O my people, crushed on the threshing floor, I tell you what I have heard from the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel.
Parallel translations
- WEB You are my threshing, and the grain of my floor!” That which I have heard from Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.
- KJV O my threshing, and the corn of my floor: that which I have heard of the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, have I declared unto you.
- NKJV Oh, my threshing and the grain of my floor! That which I have heard from the Lord of hosts, The God of Israel, I have declared to you.
- NASB My downtrodden people, and my afflicted of the threshing floor! What I have heard from the Lord of armies, The God of Israel, I make known to you.
- NLT O my people, threshed and winnowed, I have told you everything the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has said, everything the God of Israel has told me.
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
Isaiah addresses his afflicted people as threshed grain and reports the LORD's word faithfully. It matters because it shows the prophet declaring God's truth for the comfort of the oppressed.
Overview
The image of threshing and the grain of the floor pictures God's people crushed under Babylon's oppression. Isaiah assures them that what he announces comes directly from the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel. The fall of Babylon is therefore certain and is meant to encourage the suffering. The verse highlights the prophet's faithfulness in delivering God's reliable word.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Jer 51:33For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “The Daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled. In just a little while her harvest time will come.”
- Mic 4:13Rise and thresh, O Daughter of Zion, for I will give you horns of iron and hooves of bronze to break to pieces many peoples. Then you will devote their gain to the LORD, their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.
- Matt 3:12His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
- 2 Kgs 13:7Jehoahaz had no army left, except fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers, because the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing.
- Ezek 3:17–19“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, give them a warning from Me.
- Isa 41:15–16Behold, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff.
- Acts 20:26–27Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.
- 1 Kgs 22:14But Micaiah said, “As surely as the LORD lives, I will speak whatever the LORD tells me.”
- Hab 3:12You marched across the earth with fury; You threshed the nations in wrath.
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 21:10 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.