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Rise up, ye women that are at ease; hear my voice, ye careless daughters; give ear unto my speech.
Isaiah 32:9 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Rise up, you women who are at ease! Hear my voice! You careless daughters, give ear to my speech!
  • BSB Stand up, you complacent women; listen to me. Give ear to my word, you overconfident daughters.
  • NKJV Rise up, you women who are at ease, Hear my voice; You complacent daughters, Give ear to my speech.
  • NASB ¶Rise up, you women who are at ease, And hear my voice; Listen to my word, You complacent daughters.
  • NLT Listen, you women who lie around in ease. Listen to me, you who are so smug.

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

Isaiah calls the complacent, careless women to wake up and hear his warning. It matters because false security blinds people to coming judgment.

Overview

The prophet addresses women at ease as representatives of a society lulled into complacency. He urgently summons them to listen. The call interrupts misplaced confidence with a sober warning, reflecting the prophetic concern that comfort not deafen God's people to His word and the need for repentance.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 12

  • Matt 13:9Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
  • Isa 28:23Give ye ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.
  • Isa 3:16Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:
  • Judg 9:7And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried, and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you.
  • Amos 6:1–6Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!
  • Jer 48:11–12Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.
  • Ps 49:1–2Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:
  • Jer 6:2–6I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.
  • Lam 4:5They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills.
  • Isa 47:7–8And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.
  • Zeph 2:15This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.
  • Deut 28:56The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

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 32:9YouTube · 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 32:9 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.