Isaiah 30:31

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

For through the voice of Yahweh shall the Assyrian be dismayed; with his rod will he strike [him].

World English Bible · Public Domain

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יֵחַ֣ת

châthath

H2865

“to be dismayed”

Verb, Niphal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

Appears 51× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Deuteronomy 1:21

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 784

to be shattered, be dismayed, be broken, be abolished, be afraid - (Qal) - to be shattered, be broken - to be dismayed - (Niphal) to be broken, be dismayed - (Piel) to be shattered, be dismayed, be scared - (Hiphil) - to cause to be dismayed - to dismay, terrify - to shatter

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

7: words
7: distinct lemmas
Prophets: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

יֵחַ֣ת to be dismayed H2865 occurs in 45 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
4 nouns
1 conjunction

Verb forms

יֵחַ֣ת Niphal · Imperfect
יַכֶּֽה Hiphil · Imperfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 18 words from the Hebrew and 21 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 7 Hebrew tokens and 12 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Isaiah 30:31 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Isaiah 9:4 For the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as in the day of Midian.
Isaiah 10:5 Ho Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation!
Isaiah 11:4 but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips shall he kill the wicked.
Micah 5:5–6 He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land, And when he marches through our fortresses, Then we will raise against him seven shepherds, And eight leaders of men.
Psalms 17:13–14 Arise, Yahweh, Confront him, cast him down. Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword;
Psalms 125:5 But as for those who turn aside to their crooked ways, Yahweh will lead them away with the workers of iniquity. Peace be on Israel.
Isaiah 10:12 Therefore it shall happen that, when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
Isaiah 10:15 Shall the axe boast itself against him who hews therewith? Shall the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? as if a rod should wield those who lift it up, [or] as if a staff should lift up [him who is] not wood.

Isaiah 10:24 Therefore thus says the Lord, Yahweh of Hosts, my people who dwell in Zion, don't be afraid of the Assyrian, though he strike you with the rod, and lift up his staff against you, after the manner of Egypt.
Isaiah 30:30 Yahweh will cause his glorious voice to be heard, and will show the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of [his] anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast, and tempest, and hailstones.
Isaiah 37:32–38 For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion those who shall escape. The zeal of Yahweh of Hosts will perform this.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Isaiah 30:31 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

כִּֽי מִקּ֥וֹל יְהוָ֖ה יֵחַ֣ת אַשּׁ֑וּר בַּשֵּׁ֖בֶט יַכֶּֽה

For through the voice of Yahweh shall the Assyrian be dismayed; with his rod will he strike [him].

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Isaiah 30:31 Septuagint · lemma form

διά γάρ φωνή κύριος ἡττάω ἀσσύριος ὁ πληγή ὅς ἄν πατάσσω αὐτός

For by the voice of the Lord the Assyrians shall be overcome, even by the stroke wherewith he shall strike them.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

אֲרֵי מִקָל מֵימְרָא דַייָ מִתְּבַר אַתּוּרָאָה דִי דִי בְשׁוּלְטָן מָחֵי:

For through the voice of the WORD of the Lord the Assyrian shall be broken, he that smote by his power.

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Isaiah 30:31 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Commentary source

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Isa 30:31 For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, [which] smote with a rod.

Ver. 31. Which smote with a rod.] Isa 10:5. Now he is broken in pieces with God’s iron rod, {Psa 2:9} Iustissimae talionis exemplum.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

30:31 royal scepter: The Lord, the true King, would be victorious over the threatening Assyrian king.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

God’s plague.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

The Assyrian rod which beat shall itself be beaten, and that by the mere voice of the Lord, that is, an unseen divine agency (Isa 10:5, Isa 10:24).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 31. Which smote with a rod - "He that was ready to smite with his staff"] אשור "Post ashshur, forte excidit אשר asher." - SECKER. After אשור ashshur, probably אשר asher, "which," has been omitted.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(31) Shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod.—Better, and He (Jehovah) shall smite with the rod. Asshur appears as the foremost and most dreaded enemy of Judah. The prediction points to the destruction of the armies of Sennacherib.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

