But hail will level the forest, and the city will sink to the depths.
Parallel translations
- WEB Though hail flattens the forest, and the city is leveled completely.
- KJV When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place.
- NKJV Though hail comes down on the forest, And the city is brought low in humiliation.
- NASB And it will hail when the forest comes down, And the city will be utterly laid low.
- NLT Even if the forest should be destroyed and the city torn 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
Though hail levels the forest and the city is brought low, God's people remain secure. It matters because divine judgment on the proud does not threaten those who rest in God.
Overview
Even as hail flattens the forest and the city falls—imagery of judgment on the lofty—the promise of secure dwelling for God's people stands. The contrast highlights the safety of the righteous amid the collapse of the proud. It assures that those sheltered in God endure when human strongholds fall.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Isa 28:17I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the level. Hail will sweep away your refuge of lies, and water will flood your hiding place.
- Isa 28:2Behold, the Lord has one who is strong and mighty. Like a hailstorm or destructive tempest, like a driving rain or flooding downpour, he will smash that crown to the ground.
- Isa 30:30And the LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard and His mighty arm to be revealed, striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire, and with cloudburst, storm, and hailstones.
- Isa 26:5For He has humbled those who dwell on high; He lays the lofty city low. He brings it down to the ground; He casts it into the dust.
- Zech 11:2Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen; the majestic trees are ruined! Wail, O oaks of Bashan, for the dense forest has been cut down!
- Rev 18:21Then a mighty angel picked up a stone the size of a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying: “With such violence the great city of Babylon will be cast down, never to be seen again.
- Nah 1:8But with an overwhelming flood He will make an end of Nineveh and pursue His enemies into darkness.
- Isa 37:24Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest heights, the densest of its forests.
- Nah 1:1This is the burden against Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite:
- Isa 25:4For You have been a refuge for the poor, a stronghold for the needy in distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like rain against a wall,
- Exod 9:18–26Behold, at this time tomorrow I will rain down the worst hail that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded until now.
- Isa 14:22–23“I will rise up against them,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will cut off from Babylon her name and her remnant, her offspring and her posterity,” declares the LORD.
- Isa 24:10The city of chaos is shattered; every house is closed to entry.
- Isa 27:10For the fortified city lies deserted—a homestead abandoned, a wilderness forsaken. There the calves graze, and there they lie down; they strip its branches bare.
- Matt 7:25The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock.
- Ezek 13:11–13tell those whitewashing the wall that it will fall. Rain will come in torrents, I will send hailstones plunging down, and a windstorm will burst forth.
- Rev 8:7Then the first angel sounded his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, along with a third of the trees and all the green grass.
- Isa 10:19The remaining trees of its forests will be so few that a child could count them.
- Nah 2:10–13She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and laid waste! Hearts melt, knees knock, bodies tremble, and every face grows pale!
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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 32:19 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.