The captive will soon be freed; he will not die in the dungeon, and his bread will not be lacking.
Parallel translations
- WEB The captive exile will speedily be freed; and he will not die and go down into the pit, and his bread will not fail.
- KJV The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.
- NKJV The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed, That he should not die in the pit, And that his bread should not fail.
- NASB The exile will soon be set free, and will not die in the dungeon, nor will his bread be lacking.
- NLT Soon all you captives will be released! Imprisonment, starvation, and death will not be your fate!
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 cowering captive will soon be set free, not dying in the pit nor lacking bread.
Overview
God promises swift release to the bowed-down prisoner, who will live and be sustained rather than perish in the dungeon. The imagery assures the exiles of imminent deliverance. It anticipates the fuller liberation Christ brings, releasing captives from sin and death and providing the bread of life (Luke 4:18; John 6:35).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Isa 48:20Leave Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! Declare it with a shout of joy, proclaim it, let it go out to the ends of the earth, saying, “The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob!”
- Zech 9:11As for you, because of the blood of My covenant, I will release your prisoners from the waterless pit.
- Isa 52:2Shake off your dust! Rise up and sit on your throne, O Jerusalem. Remove the chains from your neck, O captive Daughter of Zion.
- Acts 12:7–8Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists.
- Isa 49:10They will not hunger or thirst, nor will scorching heat or sun beat down on them. For He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water.
- Jer 38:6–13So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah with ropes into the cistern, which had no water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.
- Ezra 1:5So the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites—everyone whose spirit God had stirred—prepared to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD in Jerusalem.
- Jer 37:16So Jeremiah went into a cell in the dungeon and remained there a long time.
- Lam 3:53–54They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 51:14 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.