Your ropes are slack; they cannot secure the mast or spread the sail. Then an abundance of spoils will be divided, and even the lame will carry off plunder.
Parallel translations
- WEB Your rigging is untied. They couldn’t strengthen the foot of their mast. They couldn’t spread the sail. Then the prey of a great plunder was divided. The lame took the prey.
- KJV Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail: then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey.
- NKJV Your tackle is loosed, They could not strengthen their mast, They could not spread the sail. Then the prey of great plunder is divided; The lame take the prey.
- NASB Your ship’s tackle hangs slack; It cannot hold the base of its mast firmly, Nor spread out the sail. Then the prey of an abundant spoil will be divided; Those who limp will take the plunder.
- NLT The enemies’ sails hang loose on broken masts with useless tackle. Their treasure will be divided by the people of God. Even the lame will take their share!
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
The enemy is pictured as a crippled ship whose plunder is so freely seized that even the lame share in the spoil.
Overview
Isaiah depicts the defeated foe as a vessel with loosened rigging, unable to set sail, while God's people gather its abundant plunder, with even the weak taking part. The reversal shows how completely God overturns the oppressor. It assures believers that God's victory provides for even the weakest of his people, who share in his triumph.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- 2 Kgs 7:8When the lepers reached the edge of the camp, they went into a tent to eat and drink. Then they carried off the silver, gold, and clothing, and went and hid them. On returning, they entered another tent, carried off some items from there, and hid them.
- Ps 68:12“Kings and their armies flee in haste; she who waits at home divides the plunder.
- 1 Cor 1:27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
- Isa 33:1Woe to you, O destroyer never destroyed, O traitor never betrayed! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, you will be betrayed.
- Isa 33:21But there the Majestic One, our LORD, will be for us a place of rivers and wide canals, where no galley with oars will row, and no majestic vessel will pass.
- 2 Chr 20:25Then Jehoshaphat and his people went to carry off the plunder, and they found on the bodies an abundance of goods and valuables—more than they could carry away. They were gathering the plunder for three days because there was so much.
- Acts 27:30–32Meanwhile, the sailors attempted to escape from the ship. Pretending to lower anchors from the bow, they let the lifeboat down into the sea.
- Ezek 27:26–34Your oarsmen have brought you onto the high seas, but the east wind will shatter you in the heart of the sea.
- 1 Sam 30:22–24but all the wicked and worthless men among those who had gone with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered, except for each man’s wife and children. They may take them and go.”
- Isa 33:4Your spoil, O nations, is gathered as by locusts; like a swarm of locusts men sweep over it.
- 2 Kgs 7:16Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. It was then that a seah of fine flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.
- Acts 27:40–41Cutting away the anchors, they left them in the sea as they loosened the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach.
- 1 Sam 30:10because two hundred men were too exhausted to cross the brook. But David and four hundred men continued in pursuit.
- Acts 27:19On the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands.
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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 33:23 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
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