Isaiah 27:11

Verse

When its limbs are dry, they are broken off. Women come and use them for kindling; for this is a people without understanding. Therefore their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.

American Standard Version (1901)

When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off; the women shall come, and set them on fire; for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have compassion upon them, and he that formed them will show them no favor.

Bible in Basic English

When its branches are dry they will be broken off; the women will come and put fire to them: for it is a foolish people; for this cause he who made them will have no mercy on them, and he whose work they are will not have pity on them.

Free Bible Version

Their dry branches are broken off and used by women to make fires. This is a people that doesn't have any sense, so their Maker won't feel sorry for them, and their Creator won't help them.

Geneva Bible 1599

When the boughes of it are drie, they shalbe broken: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of none vnderstading: therefore hee that made them, shall not haue compassion of them, and he that formed them, shall haue no mercie on them.

King James (Authorized) Version

When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.

One Unity Resource Bible

When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have racham ·compassionate love· on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.

Translation for Translators

The Israeli people are like [MET] dry branches on a tree; women break them off and use them to make fires under their cooking pots. Our Israeli people do not have any sense; so Yahweh, who created them, will not act mercifully toward them or be kind to them.

Unlocked Literal Bible

When the boughs are withered, they will be broken off. Women will come and make fires with them, for this is not a people of understanding. Therefore their Maker will not have compassion on them, and he who made them will not be merciful to them.

Noah Webster Bible

When its boughs are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favor.

World English Bible

When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.

Young's Literal Translation

In the withering of its branch it is broken off, Women are coming in setting it on fire, For it [is] not a people of understanding, Therefore pity it not doth its Maker, And its Former doth not favour it.

Context

The LORD’s Vineyard

¹⁰For the fortified city lies deserted— a homestead abandoned, a wilderness forsaken. There the calves graze, and there they lie down; they strip its branches bare. ¹¹When its limbs are dry, they are broken off. Women come and use them for kindling; for this is a people without understanding. Therefore their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.

Sermons

Perpetual Fuel to the Flames of Hell!

Thomas Brooks

Summary

This verse speaks of God's judgment upon Israel, comparing the nation to a withered, desolate vineyard that will be left for the poor and wild animals to feed upon. It symbolizes the consequences of Israel's disobedience and rebellion against God, leading to their destruction and abandonment. The imagery of a neglected vineyard underscores the severity of God's judgment and the need for repentance and restoration. Ultimately, it serves as a warning to all who turn away from God, emphasizing the importance of remaining faithful and bearing fruit in accordance with His will.

Commentary

Adam Clarke
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
John Gill
Tyndale

Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

The boughs thereof "Her boughs" - קציריה ketsireyha, MS. and Vulg.; that is, the boughs of the vineyard, referring still to the subject of the dialogue above. The scarcity of fuel, especially wood, in most parts of the east is so great, that they supply it with every thing capable of burning; cow-dung dried, roots, parings of fruit, withered stalks of herbs and flowers; see Mat 6:21-30. Vine-twigs are particularly mentioned as used for fuel in dressing their food, by D'Arvieux; La Roque, Palestine, p. 198. Ezekiel says, in his parable of the vine, used figuratively for the people of God, as the vineyard is here: "Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; "Eze 15:3, Eze 15:4. "If a man abide not in one, "saith our Lord, "he is cast forth as a branch of the vine and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned;" Joh 15:6. They employed women and children to gather these things, and they laid them up in store for use. The dressing and pruning their vines afforded a good supply of the last sort of fuel; but the prophet says that the vines themselves of the beloved vineyard shall be blasted, withered, and broken, and the women shall come and gather them up, and carry away the whole of them to make their fires for domestic uses. See Harmer's Observations, vol. i., p. 254, etc.

John Gill Bible Commentary

When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off,.... This city is compared to a tree, whose branches are not only gnawed and consumed by cattle, as in the former verse Isa 27:10; but which, in a hot dry summer, are withered and dried up, and so are easily broken, and are fit for nothing but the fire; hence it follows: the women come and set them on fire; or "gather" them (f) in order to burn them; as is commonly done with withered branches, Joh 15:6 it may design the burning of the whore of Rome by the kings of the earth; for as antichrist is signified by a woman, so the ten kings that shall hate her, and burn her flesh with fire, may be signified by women; see Rev 17:16. The word here used signifies to illuminate, or give light, which is done when wood is set on fire; hence the Vulgate Latin renders it, "women coming, and teaching it"; and so the Targum, "women shall come into the house of their gods, and teach them;'' as the woman Jezebel does, Rev 2:20 the former sense is best: for it is a people of no understanding; or "understandings": that is, the people that inhabit the above city, they are sottish and stupid, have no understanding of God and divine things, of the Scriptures, and the doctrines of them; among whom this maxim obtains, that ignorance is the mother of devotion; they are under a judicial blindness, are given up to strong delusions to believe a lie, Th2 2:10, therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them; and he that formed them will show them no favour; but his wrath shall be poured out upon them to the uttermost, which will be fulfilled in the seven vials, and in the destruction of Rome, and the everlasting ruin of the worshippers of the man of sin; see Rev 16:1 no argument can be taken from men's being God's creatures and offspring, and from his being the former and maker of them, to their salvation; or because they are so, therefore shall be saved when they are sinful and sottish; for, being like brutes without understanding, they shall perish as they, without mercy. (f) So Abendana in Miclol Yophi observes, this is the sense some give of the word, taking it to be the same as is used in Cant. v. 1.