Isaiah 7:21

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,

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;

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;

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 Jehovah bringeth on thee, and on thy people, And on the house of thy father, Days that have not come, Even from the day of the turning aside of Ephraim from Judah, By the king of Asshur. ¹⁸ And it hath come to pass, in that day, Jehovah doth hiss for a fly that [is] in the extremity of the brooks of Egypt, And for a bee that [is] in the land of Asshur. ¹⁹ And they have come, and rested all of them in the desolate valleys, And in holes of the rocks, and on all the thorns, And on all the commendable things. ²⁰ In that day doth the Lord shave, By a razor that is hired beyond the river, By the king of Asshur, The head, and the hair of the feet, Yea, also the beard it consumeth. ²¹ And it hath come to pass, in that day, A man keepeth alive a heifer of the herd, And two of the flock, ²² And it hath come to pass, From the abundance of the yielding of milk he eateth butter, For butter and honey doth every one eat Who is left in the heart of the land. ²³ And it hath come to pass, in that day, Every place where there are a thousand vines, At a thousand silverlings, Is for briers and for thorns. ²⁴ With arrows and with bow he cometh thither, Because all the land is brier and thorn. ²⁵ And all the hills that with a mattock are kept in order, Thither cometh not the fear of brier and thorn, And it hath been for the sending forth of ox, And for the treading of sheep!'

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 to Noah, `An end of all flesh hath come before Me, for the earth hath been full of violence from their presence; and lo, I am destroying them with the earth.

Genesis 6:17
`And I, lo, I am bringing in the deluge of waters on the earth to destroy all flesh, in which [is] a living spirit, from under the heavens; all that [is] in the earth doth expire.

Genesis 7:3
also, of fowl of the heavens seven pairs, a male and a female, to keep alive seed on the face of all the earth;

Genesis 7:4
for after other seven days I am sending rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and have wiped away all the substance that I have made from off the face of the ground.'

Genesis 7:6
and Noah [is] a son of six hundred years, and the deluge of waters hath been upon the earth.

Genesis 7:7
And Noah goeth in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, unto the ark, from the presence of the waters of the deluge;

Genesis 7:15
And they come in unto Noah, unto the ark, two by two of all the flesh in which [is] a living spirit;

Genesis 7:17
And the deluge is forty days on the earth, and the waters multiply, and lift up the ark, and it is raised up from off the earth;

Genesis 7:20
fifteen cubits upwards have the waters become mighty, and the mountains are covered;

Genesis 7:22
all in whose nostrils [is] breath of a living spirit -- of all that [is] in the dry land -- have 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.