The Meaning of Isaiah 51:20 Explained

Isaiah 51:20

KJV: 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.

YLT: Thy sons have been wrapped up, they have lain down, At the head of all out places, as a wild ox in a net, They are full of the fury of Jehovah, The rebuke of Thy God.

Darby: Thy children have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an oryx in a net: they are full of the fury of Jehovah, the rebuke of thy God.

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.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

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. 

What does Isaiah 51:20 Mean?

Verse Meaning

The children were just as helpless as the mother. In one sense Israel had no children to help her. This is one way of saying she could not help herself. But in another sense the children she did have, her descendants, could not help her either. The mother and her children are both figures of Israel. The children lay at major intersections of the city as exhausted as an antelope (oryx) caught in a net by its hunters. They too had suffered the wrath and rebuke of their God (cf. Isaiah 51:2; Isaiah 51:17).

Context Summary

Isaiah 51:12-23 - "the Captive Exile Shall Be Loosed"
During the Sepoy mutiny in India, when a number of English men and women were shut up in a quarter of Cawnpore, expecting a terrible death by assault or slow starvation, a torn page of the Bible, containing this passage, was found on the street pavement and was of unspeakable comfort. Oh, the blessedness of appropriating Isaiah 51:16! See Isaiah 49:7.
We are too apt to forget that God pleads the cause of His people, even when they have sinned and have reduced themselves to sore straits, Isaiah 51:17 and Isaiah 51:22. We think more of the earth than of the over-arching skies; of the fading grass than of the tree of Life; of man than of God. The near obscures the distant, and the flaring earth lights, the shine of the stars! Root yourself in God! Think of Him who sits at the right hand of the throne, the seat of resistless, ceaseless energy! Believe that God has placed Himself between you and all enemies and circumstances which threaten. To fear all day is impossible in face of these paragraphs. [source]

Chapter Summary: Isaiah 51

1  An exhortation after the pattern of Abraham, to trust in Christ
3  By reason of his comfortable promises,
4  Of his righteous salvation
7  And man's mortality
9  Christ by his sanctified arm defends his from the fear of man
17  He bewails the afflictions of Jerusalem
21  And promises deliverance

What do the individual words in Isaiah 51:20 mean?

Your sons have fainted they lie at the head of all the streets Like an antelope in a net they are full of the fury of Yahweh the rebuke of your God
בָּנַ֜יִךְ עֻלְּפ֥וּ שָׁכְב֛וּ בְּרֹ֥אשׁ כָּל־ חוּצ֖וֹת כְּת֣וֹא מִכְמָ֑ר הַֽמְלֵאִ֥ים חֲמַת־ יְהוָ֖ה גַּעֲרַ֥ת אֱלֹהָֽיִךְ

בָּנַ֜יִךְ  Your  sons 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, second person feminine singular
Root: בֵּן 
Sense: son, grandson, child, member of a group.
עֻלְּפ֥וּ  have  fainted 
Parse: Verb, Pual, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: עָלַף  
Sense: to cover.
שָׁכְב֛וּ  they  lie 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: שָׁכַב  
Sense: to lie down.
בְּרֹ֥אשׁ  at  the  head 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: רֹאשׁ 
Sense: head, top, summit, upper part, chief, total, sum, height, front, beginning.
כָּל־  of  all 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: כֹּל  
Sense: all, the whole.
חוּצ֖וֹת  the  streets 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: חוּץ  
Sense: outside, outward, street, the outside.
כְּת֣וֹא  Like  an  antelope  in 
Parse: Preposition-k, Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: תְּאֹו  
Sense: wild ox, antelope, oryx.
מִכְמָ֑ר  a  net 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: מִכְמָר  
Sense: net, snare.
הַֽמְלֵאִ֥ים  they  are  full 
Parse: Article, Verb, Qal, Participle, masculine plural
Root: מָלֵא 
Sense: to fill, be full.
חֲמַת־  of  the  fury 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct
Root: חֵמָא 
Sense: heat, rage, hot displeasure, indignation, anger, wrath, poison, bottles.
יְהוָ֖ה  of  Yahweh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: the proper name of the one true God.
גַּעֲרַ֥ת  the  rebuke 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct
Root: גְּעָרָה  
Sense: a rebuke, reproof.
אֱלֹהָֽיִךְ  of  your  God 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, second person feminine singular
Root: אֱלֹהִים  
Sense: (plural).