their judges and their overseers; and they took their place before God.

Judges 9:1
Now Abimelech, the son of Jerubbaal, went to Shechem to his mother's family, and said to them and to all the family of his mother's father,

John 3:23
Now John was then giving baptism at Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people came and were given baptism.

John 4:5
So he came to a town of Samaria which was named Sychar, near to the bit of land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph:

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thine heart shall meditate terror,.... shall recollect, and think of with pleasure and thankfulness, the terror they were formerly seized with, when surrounded and oppressed by their enemies, particularly at the time of the slaying of the witnesses, which will be a terrible time to the church and people of God; but when that is over, they will call it to mind with gratitude, for deliverance from it e. This is commonly understood of the terror and consternation the Jews were in when besieged by the Assyrian army; and so the following words,

Where [is] the scribe? where [is] the receiver? where [is] he that counted the towers? are taken to be either the words of the Jews in their distress, calling for such and such officers to go to their respective posts, and do their duty; as the "scribe", or muster master, to see that he has his full quota of men; the "receiver" or treasurer, and paymaster of the soldiers, to give the men money and wages, that they may be encouraged to fight; and "the counter of towers", or engineer, to take care of the fortifications, and give directions about them: or else, as now insulting the Assyrians after the defeat of them, inquiring where were now such and such officers in their army, whom before they dreaded, signifying they were all perished and gone. The apostle cites these words, or at least alludes to them, 1 Corinthians 1:20 when he says, "where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world?" triumphing over the wise doctors of the Jews, and the philosophers of the Gentiles, as not being able to face and withstand the power and wisdom of the Gospel; 1 Corinthians 1:20- :. So here, when the people of God will be recovered from their fright, and be brought out of their low estate, and will have ascended into heaven, or be come into a glorious church state, they will then triumph over their enemies, who will be no more, and say, where are the pope and his clergy? his cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests, monks, friars, c. what are become of them? they are all gone, and will be no more. The Targum is,

"thine heart shall think of great things; where are the scribes? where are the princes? where are the counters? let them come, if they can count the numbers of the slain, the heads of mighty armies;''

which may well enough be illustrated by Revelation 11:13.

e So Ben Melech interprets it,

"thine heart, which was meditating terror before this.''

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thine heart - The heart of the people of Jerusalem.

Shall meditate terror - This is similar to the expression in Virgil:

- forsan et haec olim meminisse jurabit.

AEn. ii. 203.

The sense here is, ‘You shall hereafter think over all this alarm and distress. When the enemy is destroyed, the city saved, and the king shall reign in magnificence over all the nation then enjoying peace and prosperity, you shall recall these days of terror and alarm, and shall then ask with gratitude and astonishment, Where are they who caused this alarm? Where are now they who so confidently calculated on taking the city? They are all gone - and gone in a manner suited to excite astonishment and adoring gratitude.’ ‘Sweet is the recollection,’ says Rosenmuller, ‘of dangers that are passed.’

Where is the scribe? - How soon, how suddenly has he vanished! The word scribe here (ספר sı̂phēr) evidently refers to some prominent class of officers in the Assyrian army. It is from ספר sâphar, to count, to number, to write; and probably refers to a secretary, perhaps a secretary of state or of war, or an inspector-general, who had the charge of reviewing an army 2 Kings 25:19; Jeremiah 37:15; Jeremiah 52:25.

Where is the receiver? - Margin, as in Hebrew, ‘Weigher.’ Vulgate, ‘Where is he that ponders the words of the law?’ The Septuagint, ‘Where are the counselors (ουμβουλεύοντες sumbouleuontes)?’ Probably the word refers to him who weighed the tribute, or the pay of the Soldiers; and means, doubtless, some officer in the army of the Assyrian; probably one whose office it was to have charge of the military chest, and to pay the army.

Where is he that counted the towers? - That is, who made an estimate of the strength of Jerusalem - either Sennacherib, or someone appointed by him to reconnoitre and report on the means which the city bad of defense (compare Isaiah 36:4).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 33:18. Where is the scribe? — The person appointed by the king of Assyria to estimate their number and property in reference to their being heavily taxed.

Where is the receiver? — Or he who was to have collected this tribute.

Where is he that counted the towers? — That is, the commander of the enemy's forces, who surveyed the fortifications of the city, and took an account of the height, strength, and situation of the walls and towers, that he might know where to make the assault with the greatest advantage; as Capaneus before Thebes is represented in a passage of the Phoenissae of Euripides, which Grotius has applied as an illustration of this place: -

Εκεινος ἑπτα προσβασεις τεκμαιρεται

Πυργων, ανω τε και κατω τειχη μετρων.

Ver. 187.

"To these seven turrets each approach he marks;

The walls from their proud summit to their base

Measuring with eager eye."

He that counted the towers - "Those who were ordered to review the fortified places in Judea, that they might be manned and provisioned for the king of Assyria. So sure was he of gaining Jerusalem and subduing the whole of Judea, that he had already formed all these arrangements." - Dodd's notes.