Isaiah 5:28

Good News Translation

Their arrows are sharp, and their bows are ready to shoot. Their horses' hoofs are as hard as flint, and their chariot wheels turn like a whirlwind.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Their arrows are sharpened,and all their bows strung.Their horses’ hooves are like flint;their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.

Hebrew Names Version
whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses' hoofs shall be accounted as flint, and their wheels as a whirlwind:

King James Version
Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:

English Standard Version
their arrows are sharp, all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like the whirlwind.

New American Standard Bible
Its arrows are sharp and all its bows are bent; The hoofs of its horses seem like flint, and its chariot wheels like a storm wind.

New Century Version
Their arrows are sharp, and all of their bows are ready to shoot. The horses' hoofs are hard as rocks, and their chariot wheels move like a whirlwind.

Amplified Bible
Their arrows are sharp and all their bows are strung and bent; Their horses' hoofs seem like flint and their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.

World English Bible
whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses' hoofs shall be accounted as flint, and their wheels as a whirlwind:

Geneva Bible (1587)
Whose arrowes shall be sharpe, and all his bowes bent: his horse hoofes shal be thought like flint, and his wheeles like a whirlewinde.

Legacy Standard Bible
Its arrows are sharp and all its bows are bent;The hoofs of its horses seem like flint and its chariot wheels like a whirlwind.

Berean Standard Bible
Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows are strung. The hooves of their horses are like flint; their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.

Contemporary English Version
Their arrows are sharp, and their bows are ready. The hoofs of their horses are hard as flint; the wheels of their war chariots turn as fast as a whirlwind.

Complete Jewish Bible
Their arrows are sharp, all their bows are strung, their horses' hoofs are like flint, and their [chariot] wheels like a whirlwind.

Darby Translation
their arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses' hoofs are reckoned as the flint, and their wheels as a whirlwind.

Easy-to-Read Version
Their arrows are sharp. Their bows are strung and ready to shoot. The horses' hooves are as hard as flint. Clouds of dust rise from behind their chariots.

George Lamsa Translation
Their arrows are sharp and their bows are bent, their horses hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.

Lexham English Bible
Whose arrows are sharp, and all of his bows are bent. The hoofs of his horses are reckoned like flint, and his wheels like the storm wind.

Literal Translation
whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses' hooves shall appear as flint, and their wheels like a hurricane.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Their arowes are sharpe, and their bowes bent. Their horse hoofes are like flynt, and their cartwheles like a stormy wynde.

American Standard Version
whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses' hoofs shall be accounted as flint, and their wheels as a whirlwind:

Bible in Basic English
Their arrows are sharp, and every bow is bent: the feet of their horses are like rock, and their wheels are like a rushing storm.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind;

King James Version (1611)
Whose arrowes are sharpe, and all their bowes bent, their horses hoofs shall bee counted like flint, and their wheeles like a whirlewind.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
His arrowes are sharpe, and all his bowes bent: his horse hoofes are as flint, and his cart wheeles like a whyrle winde.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Whose arrows are sharp, and their bows bent; their horses’ hoofs are counted as solid rock: their chariot-wheels are as a storm.

English Revised Version
whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Hise arowis ben scharpe, and alle hise bowis ben bent; the houys of hise horsis ben as a flynt, and hise wheelis ben as the feersnesse of tempest.

Update Bible Version
whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses' hoofs shall be accounted as flint, and their wheels as a whirlwind:

Webster's Bible Translation
Whose arrows [are] sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:

New English Translation
Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows are prepared. The hooves of their horses are hard as flint, and their chariot wheels are like a windstorm.

New King James Version
Whose arrows are sharp, And all their bows bent; Their horses' hooves will seem like flint, And their wheels like a whirlwind.

New Living Translation
Their arrows will be sharp and their bows ready for battle. Sparks will fly from their horses' hooves, and the wheels of their chariots will spin like a whirlwind.

New Life Bible
Their arrows are sharp, and their bows are ready. The feet of their horses are like hard stone. And the wheels of their war-wagons are like a strong-wind.

New Revised Standard
their arrows are sharp, all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like the whirlwind.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Whose arrows, are sharpened, and all his bows, bent, - The hoofs of his horses, like flint, are accounted, And, his wheels, are like a storm-wind:

Douay-Rheims Bible
Their arrows are sharp, and all their bows are bent. The hoofs of their horses shall be like the flint, and their wheels like the violence of a tempest.

Revised Standard Version
their arrows are sharp, all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like the whirlwind.

Young's Literal Translation
Whose arrows [are] sharp, and all its bows bent, Hoofs of its horses as flint have been reckoned, And its wheels as a hurricane!

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Its arrows are sharp and all its bows are bent; The hoofs of its horses seem like flint and its chariot wheels like a whirlwind.

