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.
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.
- BSB O my people, crushed on the threshing floor, I tell you what I have heard from the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel.
- 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.
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 Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says: “The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden. Yet a little while, and the time of harvest shall come for her.”
- Mic 4:13Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs brass; and you will beat in pieces many peoples: and I will devote their gain to Yahweh, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.
- Matt 3:12His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”
- 2 Kgs 13:7For he didn’t leave to Jehoahaz of the people any more than fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria destroyed them, and made them like the dust in threshing.
- Ezek 3:17–19“Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and warn them from me.
- Isa 41:15–16Behold, I have made you into a new sharp threshing instrument with teeth. You will thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and will make the hills like chaff.
- Acts 20:26–27Therefore I testify to you today that I am clean from the blood of all men,
- 1 Kgs 22:14Micaiah said, “As Yahweh lives, what Yahweh says to me, that I will speak.”
- Hab 3:12You marched through the land in wrath. You threshed the nations in anger.
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.