Isaiah 22:9

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

⁸He has uncovered the defenses of Judah. On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest. ⁹You saw that there were many breaches in the walls of the City of David. You collected water from the lower pool.¹⁰You counted the houses of Jerusalem and tore them down to strengthen the wall. ¹¹You built a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the ancient pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or consider Him who planned it long ago. ¹²On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts called for weeping and wailing, for shaven heads and the wearing of sackcloth. ¹³But look, there is joy and gladness, butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!" ¹⁴The LORD of Hosts has revealed in my hearing: "Until your dying day, this sin of yours will never be atoned for," says the Lord GOD of Hosts.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

2 Kings 20:20, 2 Chronicles 32:1-6, 2 Chronicles 32:30

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 11:27 - the breaches 2 Kings 18:17 - the conduit of the upper pool 2 Chronicles 32:5 - he strengthened Isaiah 36:2 - the conduit Nahum 3:14 - Draw John 5:2 - pool

Cross-References

Genesis 8:20
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD. Taking from every kind of clean animal and clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Genesis 12:7
Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, "I will give this land to your offspring." So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

Genesis 22:1
Some time later God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham!" "Here I am," he answered.

Genesis 22:2
"Take your son," God said, "your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you."

Genesis 22:4
On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

Genesis 22:7
Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, "My father!" "Here I am, my son," he replied. "The fire and the wood are here," said Isaac, "but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"

Genesis 22:8
Abraham answered, "God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two walked on together.

Genesis 22:10
Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

Genesis 22:17
I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.

Genesis 22:18
And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Ye have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they are many,.... Not Jerusalem in general, but that part of it which was called the stronghold of Zion, and in particular had the name of the city of David, 2 Samuel 5:7 the fortifications of which, in times of peace, had gone to decay; and which they had seen before, but took no notice of, being in safety; but now besieged, and in great danger, they looked upon them in good earnest, in order to repair them, and secure themselves from the irruption of the enemy; for this is not to be understood of breaches now made by the Assyrian army, but of old ones, which had lain neglected; see 2 Chronicles 32:5:

and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool: not to make mortar with, to be used in repairing the breaches, as Kimchi; but either that they might be as a wall round about the place, as Aben Ezra; or rather to deprive the enemy of them, and cut off all communications from him, and to supply the inhabitants of the city with them; see 2 Chronicles 32:3. The Septuagint version is, "and he turned the water of the old pool into the city": but the old pool was another pool hereafter mentioned, and was without the city, the same with the upper pool; whereas this was the lower, and was in the city. The Targum is,

"and ye gathered the people to the waters of the lower pool.''

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Ye have seen also the breaches - You who are inhabitants of the city. That such breaches were actually made, see 2 Chronicles 32:5.

Of the city of David - Of Jerusalem, so called because it was the royal residence of David. Zion was usually called the city of David, but the name was given also to the entire city.

And ye gathered together ... - That is, Hezekiah and the people of the city collected those waters.

Of the lower pool - (For a description of the upper and lower pool, see the notes at Isaiah 7:3). The superfluous waters of the lower pool usually flowed into the valley of Hinnom, and thence, into the valley of Jehoshaphat, mingling with the waters of the brook Kedron. It would seem from the passage here that those waters were not usually retained for the use of the city, though it was possible to retain them in case of a drought or a siege. At present, the lower pool is without the walls, but Hezekiah appears to have extended a temporary wall around it so as to enclose it (see the note at Isaiah 22:11). This he did, probably for two purposes;

(1) to cut off the Assyrians from the supply of water; and

(2) to retain “all” the water in the city to supply the inhabitants during the siege; see 2 Chronicles 32:4, where it is expressly declared that Hezekiah took this measure to distress the Assyrians.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 22:9. Ye gathered together the waters - "And ye shall collect the waters"] There were two pools in or near Jerusalem, supplied by springs: the upper pool, or the old pool, supplied by the spring called Gihon, 2 Chronicles 32:30, towards the higher part of the city, near Sion, or the city of David, and the lower pool, probably supplied by Siloam, towards the lower part. When Hezekiah was threatened with a siege by Sennacherib, he stopped up all the waters of the fountains without the city; and brought them into the city by a conduit, or subterranean passage cut through the rock; those of the old pool, to the place where he had a double wall, so that the pool was between the two walls. This he did in order to distress the enemy, and to supply the city during the siege. This was so great a work that not only the historians have made particular mention of it, 2 Kings 20:20; 2 Chronicles 32:2-3; 2 Chronicles 32:5; 2 Chronicles 32:30; but the son of Sirach also has celebrated it in his encomium on Hezekiah. "Hezekiah fortified his city, and brought in water into the midst thereof: he digged the hard rock with iron, and made wells for water," Ecclus. xlviii.