31. Assyria is here named for the first time as the object of the judgment. The voice of Jehovah is the thunder, as in Isa_30:30. For beaten down render panic-stricken.

which smote with a rod] (cf. ch. Isa_10:24) Or “when He (Jehovah) smites with the rod.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down,.... As anything is by a storm of thunder, lightning, hail, and rain: or "fear", or be "affrighted", as the Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions render it; Sennacherib, the Assyrian monarch, and that part of his army which escaped, though not destroyed by it, were put into the utmost consternation: this shows that the prophecy in the context refers to the overthrow of the Assyrian army by the angel, when besieging Jerusalem in Hezekiah's time; though the Assyrian is sometimes used for any enemy of God's people at other times, particularly antichrist, and especially the eastern antichrist, the Turk:

which smote with a rod; other nations, particularly the Jews, whom the Assyrian is expressly said to smite with a rod; and because he was an instrument in God's hand for the chastising of that people, he is called the rod of his anger, Isa 10:5 but now he that smote shall be smitten himself; him whom God used as a rod to correct others, he will smite with his rod, for his own correction: for this may be understood of God, and be rendered thus, "with a rod, he", that is, God, "shall smite" the Assyrian, as before; so Aben Ezra and Kimchi. The Targum interprets the "rod" of dominion.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For through the voice of the - Lord By the command of the Lord; that is, his voice going forth in the manner specified in Isa 30:30.

Which smote with a rod - Who was accustomed to smite as with a rod; that is, his government was tyrannical and severe. As he had been accustomed to smite in that manner, so he would now meet the proper reward of his oppression of the nations.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Rod. Sennacherib is terrified, who a few days before insulted the living God.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

The voice of the Lord; that voice mentioned in the last verse.

Which smote with a rod; which was the rod wherewith God smote his and other people, Isa 10:5,6. He who used to smite others shall now be smitten himself. Or, as the words may be, and by others are, rendered, he (the Lord last mentioned) shall smite him with a rod, or with his rod.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down; rather, for at the voice of the Lord shall Assyria be dismayed (compare the first clause of ver. 30). Which smote with a rod; rather, with the rod will he (i.e. Jehovah) smite.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

For at the voice of Yahweh, Assyria will be shattered

This can be stated in active form. AT: "For when Yahweh speaks he will shatter the soldiers of Assyria" (See: Active or Passive)

Assyria will be shattered

Isaiah speaks of Assyria's fear as if Assyria is an object that Yahweh's voice shatters. AT: "Assyria will be terrified" (See: Metaphor)

Assyria

Here this represents the soldiers of Assyria. (See: Metonymy)

Every stroke of the appointed rod that Yahweh will lay on them

Yahweh causing an army to defeat the Assyrians is spoken of as if Yahweh would hit the Assyrians with a rod. (See: Metaphor)

will be accompanied

This can be stated in active form. AT: "the people of Judah will accompany it" (See: Active or Passive)

tambourines

This is a musical instrument with a head like a drum that can be hit and with pieces of metal around the side that sound when the instrument is shaken. See how you translated this in Isaiah 5:12.

he battles and fights with them

Yahweh causing the enemy army to defeat the Assyrians is spoken of as if Yahweh were a warrior who would fight along with the enemy army. (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

voice

Yahweh

Assyria

staff

appoint

rod

harp

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

from the Lord’s voice Assyria shall be broken he opened up their ears, and they heard the song from the mouth of the Chayoth, and they died. In the Aggadah of Chapter Chelek.

with a rod he would smite Assyria, who was wont to smite you with his rod.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Ibn Ezra

Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra

בשבט יכה As if he were smitten with a rod or for the Lord will smite him with a rod.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Isaiah, in the Prophets, opens this verse with 7 words (7 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is châthath (“to be dismayed”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “to be dismayed” (châthath) shape what this verse is saying?
Deuteronomy 1:21 shares the word «to be dismayed» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
The verb «יֵחַ֣ת» is Niphal Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Tyndale Open Study Notes read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 7 Hebrew ↔ 12 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 14 words in this verse.
7 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 7 words in this verse.