Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded: they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like a field before its crop has grown.
- BSB Therefore their inhabitants, devoid of power, are dismayed and ashamed. They are like plants in the field, tender green shoots, grass on the rooftops, scorched before it is grown.
- NKJV Therefore their inhabitants had little power; They were dismayed and confounded; They were as the grass of the field And the green herb, As the grass on the housetops And grain blighted before it is grown.
- NASB “Therefore their inhabitants were powerless, They were shattered and put to shame; They were like the vegetation of the field and the green grass, Like grass on the housetops that is scorched before it has grown.
- NLT That is why their people have so little power and are so frightened and confused. They are as weak as grass, as easily trampled as tender green shoots. They are like grass sprouting on a housetop, scorched before it can grow lush and tall.
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 conquered peoples were weak and dismayed, like fragile grass, because God had appointed it. Their fall was God's doing, not Assyria's greatness.
Overview
God explains that the nations Assyria overran had little power because he had made them so, withered like grass on a rooftop. The empire's victories reflected divine permission, not invincible strength. This reframes all of Assyria's history as subject to the Creator's will.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ps 129:6Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:
- Jer 37:10For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.
- Jer 5:10Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD’s.
- 2 Kgs 19:26Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the house tops, and as corn blasted before it be grown up.
- Isa 40:6–8The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
- Isa 19:16In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shaketh over it.
- Jas 1:10–11But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
- Ps 37:2For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.
- Ps 92:7When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:
- Ps 90:5–6Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
- Ps 103:15As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
- Ps 127:1–2Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
- Num 14:9Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.
- 1 Pet 1:24For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
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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 37:27 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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