Isaiah 29:4

Complete Jewish Bible

Prostrate, you will speak from the ground; your words will be stifled by the dust; your voice will sound like a ghost in the ground, your words like squeaks in the dust.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
You will be brought down;you will speak from the ground,and your words will come from low in the dust.Your voice will be like that of a spirit from the ground;your speech will whisper from the dust.

Hebrew Names Version
You shall be brought down, and shall speak out of the ground, and your speech shall be low out of the dust; and your voice shall be as of one who has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.

King James Version
And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

English Standard Version
And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech will be bowed down; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper.

New American Standard Bible
Then you will be brought low; From the earth you will speak, And from the dust where you are prostrate Your words will come. Your voice will also be like that of a spirit from the ground, And your speech will whisper from the dust.

New Century Version
You will be pulled down and will speak from the ground; I will hear your voice rising from the ground. It will sound like the voice of a ghost; your words will come like a whisper from the dirt.

Amplified Bible
Then you [Jerusalem] will be brought low, You will speak from the earth, And from the dust where you lie face down Your muffled words will come. Your voice will also be like that of a spirit from the earth [like one produced by a medium], And your speech will whisper and squeak from the dust.

World English Bible
You shall be brought down, and shall speak out of the ground, and your speech shall be low out of the dust; and your voice shall be as of one who has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.

Geneva Bible (1587)
So shalt thou be humbled, and shalt speake out of the ground, and thy speach shalbe as out of the dust: thy voyce also shall be out of the ground like him that hath a spirite of diuination, and thy talking shall whisper out of the dust.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then you will be brought low;From the earth you will speak,And from the dust where you are prostrateYour words will come.Your voice will also be like that of a spirit from the ground,And your speech will whisper from the dust.

Berean Standard Bible
You will be brought low, you will speak from the ground, and out of the dust your words will be muffled. Your voice will be like a spirit from the ground; your speech will whisper out of the dust.

Contemporary English Version
From deep in the earth, you will call out for help with only a faint whisper.

Darby Translation
And thou shalt be brought low, thou shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall come low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

Easy-to-Read Version
You will be pulled to the ground. Your voice will rise from the ground like the voice of a ghost. Your words come like a whisper from the dirt."

George Lamsa Translation
And you shall be brought down, and shall speak from the earth, and your words shall be low out of the dust, and your voice shall be heard from the ground like that of a diviner, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.

Good News Translation
Jerusalem will be like a ghost struggling to speak from under the ground, a muffled voice coming from the dust.

Lexham English Bible
Then you shall be low; you shall speak from the earth, and your words will be low, from dust. And your voice will be from the earth, like a ghost, and your word will whisper from the dust.

Literal Translation
And you shall be brought low; you shall speak from the ground; and your speech shall be bowed down; and your voice shall be from the ground, like a medium; and your speech shall chirp out of the dust.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And thou shalt be brought lowe, and speake out of the earth, and thy wordes shal go humbly out of ye grounde.

American Standard Version
And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust; and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

Bible in Basic English
And you will be made low, and your voice will come out of the earth, and your words will be low out of the dust; and your voice will come out of the earth like that of a spirit, making bird-like noises out of the dust.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And brought down thou shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust; and thy voice shall be as of a ghost out of the ground, and thy speech shall chirp out of the dust.

King James Version (1611)
And thou shalt bee brought downe, and shalt speake out of the ground, and thy speach shall be low out of the dust, and thy voyce shalbe as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speach shall whisper out of the dust.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thou shalt be brought downe, and shalt speake out of the ground, and thy speache shall go lowe out of the dust: Thy voyce also shall come out of the grounde lyke the voyce of a witche, and thy talkyng shall whisper out of the dust:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And thy words shall be brought down to the earth, and thy words shall sink down to the earth, and thy voice shall be as they that speak out of the earth, and thy voice shall be lowered to the ground.

English Revised Version
And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust; and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Thou schalt be maad low, thou schalt speke of erthe, and thi speche schal be herd fro the erthe; and thi vois schal be as the vois of a deed man reisid bi coniuring, and thi speche schal ofte grutche of the erthe.

Update Bible Version
And you shall be brought down, and shall speak out of the ground, and your speech shall be low out of the dust; and your voice shall be as a spirit out of the ground, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.

Webster's Bible Translation
And thou shalt be brought down, [and] shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

New English Translation
You will fall; while lying on the ground you will speak; from the dust where you lie, your words will be heard. Your voice will sound like a spirit speaking from the underworld; from the dust you will chirp as if muttering an incantation.

New King James Version
You shall be brought down, You shall speak out of the ground; Your speech shall be low, out of the dust; Your voice shall be like a medium's, out of the ground; And your speech shall whisper out of the dust.

New Living Translation
Then deep from the earth you will speak; from low in the dust your words will come. Your voice will whisper from the ground like a ghost conjured up from the grave.

New Life Bible
Then you will be brought low. From the earth you will speak. Your words will come from the dust. Your voice will be like that of a spirit from the ground. Your quiet speaking will come from the dust.

