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Sunday, May 18th, 2025
the Fifth Sunday after Easter
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Read the Bible

King James Version

Isaiah 7:21

And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep;

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Ahaz;   Assyria;   Hypocrisy;   Isaiah;   Israel, Prophecies Concerning;   Milk;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Sheep;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Ahaz;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Land (of Israel);   Easton Bible Dictionary - Cow;   Heifer;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Damascus;   Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Heifer;   Milk;   Sheep;   Shepherd;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Alliance;   Aram, Aramaeans;   Damascus;   Immanuel;   Isaiah, Book of;   Rezin;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Cow;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Heifer;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Cow;   Nourish;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Justin Martyr;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
On that daya man will raise a young cow and two sheep,
Hebrew Names Version
It shall happen in that day, that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep;
English Standard Version
In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep,
New American Standard Bible
Now on that day a person may keep alive only a heifer and a pair of sheep;
New Century Version
"At that time a person will be able to keep only one young cow and two sheep alive.
Amplified Bible
Now in that day [because of the poverty caused by the invaders] a man will keep alive only a young milk cow and two sheep;
World English Bible
It shall happen in that day, that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep;
Geneva Bible (1587)
And in the same day shall a man nourish a yong kowe, and two sheepe.
Legacy Standard Bible
And it will be in that day, that a man may keep alive a heifer and a pair of sheep;
Berean Standard Bible
On that day a man will raise a young cow and two sheep,
Contemporary English Version
No one will have more than one young cow and two sheep,
Complete Jewish Bible
When that day comes, a man will raise a young cow and two sheep.
Darby Translation
And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] a man shall nourish a young cow and two sheep,
Easy-to-Read Version
"At that time someone might keep only one young cow and two sheep alive.
George Lamsa Translation
And it shall come to pass in that day that a man shall rear a young cow and two sheep;
Good News Translation
"When that time comes, even if a farmer has been able to save only one young cow and two goats,
Lexham English Bible
And this shall happen: on that day, a young man will keep a young cow of the herd and two sheep alive.
Literal Translation
And it shall be in that day, a man shall keep alive a heifer of the herd, and two sheep.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
At the same tyme shall a man lyue with a cowe, and two shepe.
American Standard Version
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep;
Bible in Basic English
And it will be in that day that a man will give food to a young cow and two sheep;
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall rear a young cow, and two sheep;
King James Version (1611)
And it shall come to passe in that day, that a man shal nourish a yong cow and two sheepe.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
At the same time shal a man nurrishe a young cowe, and two sheepe.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall rear a heifer, and two sheep.
English Revised Version
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep;
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And it schal be, in that day a man schal nurische a cow of oxis, and twei scheep,
Update Bible Version
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep;
Webster's Bible Translation
And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep;
New English Translation
At that time a man will keep alive a young cow from the herd and a couple of goats.
New King James Version
It shall be in that day That a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep;
New Living Translation
In that day a farmer will be fortunate to have a cow and two sheep or goats left.
New Life Bible
In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep.
New Revised Standard
On that day one will keep alive a young cow and two sheep,
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall keep alive a young cow and two sheep.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep.
Revised Standard Version
In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep;
Young's Literal Translation
And it hath come to pass, in that day, A man keepeth alive a heifer of the herd, And two of the flock,
THE MESSAGE
It will be a time when survivors will count themselves lucky to have a cow and a couple of sheep. At least they'll have plenty of milk! Whoever's left in the land will learn to make do with the simplest foods—curds, whey, and honey.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Now in that day a man may keep alive a heifer and a pair of sheep;

Contextual Overview

17 The Lord shall bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria. 18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the holes of the rocks, and upon all thorns, and upon all bushes. 20 In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard. 21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep; 22 And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land. 23 And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, it shall even be for briers and thorns. 24 With arrows and with bows shall men come thither; because all the land shall become briers and thorns. 25 And on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a man: Isaiah 7:25, Isaiah 5:17, Isaiah 17:2, Isaiah 37:30, Jeremiah 39:10

Reciprocal: Isaiah 14:30 - the poor Hosea 4:16 - as a lamb

Cross-References

Genesis 6:13
And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Genesis 6:17
And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
Genesis 7:3
Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
Genesis 7:4
For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
Genesis 7:6
And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
Genesis 7:7
And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
Genesis 7:15
And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
Genesis 7:17
And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.
Genesis 7:20
Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
Genesis 7:22
All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And it shall come to pass in that day,.... Not in the days of Hezekiah, after the destruction of Sennacherib's army, when there followed great fruitfulness and plenty, Isaiah 37:30 as Kimchi and Jarchi interpret it; but in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, after the destruction of Jerusalem, when some poor men were left in the land to till it, Jeremiah 39:10 for of these, and not of rich men, are the following words to be understood:

[that] a man shall nourish a young cow and two sheep; this seems to denote both the scarcity of men and cattle, through the ravages of the army of the Chaldeans; that there should not be large herds and flocks, only a single cow, and two or three sheep; and yet men should be so few, and families so thin, that these would be sufficient to support them comfortably.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In that day - In the time specified in the previous verses - in the judgments that should be brought upon the land by the Egyptians and Assyrians.

A man shall nourish - Hebrew ‘Make to live:’ that is, he shall own, or feed.

A young cow - The Hebrew denotes a heifer that gives milk. The state which is denoted by this is that of great poverty. Instead of being engaged in agriculture, of possessing great resources in that time, a man should depend, for the subsistence of himself and his family, on what a single cow and two sheep would yield. Probably this is intended also as a description of the general state of the nation, that it would be reduced to great poverty.

And two sheep - Two here seems to be used to denote a very small number. A man, that is, the generality of people, would be so reduced as to be able to purchase and keep no more.


 
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