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Saturday, July 12th, 2025
the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
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Read the Bible

New Century Version

Isaiah 7:21

"At that time a person will be able to keep only one young cow and two sheep alive.

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;
King James Version
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish 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;
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 will bring troubled times to you, your people, and to the people of your father's family. They will be worse than anything that has happened since Israel separated from Judah. The Lord will bring the king of Assyria to fight against you. 18 "At that time the Lord will whistle for the Egyptians, and they will come like flies from Egypt's faraway streams. He will call for the Assyrians, and they will come like bees. 19 These enemies will camp in the deep ravines and in the cliffs, by the thornbushes and watering holes. 20 The Lord will hire Assyria and use it like a razor to punish Judah. It will be as if the Lord is shaving the hair from Judah's head and legs and removing Judah's beard. 21 "At that time a person will be able to keep only one young cow and two sheep alive. 22 There will be only enough milk for that person to eat milk curds. All who remain in the land will go back to eating just milk curds and honey. 23 In this land there are now vineyards that have a thousand grapevines, which are worth about twenty-five pounds of silver. But these fields will become full of weeds and thorns. 24 The land will become wild and useful only as a hunting ground. 25 People once worked and grew food on these hills, but at that time people will not go there, because the land will be filled with weeds and thorns. Only sheep and cattle will go to those places."

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
he said to Noah, "Because people have made the earth full of violence, I will destroy all of them from the earth.
Genesis 6:17
I will bring a flood of water on the earth to destroy all living things that live under the sky, including everything that has the breath of life. Everything on the earth will die.
Genesis 7:3
Take seven pairs of all the birds of the sky, each male with its female. This will allow all these animals to continue living on the earth after the flood.
Genesis 7:4
Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth. It will rain forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe off from the earth every living thing that I have made."
Genesis 7:6
Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came.
Genesis 7:7
He and his wife and his sons and their wives went into the boat to escape the waters of the flood.
Genesis 7:15
Every creature that had the breath of life came to Noah in the boat in groups of two.
Genesis 7:17
Water flooded the earth for forty days, and as it rose it lifted the boat off the ground.
Genesis 7:20
It continued to rise until it was more than twenty feet above the mountains.
Genesis 7:22
So everything on dry land that had the breath of life in it 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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