He took away the covering of Judah; and you looked in that day to the armor in the house of the forest.
Parallel translations
- KJV And he discovered the covering of Judah, and thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the forest.
- BSB He has uncovered the defenses of Judah. On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest.
- NKJV He removed the protection of Judah. You looked in that day to the armor of the House of the Forest;
- NASB And He removed the defense of Judah. On that day you depended on the weapons of the house of the forest,
- NLT Judah’s defenses have been stripped away. You run to the armory for your weapons.
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
With Judah's defenses stripped away, the people scramble to their armory. It matters because it shows them trusting weapons instead of seeking the LORD.
Overview
God removes the 'covering' that protected Judah, leaving the city exposed. In response the people look to the 'house of the forest,' the armory built by Solomon, for weapons. Their instinct is to rely on military stores rather than on God. The verse begins a pointed indictment of self-reliance in place of faith.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- 1 Kgs 10:17he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three minas of gold went to one shield; and the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
- 1 Kgs 7:2For he built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was one hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars.
- 1 Kgs 14:27–28King Rehoboam made shields of brass in their place, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house.
- Song 4:4Your neck is like David’s tower built for an armory, whereon a thousand shields hang, all the shields of the mighty men.
- Isa 36:1–3Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all of the fortified cities of Judah, and captured them.
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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 22:8 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.