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Friday, July 18th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Read the Bible

Christian Standard Bible ®

Isaiah 21:4

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

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Isaiah;   Persia;   Thompson Chain Reference - Rest-Unrest;   Unrest;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Babylon;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Persia;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Babel;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Baptism;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Isaiah, Book of;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Babylon ;   Elam ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Medes;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Ba'bel;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Pant;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Baptism (Lutheran Doctrine);   Evil;   Fear;   Hezekiah (2);   Horror;   Isaiah;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Sun, Rising and Setting of the;  

Parallel Translations

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

1A pronouncement concerning the desert by the sea: 2A troubling vision is declared to me:“The treacherous one acts treacherously,and the destroyer destroys.Advance, Elam! Lay siege, you Medes!I will put an end to all the groaning.” 3Therefore I am filled with anguish.Pain grips me, like the pain of a woman in labor.I am too perplexed to hear,too dismayed to see. 4My heart staggers;horror terrifies me.He has turned my last glimmer of hopeinto sheer terror.5Prepare a table, and spread out a carpet!Eat and drink!Rise up, you princes, and oil the shields! 6For the Lord has said to me,“Go, post a lookout;let him report what he sees. 7When he sees riders—pairs of horsemen,riders on donkeys,riders on camels—he must pay close attention.” 8Then the lookout reported,“Lord, I stand on the watchtower all day,and I stay at my post all night. 9Look, riders come—horsemen in pairs.”And he answered, saying,“Babylon has fallen, has fallen.All the images of her godshave been shattered on the ground.” 10My people who have been crushedon the threshing floor,I have declared to youwhat I have heard 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, “Drive out this slave with her son, for the son of this slave will not be a coheir with my son Isaac!”
Genesis 21:12
But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed about the boy and about your slave. Whatever Sarah says to you, listen to her, because your offspring will be traced through Isaac,
Genesis 21:22
At that time Abimelech, accompanied by Phicol the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do.
Genesis 21:23
Swear to me by God here and now, that you will not break an agreement with me or with my children and descendants. As I have been loyal to you, so you will be loyal to me and to the country where you are a resident alien.”
Exodus 12:48
If an alien resides among you and wants to observe the Lord’s Passover, every male in his household must be circumcised, and then he may participate; he will become like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat it.
Leviticus 12:3
The flesh of his foreskin must be circumcised on the eighth day.
Deuteronomy 12:32
Be careful to do everything I command you; do not add anything to it or take anything away from it.
Luke 1:6
Both were righteous in God’s sight, living without blame according to all the commands and requirements of the Lord.
Luke 1:59
When they came to circumcise the child on the eighth day, they were going to name him Zechariah, after his father.
Luke 2:21
When the eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus—the name given by the angel before he was conceived.

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).


 
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