Contextual Overview

¹⁸ You are doomed! You are unable to break free from your sins. ¹⁹ You say, "Let the Lord hurry up and do what he says he will, so that we can see it. Let Israel's holy God carry out his plans; let's see what he has in mind." ²⁰ You are doomed! You call evil good and call good evil. You turn darkness into light and light into darkness. You make what is bitter sweet, and what is sweet you make bitter. ²¹ You are doomed! You think you are wise, so very clever. ²² You are doomed! Heroes of the wine bottle! Brave and fearless when it comes to mixing drinks! ²³ But for just a bribe you let the guilty go free, and you keep the innocent from getting justice. ²⁴ So now, just as straw and dry grass shrivel and burn in the fire, your roots will rot and your blossoms will dry up and blow away, because you have rejected what the Lord Almighty, Israel's holy God, has taught us. ²⁵ The Lord is angry with his people and has stretched out his hand to punish them. The mountains will shake, and the bodies of those who die will be left in the streets like rubbish. Yet even then the Lord 's anger will not be ended, but his hand will still be stretched out to punish. ²⁶ The Lord gives a signal to call for a distant nation. He whistles for them to come from the ends of the earth. And here they come, swiftly, quickly! ²⁷ None of them grow tired; none of them stumble. They never doze or sleep. Not a belt is loose; not a sandal strap is broken.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

arrows: Psalms 45:5, Psalms 120:4, Jeremiah 5:16, Ezekiel 21:9-11

their horses': Judges 5:22, Jeremiah 47:3, Micah 4:13, Nahum 2:3, Nahum 2:4, Nahum 3:2

Reciprocal: Jeremiah 4:13 - his chariots Jeremiah 25:32 - and a Jeremiah 50:14 - bend Jeremiah 50:42 - shall ride Ezekiel 26:11 - hoofs Daniel 7:4 - like Daniel 11:40 - like Revelation 9:17 - as the

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Whose arrows [are] sharp, and all their bows bent,.... Ready to shoot their arrows upon any occasion; and which being sharp, penetrated deep, and were deadly. This includes all kind of warlike instruments, with which they should come furnished, and ready prepared to do execution:

their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint; by those who rode upon them; who knowing how strong and firm they were, and that they were not worn out, nor hurt by the length of the way they came, would not spare to make haste upon them:

and their wheels like a whirlwind; that is, the wheels of their chariots, they used in battle, as Aben Ezra, Jarchi, and Kimchi, interpret it; and so the Septuagint and Arabic versions render it: this metaphor denotes both the swiftness with which they should come, and the noise and rattling they should make, and the power and force in bearing down all before them. The Targum is,

"and his wheels swift as a tempest.''

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Whose arrows are sharp - Bows and arrows were the common instruments of fighting at a distance. Arrows were, of course, made sharp, and usually pointed with iron, for the purpose of penetrating the shields or coats of mail which were used to guard against them.

And all their bows bent - All ready for battle.

Their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint - It is supposed that the ancients did not usually shoe their horses. Hence, a hard, solid hoof would add greatly to the value of a horse. The prophet here means, that their horses would be prepared for any fatigue, or any expedition; see a full description of horses and chariots in Bochart’s “Hieroz.” P. i. lib. ii. ch. viii. ix.

And their wheels like a whirlwind - That is, the wheels of their chariots shall be swift as the wind, and they shall raise a cloud of dust like a whirlwind. This comparison was very common, as it is now; see “Bochart.” See, also, a magnificent description of a war-horse in Job 39:19-25.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 5:28. Their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint - "The hoofs of their horses shall be counted as adamant"] The shoeing of horses with iron plates nailed to the hoof is quite a modern practice, and was unknown to the ancients, as appears from the silence of the Greek and Roman writers, especially those that treat of horse medicine, who could not have passed over a matter so obvious and of such importance that now the whole science takes its name from it, being called by us farriery. The horseshoes of leather and iron which are mentioned; the silver and gold shoes with which Nero and Poppaea shod their mules, used occasionally to preserve the hoofs of delicate cattle, or for vanity, were of a very different kind; they enclosed the whole hoof as in a case, or as a shoe does a man's foot, and were bound or tied on. For this reason the strength, firmness and solidity of a horse's hoof was of much greater importance with them than with us, and was esteemed one of the first praises of a fine horse. Xenophon says that a good horse's hoof is hard, hollow, and sounds upon the ground like a cymbal. Hence the χαλκοποδες ιπποι, of Homer, and Virgil's solido graviter sonat ungula cornu. And Xenophon gives directions for hardening the horses' hoofs by making the pavement on which he stands in the stable with roundheaded stones. For want of this artificial defence to the foot which our horses have, Amos, Amos 6:12, speaks of it as a thing as much impracticable to make horses run upon a hard rock as to plough up the same rock with oxen: -

"Shall horses run upon a rock?

Shall one plough it up with oxen?"

These circumstances must be taken into consideration in order to give us a full notion of the propriety and force of the image by which the prophet sets forth the strength and excellence of the Babylonish cavalry, which made a great part of the strength of the Assyrian army. Xenop. Cyrop. lib. ii.

Like a whirlwind — כסופה cassuphah, like the stormy blast. Here sense and sound are well connected.