Isaiah 21:4

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Isaiah 21:4

night. A Homonym. Hebrew. nesheph = darkness, here, but daylight in Job 7:4 . 1 Samuel 30:17 . See notes there. The Revised Version, in doubt, renders it here "twilight". pleasure = joy. fear = trembling. read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Isaiah 21:3-5

Isaiah 21:3-5. Therefore are my loins filled with pain, &c.— We have here a symbolical description of the greatness of the Babylonish calamity; the prophet exhibiting in himself, as in a figure, an emblem of the extreme distress, consternation, and horror, which should ensue upon this occasion. See ch. Isa 15:5 Isaiah 16:8-9. Luke 21:26. The expression, The night of my pleasure, alludes to the remarkable circumstance of Babylon's being taken in the night of an annual festival, which is more... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 21:4

4. panted—"is bewildered" [BARNES]. night of my pleasure—The prophet supposes himself one of the banqueters at Belshazzar's feast, on the night that Babylon was about to be taken by surprise; hence his expression, "my pleasure" (Isaiah 14:11; Jeremiah 51:39; Daniel 5:1-31). read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 21:1-10

The second oracle against Babylon 21:1-10This is a message of the destruction of the anti-God religious and commercial system that Babylon has symbolized throughout history (cf. Revelation 17-18). read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Isaiah 21:3-4

The thought that God would destroy Babylon completely undid the prophet (cf. Isaiah 13:7-8). His reaction evidences some compassion for the Babylonians, even though they were a threat to Judah’s security, as well as shock that the destruction would be so great. read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 21:1-10

Vision of Babylon’s FallThe subject of this section is the siege of Babylon, and the dismay with which the prophet receives tidings of its fall. The siege referred to can scarcely be the one at the close of the exile, as is maintained by many scholars, because (a) the prophet is much depressed at the thought of Babylon’s fall, which he foresees will involve calamity for Judah (Isaiah 21:2-4, Isaiah 21:10); (b) distance from Babylon is presupposed (Isaiah 21:6-9); and (c) Assyrian researches... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 21:4

(4) The night of my pleasure . . .—The words point to the prophet’s longing for the darkness of night, either as a time of rest from his labour, or, more probably, for contemplation and prayer (Psalms 119:148), and to the invasion of that rest by the vision of terror. The suggestion that the prophet speaks as identifying himself with the Babylonians, and refers to the capture of their city during a night of revelry (Daniel 5:1; Daniel 5:30; Herod., i. 121; Xenoph. Cyrop., vii. 23), is hardly... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Isaiah 21:1-17

Twilight and Trembling Isaiah 21:4 You all know that the twilight is a great wizard. I do not know whether you have ever thought to analyse its subtle power. If you have, I think you will have found that the spell of the twilight lies quite as much in what it hides from us as in what it reveals. It casts a filmy veil of indistinctness over all things we see softening their hardness, dealing gently with their defects, making such beauty as they possess more suggestive and idealistic. The... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Isaiah 21:1-10

CHAPTER XIDRIFTING TO EGYPT720-705 13. B.C.Isaiah 20:1-6; Isaiah 21:1-10; Isaiah 38:1-22; Isaiah 39:1-8FROM 720, when chapter 11 may have been published, to 705-or, by rough reckoning, from the fortieth to the fifty-fifth year of Isaiah’s life-we cannot be sure that we have more than one prophecy from him; but two narratives have found a place in his book which relate events that must have taken place between 712 and 705. These narratives are chapter 20: How Isaiah Walked Stripped and Barefoot... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Isaiah 21:1-17

2CHAPTER XVIIISAIAH TO THE FOREIGN NATIONS736-702 B.C.Isaiah 14:24-32; Isaiah 15:1-9; Isaiah 16:1-14; Isaiah 17:1-14; Isaiah 18:1-7; Isaiah 19:1-25; Isaiah 20:1-6; Isaiah 21:1-17; Isaiah 23:1-18THE centre of the Book of Isaiah (chapters 13 to 23) is occupied by a number of long and short prophecies which are a fertile source of perplexity to the conscientious reader of the Bible. With the exhilaration of one who traverses plain roads and beholds vast prospects, he has passed through the opening... read more

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