Isaiah 51:20
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of your God.
American King James Version (AKJV)
Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of your God.
American Standard Version (ASV)
Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of Jehovah, the rebuke of thy God.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
Your sons are overcome, like a roe in a net; they are full of the wrath of the Lord, the punishment of your God.
Webster's Revision
Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.
World English Bible
Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of Yahweh, the rebuke of your God.
English Revised Version (ERV)
Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the top of all the streets, as an antelope in a net; they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.
Definitions for Isaiah 51:20
Clarke's Isaiah 51:20 Bible Commentary
As a wild bull in a net: they are full, etc. "Like the oryx taken in the toils; drenched to the full" - "Perhaps מכמרה מלאים michmerah meleim." Secker. The demonstrative ה he, prefixed to מלאים meleim, full, seems improper in this place.
Barnes's Isaiah 51:20 Bible Commentary
Thy sons - Jerusalem is here represented as a mother. Her sons, that is, her inhabitants, had become weak and prostrate everywhere, and were unable to afford consolation.
They lie at the head of all the streets - The 'head' of the streets is the same which in Lamentations 2:19; Lamentations 4:1, is denominated 'the top of the streets.' The head or top of the streets denotes, doubtless, the beginning of a way or street; the corner from which other streets diverge. These would be public places, where many would be naturally assembled, and where, in time of a siege, they would be driven together. This is a description of the state produced by famine. Weak, pale, and emaciated, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, in the places of public concourse, would lie prostrate and inefficient, and unable to meet and repel their foes. They would be overpowered with famine, as a wild bull is insnared in a net, and rendered incapable of any effort. This reters undoubtedly to the famine that would be produced during the siege of the Babylonians. The state of things under the siege has been also described by Jeremiah:
Arise, cry out in the night;
In the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart before the Lord;
Lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children,
That faint for hunger at the top of every street.
The young and old lie on the ground in the streets,
My virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword;
Thou hast slain them in the day of thy anger;
Thou hast killed, and not pitied.
- Lamentations 2:19-21
The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of
His mouth for thirst;
The young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them;
continued...
Wesley's Isaiah 51:20 Bible Commentary
51:20 Fainted - They are so far from being able to comfort thee, that they themselves faint away. They lie - Dead by famine or the sword.As a bull - Those of them who are not slain are struggling for life.
