For you will become like an oak whose leaves are withered, like a garden without water.
Parallel translations
- WEB For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water.
- KJV For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.
- NKJV For you shall be as a terebinth whose leaf fades, And as a garden that has no water.
- NASB For you will be like an oak whose leaf withers away, Or like a garden that has no water.
- NLT You will be like a great tree with withered leaves, like a garden without water.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
They will become like a withering oak and a waterless garden. Those who trusted idols will share the lifelessness of what they worshiped.
Overview
In poetic reversal, the very gardens they prized become images of their own decay. Apart from God, the source of living water, they wither. This contrasts with the blessing of the one who trusts the LORD, pictured elsewhere as a well-watered tree (Jeremiah 17:8).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Jer 17:5–6This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes the flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.
- Jer 31:12They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will be radiant over the bounty of the LORD—the grain, new wine, and oil, and the young of the flocks and herds. Their life will be like a well-watered garden, and never again will they languish.
- Ezek 17:9–10So you are to tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Will it flourish? Will it not be uprooted and stripped of its fruit so that it shrivels? All its foliage will wither! It will not take a strong arm or many people to pull it up by its roots.
- Matt 21:19Seeing a fig tree by the road, He went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. “May you never bear fruit again!” He said. And immediately the tree withered.
- Ezek 17:24Then all the trees of the field will know that I am the LORD. I bring the tall tree down and make the low tree tall. I dry up the green tree and make the withered tree flourish. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done it.’”
- Isa 5:6I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and thorns and briers will grow up. I will command the clouds that rain shall not fall on it.”
- Ezek 31:4–18The waters made it grow; the deep springs made it tall, directing their streams all around its base and sending their channels to all the trees of the field.
- Isa 58:11The LORD will always guide you; He will satisfy you in a sun-scorched land and strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 1:30 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.