Though hail flattens the forest, and the city is leveled completely.
Parallel translations
- KJV When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place.
- BSB But hail will level the forest, and the city will sink to the depths.
- 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 plumb line. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place.
- Isa 28:2Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one. Like a storm of hail, a destroying storm, and like a storm of mighty waters overflowing, he will cast them down to the earth with his hand.
- Isa 30:30Yahweh will cause his glorious voice to be heard, and will show the descent of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast, storm, and hailstones.
- Isa 26:5For he has brought down those who dwell on high, the lofty city. He lays it low. He lays it low even to the ground. He brings it even to the dust.
- Zech 11:2Wail, cypress tree, for the cedar has fallen, because the stately ones are destroyed. Wail, you oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest has come down.
- Rev 18:21A mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, “Thus with violence will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down, and will be found no more at all.
- Nah 1:8But with an overflowing flood, he will make a full end of her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
- Isa 37:24By your servants, have you defied the Lord, and have said, “With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees. I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field.
- Nah 1:1A revelation about Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.
- Isa 25:4For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the blast of the dreaded ones is like a storm against the wall.
- Exod 9:18–26Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as has not been in Egypt since the day it was founded even until now.
- Isa 14:22–23“I will rise up against them,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son’s son,” says Yahweh.
- Isa 24:10The confused city is broken down. Every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
- Isa 27:10For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness. The calf will feed there, and there he will lie down, and consume its branches.
- Matt 7:25The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it didn’t fall, for it was founded on the rock.
- Ezek 13:11–13Tell those who plaster it with whitewash that it will fall. There will be an overflowing shower; and you, great hailstones, will fall. A stormy wind will tear it.
- Rev 8:7The first sounded, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. One third of the earth was burned up, and one third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
- Isa 10:19The remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child could write their number.
- Nah 2:10–13She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown 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.