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Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
Isaiah 29:17 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Isn’t it yet a very little while, and Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field will be regarded as a forest?
  • BSB In a very short time, will not Lebanon become an orchard, and the orchard seem like a forest?
  • NKJV Is it not yet a very little while Till Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, And the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest?
  • NASB ¶Is it not yet just a little while Before Lebanon will be turned into a fertile field, And the fertile field will be considered as a forest?
  • NLT Soon—and it will not be very long— the forests of Lebanon will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.

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

Soon God will reverse things—Lebanon becoming a fruitful field—signaling coming restoration.

Overview

A dramatic transformation is promised, where barren and fruitful are exchanged in God's renewing work. The reversal signals the hope of restoration following judgment. It points toward the renewing power of God that ultimately culminates in the new creation accomplished through Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 24

  • Isa 32:15Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.
  • Matt 19:30But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.
  • Heb 10:37For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
  • Hos 1:9–10Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.
  • Isa 65:12–16Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.
  • Isa 63:18The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.
  • Ezek 20:46–47Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field;
  • Rom 11:19–27Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
  • Zech 11:1–2Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.
  • Ps 84:6Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.
  • Isa 55:13Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
  • Ps 107:33He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground;
  • Mic 3:12Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.
  • Hag 2:6For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
  • Hab 2:3For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
  • Isa 5:6And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
  • Hos 3:4For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:
  • Isa 35:1–2The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
  • Rom 11:11–17I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
  • Ps 107:35He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings.
  • Isa 49:5–6And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.
  • Isa 41:19I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together:
  • Matt 21:18–19Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered.
  • Matt 21:43Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 29:17YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 29:17 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.