It shall come to pass that your choicest valleys Shall be full of chariots, And the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.
Parallel translations
- WEB Your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen set themselves in array at the gate.
- KJV And it shall come to pass, that thy choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.
- BSB Your choicest valleys are full of chariots, and horsemen are posted at the gates.
- NASB Then your choicest valleys were full of chariots, And the horsemen took positions at the gate.
- NLT Chariots fill your beautiful valleys, and charioteers storm your gates.
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
Jerusalem's fertile valleys fill with enemy chariots arrayed at the gate. It matters because it shows the threat reaching the very doorstep of the city.
Overview
The choicest valleys around Jerusalem are crowded with hostile chariots, and horsemen take position at the gate. The siege presses in upon the capital itself. The picture conveys the imminence and seriousness of the danger. It heightens the urgency of the city's need to turn to God rather than to its own defenses.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Jer 39:1–3When Jerusalem was taken, (in the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it.
- Isa 8:7–8now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks.
- Isa 10:28–32He has come to Aiath. He has passed through Migron. At Michmash he stores his baggage.
- Isa 37:34By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come to this city,’ says Yahweh.
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 22:7 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
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