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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.
Isaiah 29:17 · New Living Translation
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?
  • KJV 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?
  • 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?

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 is poured on us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is considered a forest.
  • Matt 19:30But many will be last who are first; and first who are last.
  • Heb 10:37“In a very little while, he who comes will come, and will not wait.
  • Hos 1:9–10He said, “Call his name Lo-Ammi; for you are not my people, and I will not be yours.
  • Isa 65:12–16I will destine you to the sword, and you will all bow down to the slaughter; because when I called, you didn’t answer. When I spoke, you didn’t listen; but you did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I didn’t delight.”
  • Isa 63:18Your holy people possessed it but a little while. Our adversaries have trodden down your sanctuary.
  • Ezek 20:46–47“Son of man, set your face toward the south, and preach toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the field in the South;
  • Rom 11:19–27You will say then, “Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.”
  • Zech 11:1–2Open your doors, Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars.
  • Ps 84:6Passing through the valley of Weeping, they make it a place of springs. Yes, the autumn rain covers it with blessings.
  • Isa 55:13Instead of the thorn the cypress tree will come up; and instead of the brier the myrtle tree will come up: and it will make a name for Yahweh, for an everlasting sign that will not be cut off.”
  • Ps 107:33He turns rivers into a desert, water springs into a thirsty ground,
  • Mic 3:12Therefore Zion for your sake will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the mountain of the temple like the high places of a forest.
  • Hag 2:6For this is what Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land;
  • Hab 2:3For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won’t prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won’t delay.
  • Isa 5:6I will lay it a wasteland. It won’t be pruned nor hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.”
  • Hos 3:4For the children of Israel shall live many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without sacred stone, and without ephod or idols.
  • Isa 35:1–2The wilderness and the dry land will be glad. The desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.
  • Rom 11:11–17I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall? May it never be! But by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy.
  • Ps 107:35He turns a desert into a pool of water, and a dry land into water springs.
  • Isa 49:5–6Now Yahweh says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, and to gather Israel to him, for I am honorable in Yahweh’s eyes, and my God has become my strength.
  • Isa 41:19I will put cedar, acacia, myrtle, and oil trees in the wilderness. I will set cypress trees, pine, and box trees together in the desert;
  • Matt 21:18–19Now in the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry.
  • Matt 21:43“Therefore I tell you, God’s Kingdom will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation producing its fruit.

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.