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Read the Bible

Revised Standard Version

Isaiah 29:17

Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Isaiah;   Lebanon;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Forests;   Lebanon;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Heal, Health;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Forest;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Isaiah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Isaiah, Book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Esteem;   Isaiah;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Ezekiel, Book of;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Isn’t it true that in just a little whileLebanon will become an orchard,and the orchard will seem like a forest?
Hebrew Names Version
Is it not yet a very little while, and Levanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
King James Version
Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
English Standard Version
Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
New American Standard Bible
Is it not yet just a little while Before Lebanon will be turned into a fertile field, And the fertile field will be considered as a forest?
New Century Version
In a very short time, Lebanon will become rich farmland, and the rich farmland will seem like a forest.
Amplified Bible
Is it not yet a very little while Until Lebanon will be turned into a fertile field, And the fertile field regarded as a forest?
World English Bible
Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
Geneva Bible (1587)
Is it not yet but a litle while, and Lebanon shall be turned into Carmel? and Carmel shall be counted as a forest?
Legacy Standard Bible
Is it not yet just a little whileBefore Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful orchard,And the fruitful orchard will be counted as a forest?
Berean Standard Bible
In just a very short time, will not Lebanon become an orchard, and the orchard seem like a forest?
Contemporary English Version
Soon the forest of Lebanon will become a field with crops, thick as a forest.
Complete Jewish Bible
In but a little while the L'vanon will be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field regarded as a forest.
Darby Translation
Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
Easy-to-Read Version
This is the truth: After a very short time, Lebanon will become rich farmland, and the farmland will be like thick forests.
George Lamsa Translation
Behold, a little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be reared as a forest.
Good News Translation
As the saying goes, before long the dense forest will become farmland, and the farmland will go back to forest.
Lexham English Bible
In a very little while shall not Lebanon change into a fruitful land, and the fruitful land be regarded as a forest?
Literal Translation
Is it not yet a little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field; and the fruitful field shall be counted for the forest?
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Se ye not that it is hard by, that Libanus shalbe turned in to Charmel, and that Charmel shalbe taken as a wodde?
American Standard Version
Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
Bible in Basic English
In a very short time Lebanon will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will seem like a wood.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
King James Version (1611)
Is it not yet a very litle while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitfull field shall be esteemed as a forrest?
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Is it not harde at hande that Libanus shalbe turned into a low fielde, and that the lowe fielde shalbe taken as the wood?
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Is it not yet a little while, and Libanus shall be changed as the mountains of Chermel, and Chermel shall be reckoned as a forest?
English Revised Version
Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be counted for a forest?
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whether not yit in a litil time and schort the Liban schal be turned in to Chermel, and Chermel schal be arettid in to the forest?
Update Bible Version
Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
Webster's Bible Translation
[Is] it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
New English Translation
In just a very short time Lebanon will turn into an orchard, and the orchard will be considered a forest.
New King James Version
Is it not yet a very little while Till Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, And the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest?
New Living Translation
Soon—and it will not be very long— the forests of Lebanon will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.
New Life Bible
Is it not yet a very little while before Lebanon will be turned into a rich good field? The rich good field will be thought of as being full of many trees.
New Revised Standard
Shall not Lebanon in a very little while become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be regarded as a forest?
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Is it not yet a very little while, And Lebanon shall be turned, into garden land, - And garden land, for a forest, be reckoned?
Douay-Rheims Bible
Is it not yet a very little while, and Libanus shall be turned into charmel, and charmel shall be esteemed as a forest?
Young's Literal Translation
Is it not yet a very little, And turned hath Lebanon to a fruitful field, And the fruitful field for a forest is reckoned?
THE MESSAGE
And then before you know it, and without you having anything to do with it, Wasted Lebanon will be transformed into lush gardens, and Mount Carmel reforested. At that time the deaf will hear word-for-word what's been written. After a lifetime in the dark, the blind will see. The castoffs of society will be laughing and dancing in God , the down-and-outs shouting praise to The Holy of Israel. For there'll be no more gangs on the street. Cynical scoffers will be an extinct species. Those who never missed a chance to hurt or demean will never be heard of again: Gone the people who corrupted the courts, gone the people who cheated the poor, gone the people who victimized the innocent.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Is it not yet just a little while Before Lebanon will be turned into a fertile field, And the fertile field will be considered as a forest?

Contextual Overview

17 Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest? 18 In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see. 19 The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. 20 For the ruthless shall come to nought and the scoffer cease, and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off, 21 who by a word make a man out to be an offender, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right. 22 Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: "Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale. 23 For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. 24 And those who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will accept instruction."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

yet a very: Isaiah 63:18, Habakkuk 2:3, Haggai 2:6, Hebrews 10:37

Lebanon: Isaiah 32:15, Isaiah 35:1, Isaiah 35:2, Isaiah 41:19, Isaiah 49:5, Isaiah 49:6, Isaiah 55:13, Isaiah 65:12-16, Hosea 1:9, Hosea 1:10, Matthew 19:30, Matthew 21:43, Romans 11:11-17

the fruitful: Isaiah 5:6, Ezekiel 20:46, Ezekiel 20:47, Hosea 3:4, Micah 3:12, Zechariah 11:1, Zechariah 11:2, Matthew 21:18, Matthew 21:19, Romans 11:19-27

