Isaiah 31:2

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in their abundance of chariots and in their multitude of horsemen. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel; they do not seek the LORD. ²Yet He too is wise and brings disaster; He does not call back His words. He will rise up against the house of the wicked and against the allies of evildoers.³But the Egyptians are men, not God; their horses are flesh, not spirit. When the LORD stretches out His hand, the helper will stumble and the one he helps will fall; both will perish together. ⁴For this is what the LORD has said to me: "Like a lion roaring or a young lion over its prey-and though a band of shepherds is called out against it, it is not terrified by their shouting or subdued by their clamor-so the LORD of Hosts will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and its heights. ⁵Like birds hovering overhead, so the LORD of Hosts will protect Jerusalem. He will shield it and deliver it; He will pass over it and preserve it."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

he also: 1 Samuel 2:3, Job 5:13, Jeremiah 10:7, Jeremiah 10:12, 1 Corinthians 1:21-29, Jude 1:25

will bring: Isaiah 30:13, Isaiah 30:14, Isaiah 45:7, Joshua 23:15, Amos 3:6

will not: Numbers 23:19, Jeremiah 36:32, Jeremiah 44:29, Zechariah 1:6, Matthew 24:35

call back: Heb. remove

arise: Isaiah 28:21, Isaiah 63:4, Isaiah 63:5, Numbers 10:35, Psalms 12:5, Psalms 12:6, Psalms 68:1, Psalms 68:2, Psalms 78:65, Psalms 78:66, Zephaniah 3:8

against the help: Isaiah 31:3, Isaiah 20:4-6, Isaiah 30:3, Jeremiah 44:29, Jeremiah 44:30, Ezekiel 29:6

Reciprocal: Job 9:13 - the proud helpers Jeremiah 21:12 - Execute

Cross-References

Genesis 4:5
but He had no regard for Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell.

Genesis 30:27
But Laban replied, "If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you."

Genesis 31:9
Thus God has taken away your father's livestock and given them to me.

Genesis 31:11
In that dream the Angel of God said to me, 'Jacob!' And I replied, 'Here I am.'

Exodus 4:10
"Please, Lord," Moses replied, "I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and tongue."

Deuteronomy 19:4
Now this is the situation regarding the manslayer who flees to one of these cities to save his life, having killed his neighbor accidentally, without intending to harm him:

Deuteronomy 28:54
The most gentle and refined man among you will begrudge his brother, the wife he embraces, and the rest of his children who have survived,

1 Samuel 19:7
So Jonathan summoned David and told him all these things. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul to serve him as he had before.

Daniel 3:19
At this, Nebuchadnezzar was filled with rage, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He gave orders to heat the furnace seven times hotter than usual,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Yet he also [is] wise,.... That is, God, the Holy One of Israel, is, whom they disregarded; and wiser too than the Egyptians, to whom they sought for help, and who were thought to be a wise and political people; and wiser than themselves, who imagined they acted a prudent part, in applying to them; so wise as to know all their schemes, and able to confound them, as well as most certainly and fully to complete his own; and it would have been therefore the highest wisdom to have sought to him, and not to men:

and will bring evil; the evil of punishment or affliction on wicked men, which he has threatened, and which they could in no wise escape, by taking the methods they did:

and will not call back his words; his threatenings delivered by the prophets: these, as he does not repent of, he will not revoke or make void, but fulfil and accomplish; what he has said he will do, and what he has purposed he will bring to pass; and therefore it was a weak and an unwise part they acted, by applying to others, and slighting him:

but will arise against the house of evildoers; not the ten tribes of Israel, as Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it; but rather the people of the Jews, or some particular family among them; it may be the royal family, chiefly concerned in sending the embassy to Egypt, or in advising to it; though it may be the singular is put for the plural, as the Septuagint and Arabic versions render it "the houses"; and so may design all those great families which joined in this affair, and are therefore called "evildoers"; as all such are that put their confidence in the creature, and not in the Lord; and against such he will "arise", in a hostile manner, sooner or later, against whom there is no standing; see Job 9:4:

and against the help of them that work iniquity; that is, against the Egyptians, the helpers of the Jews, who were workers of iniquity, and therefore their help and hope in it would be in vain; or else the latter part is descriptive of the Egyptians their helpers, who were a wicked and idolatrous nation, and so not to be sought unto for help, or trusted in, since, God being against them, it would be to no purpose, as he is against all workers of iniquity.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Yet he also is wise - God is wise. It is in vain to attempt to deceive him, or to accomplish such purposes without his knowledge.

And will bring evil - The punishment which is due to such want of confidence in him.

But will arise against the house of the evil-doers - This is a general proposition, and it is evidently just as true now as it was in the time of Isaiah.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 31:2. His words - "His word"] דברו debaro, singular, without י yod, two MSS. of Dr. Kennicott's the Septuagint, and Targ. Hieros. דרכיו derachaiv, his ways, is found in one MS.