Therefore this iniquity shall be to you Like a breach ready to fall, A bulge in a high wall, Whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant.
Parallel translations
- WEB therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant.
- KJV Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.
- BSB this iniquity of yours is like a breach about to fail, a bulge in a high wall, whose collapse will come suddenly—in an instant!
- NASB Therefore this wrongdoing will be to you Like a breach about to fall, A bulge in a high wall, Whose collapse comes suddenly in an instant,
- NLT calamity will come upon you suddenly— like a bulging wall that bursts and falls. In an instant it will collapse and come crashing down.
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
Their guilt is like a bulging crack in a high wall that suddenly collapses. It matters because hidden sin leads to sudden, total ruin.
Overview
Isaiah compares their iniquity to a fault swelling in a high wall, ready to break without warning. Trust built on injustice creates an unstable structure doomed to sudden collapse. The image warns that persistent, unrepented sin brings inevitable and abrupt judgment, against which only repentance and refuge in God can save.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Isa 29:5But the multitude of your foes will be like fine dust, and the multitude of the ruthless ones like chaff that blows away. Yes, it will be in an instant, suddenly.
- Ezek 13:10–15“‘Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, “Peace;” and there is no peace. When one builds up a wall, behold, they plaster it with whitewash.
- 1 Kgs 20:30But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand men who were left. Ben Hadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner room.
- Prov 29:1He who is often rebuked and stiffens his neck will be destroyed suddenly, with no remedy.
- Ps 62:3How long will you assault a man, would all of you throw him down, Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence?
- 1 Th 5:1–3But concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need that anything be written to you.
- Job 36:18Don’t let riches entice you to wrath, neither let the great size of a bribe turn you aside.
- Ps 73:19–20How they are suddenly destroyed! They are completely swept away with terrors.
- Matt 7:27The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell — and great was its fall.”
- Luke 6:49But he who hears, and doesn’t do, is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
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 30:13 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.