Reciprocal: 2 Chronicles 26:10 - Carmel Psalms 72:16 - the fruit Isaiah 35:7 - the parched Isaiah 37:24 - of his Carmel Hosea 2:12 - I will Mark 12:9 - and will

Cross-References

Genesis 12:11
When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sar'ai his wife, "I know that you are a woman beautiful to behold;
Genesis 24:16
The maiden was very fair to look upon, a virgin, whom no man had known. She went down to the spring, and filled her jar, and came up.
Genesis 29:1
Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the people of the east.
Genesis 29:2
As he looked, he saw a well in the field, and lo, three flocks of sheep lying beside it; for out of that well the flocks were watered. The stone on the well's mouth was large,
Genesis 29:6
He said to them, "Is it well with him?" They said, "It is well; and see, Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep!"
Genesis 29:12
And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's kinsman, and that he was Rebekah's son; and she ran and told her father.
Genesis 29:18
Jacob loved Rachel; and he said, "I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel."
Genesis 29:19
Laban said, "It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me."
Genesis 29:20
So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.
Genesis 29:22
So Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

[Is] it not yet a very little while,.... In a short space of time, in a few years, what follows would come to pass; when there would be a strange change and alteration made in the world, and by which it would appear, that the Lord not only knows, but foreknows, all things:

and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field; the forest of Lebanon should be as Carmel. The meaning is, that the Gentile world, which was like a forest uncultivated, and full of unfruitful trees, to which wicked men may be compared, should through the preaching of the Gospel be manured, become God's husbandry, and be like a fruitful field, abounding with people and churches, fruitful in grace and good works:

and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest? the people of the Jews, who once had the word and ordinances of God, and were a fruitful and flourishing people in religion; through their rejection of the Messiah, and contempt of his Gospel, should be deprived of all their privileges, and become like a forest or barren land: this was fulfilled, when the kingdom of God was taken from them, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits of it, Matthew 21:43. See Isaiah 32:15.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Is it not yet a very little while - The idea here is, ‘you have greatly perverted things in Jerusalem. The time is at hand when there shall be “other” overturnings - when the wicked shall be cut off, and when there shall be poured out upon the nation such judgments that the deaf shall hear, and the blind see, and when those who have erred in spirit shall come to understanding’ Isaiah 29:18-24.

And Lebanon shall be tutored into a fruitful field - This is evidently a proverbial expression, denoting any great revolution of things. It is probable that in the times of Isaiah the whole chain of Lebanon was uncultivated, as the word is evidently used here in opposition to a fruitful field (see the note at Isaiah 2:13). The word which is rendered ‘fruitful field’ (כרמל karmel) properly denotes “a fruitful field,” or a finely cultivated country (see Isaiah 10:18). It is also applied to a celebrated mountain or promontory on the Mediterranean Sea, on the southern boundary of the tribe of Asher. It runs northwest of the plain of Esdraelon, and ends in a promontory or cape, and forms the bay of Acco. The mountain or promontory is about 1500 feet high; and abounds in caves or grottoes, and was celebrated as being the residence of the prophets Elijah and Elisha (see 1 Kings 18:19, 1 Kings 18:42; 2Ki 2:25; 2 Kings 4:25; 2 Kings 19:23; compare the note at Isaiah 35:2). More than a thousand caves are said to exist on the west side of the mountain, which it is said were formerly inhabited by monks. But the word here is to be taken, doubtless, as it is in our translation, as denoting a well-cultivated country. Lebanon, that is now barren and uncultivated, shall soon become a fertile and productive field. That is, there shall be changes among the Jews that shall be as great as if Lebanon should become an extensively cultivated region, abounding in fruits, and vines, and harvests. The idea is this: ‘The nation is now perverse, sinful, formal, and hypocritical. But the time of change shall come. The wicked shall be reformed; the number of the pious shall be increased; and the pure worship of God shall succeed this general formality and hypocrisy. The prophet does not say when this would be. He simply affirms that it would be before “a great while” - and it may, perhaps, be referred to the times succeeding the captivity (compare Isaiah 32:15; Isaiah 35:1-10; Isaiah 1:6).

And the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest - That is, there shall be great changes in the nation, as if a well-cultivated field should be allowed to lie waste, and grow up into a forest. Perhaps it means that that which was then apparently flourishing would be overthrown, and the land lie waste. Those who were apparently in prosperity, would be humbled and punished. The effect of this revolution is stated in the following verses.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 29:17. And Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field - "Ere Lebanon become like Carmel"] A mashal, or proverbial saying, expressing any great revolution of things; and, when respecting two subjects, an entire reciprocal change: explained here by some interpreters, I think with great probability, as having its principal view beyond the revolutions then near at hand, to the rejection of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles. The first were the vineyard of God, כרם אל kerem El, (if the prophet, who loves an allusion to words of like sounds, may be supposed to have intended one here,) cultivated and watered by him in vain, to be given up, and to become a wilderness: compare Isaiah 5:1-7. The last had been hitherto barren; but were, by the grace of God, to be rendered fruitful. See Matthew 21:43; Romans 11:30-31. Carmel stands here opposed to Lebanon, and therefore is to be taken as a proper name.


 
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