You also made a reservoir between the two walls For the water of the old pool. But you did not look to its Maker, Nor did you have respect for Him who fashioned it long ago.
Parallel translations
- WEB You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you didn’t look to him who had done this, neither did you have respect for him who purposed it long ago.
- KJV Ye made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago.
- BSB You built a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the ancient pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or consider Him who planned it long ago.
- NASB And you made a reservoir between the two walls For the waters of the old pool. But you did not depend on Him who made it, Nor did you take into consideration Him who planned it long ago.
- NLT Between the city walls, you build a reservoir for water from the old pool. But you never ask for help from the One who did all this. You never considered the One who planned this long ago.
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 built a reservoir for defense but did not look to God who planned it all. It matters because it names their core sin: trusting their works while ignoring the LORD.
Overview
The people constructed a reservoir between the walls to secure water, a clever and capable response to the siege. But Isaiah delivers the decisive rebuke: they did not look to 'him who had done this' or respect the One who purposed it long ago. Their failure was not lack of effort but lack of faith in God, who stood behind these very events. The verse exposes the heart of unbelief that trusts human works while forgetting their Maker.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Mic 7:7But as for me, I will look to Yahweh. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.
- Jer 33:2–3“Yahweh who does it, Yahweh who forms it to establish it; Yahweh is his name, says:
- 2 Kgs 25:4Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden (now the Chaldeans were against the city around it); and the king went by the way of the Arabah.
- Isa 31:1Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they don’t look to the Holy One of Israel, and they don’t seek Yahweh!
- Isa 17:7In that day, people will look to their Maker, and their eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel.
- Jer 39:4When Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, then they fled, and went out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls; and he went out toward the Arabah.
- Isa 8:17I will wait for Yahweh, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
- Neh 3:16After him, Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of half the district of Beth Zur, made repairs to the place opposite the tombs of David, and to the pool that was made, and to the house of the mighty men.
- Isa 37:26Have you not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it in ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to destroy fortified cities, turning them into ruinous heaps.
- 2 Chr 6:6but now I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’
- 2 Chr 16:7–9At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him, “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on Yahweh your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped out of your hand.
- 2 Chr 32:3–4he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the springs which were outside of the city, and they helped him.
- 2 Kgs 20:20Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water into the city, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
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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 22:11 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.