New Revised Standard
Then deep from the earth you shall speak, from low in the dust your words shall come; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And thou shalt be brought low - Out of the earth, shalt thou speak, And out of the dust, shalt thou lower thine utterance, - And as one that hath a familiar spirit, Out of the earth, shall come thy voice, And out of the dust, thy speech shall chirp;

Douay-Rheims Bible
Thou shalt be brought down, thou shall speak out of the earth, and thy speech shall be heard out of the ground: and thy voice shall be from the earth like that of the python, and out of the earth thy speech shall mutter.

Revised Standard Version
Then deep from the earth you shall speak, from low in the dust your words shall come; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.

Young's Literal Translation
And thou hast been low, From the earth thou speakest, And from the dust makest thy saying low, And thy voice hath been from the earth, As one having a familiar spirit, And from the dust thy saying whisperest,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then you will be brought low; From the earth you will speak, And from the dust where you are prostrate Your words will come. Your voice will also be like that of a spirit from the ground, And your speech will whisper from the dust.

Contextual Overview

¹ Woe to Ari'el [fireplace on God's altar, lion of God] — Ari'el, the city where David encamped! Celebrate the feasts for a few more years, ² but then I will bring trouble to Ari'el. There will be mourning and moaning, as she becomes truly an ari'el for me. ³ I will encamp all around you, besiege you with towers and mount siege-works against you. ⁴ Prostrate, you will speak from the ground; your words will be stifled by the dust; your voice will sound like a ghost in the ground, your words like squeaks in the dust. ⁵ But your many foes will become like fine powder, the horde of tyrants like blowing chaff, and it will happen very suddenly. ⁶ You will be visited by Adonai -Tzva'ot with thunder, earthquakes and loud noises, whirlwinds, tempests, flaming firestorms. ⁷ Then, all the nations fighting Ari'el, every one at war with her, the ramparts around her, the people that trouble her will fade like a dream, like a vision in the night. ⁸ It will be like a hungry man dreaming he's eating; but when he wakes up, his stomach is empty; or like a thirsty man dreaming he's drinking; but when he wakes up, he is dry and exhausted — it will be like this for the horde of all nations fighting against Mount Tziyon.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

thou shalt: Isaiah 2:11-21, Isaiah 3:8, Isaiah 51:23, Psalms 44:25, Lamentations 1:9

whisper: Heb. peep, or chirp, Isaiah 8:19

Reciprocal: Genesis 3:14 - dust Leviticus 19:31 - General Psalms 22:29 - all they that Jeremiah 46:22 - voice

Cross-References

Genesis 11:31
Terach took his son Avram, his son Haran's son Lot, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Avram's wife; and they left Ur of the Kasdim to go to the land of Kena‘an. But when they came to Haran, they stayed there.

Genesis 24:10
(iii) Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and all kinds of gifts from his master, got up and went to Aram-Naharayim, to Nachor's city.

Genesis 27:43
Therefore, my son, listen to me: get up and escape to Lavan my brother in Haran.

Genesis 28:10
So ‘Esav went to Yishma‘el and took, in addition to the wives he already had, Machalat the daughter of Yishma‘el Avraham's son, the sister of N'vayot, to be his wife. Haftarah Tol'dot: Mal'akhi (Malachi) 1:1–2:7 B'rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Tol'dot: Romans 9:6–16; Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 11:20; 12:14–17 Ya‘akov went out from Be'er-Sheva and traveled toward Haran.

Acts 7:2
and Stephen said: "Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to Avraham avinu in Mesopotamia before he lived in Haran

Acts 7:4
So he left the land of the Kasdim and lived in Haran. After his father died, God made him move to this land where you are living now.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And thou shalt be brought down,.... To the ground, and laid level with it, even the city of Jerusalem, as it was by the Romans; and as it was predicted by Christ it would, Luke 19:44 though some understand this of the humbling of the inhabitants of it, by the appearance of Sennacherib's army before it, and of which they interpret the following clauses:

[and] shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust; which some explain of the submissive language of Hezekiah to Sennacherib, and of his messengers to Rabshakeh,

2 Kings 18:14 as Aben Ezra and Kimchi; but it is expressive of the great famine in Jerusalem, at the time of its siege by the Romans, when the inhabitants were so reduced by it, as that they were scarce able to speak as to be heard, and could not stand upon their legs, but fell to the ground, and lay in the dust, uttering from thence their speech, with a faint and feeble voice:

and thy voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust: or peep and chirp, as little birds, as Jarchi and Kimchi, as those did that had familiar spirits; and as the Heathen oracles were delivered, as if they came out of the bellies of those that spoke, or out of caves and hollow places in the earth; and this was in just retaliation to these people, who imitated such practices, and made use of such spirits; see Isaiah 8:19.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And shalt speak out of the ground - (see the note at Isaiah 8:19). The sense here is, that Jerusalem, that had been accustomed to pride itself on its strength I would be greatly humbled and subdued. Its loud and lofty tone would be changed. It would use the suppressed language of fear and alarm as if it spoke from the dust, or in a shrill small voice, like the pretended conversers with the dead.

And thy speech shall whisper out of the dust - Margin, ‘Peep,’ or ‘Chirp,’ (see the note at Isaiah 8:19).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 29:4. And thy speech shall be low out of the dust - "And from out of the dust thou shalt utter a feeble speech"] That the souls of the dead uttered a feeble stridulous sound, very different from the natural human voice, was a popular notion among the heathens as well as among the Jews. This appears from several passages of their poets; Homer, Virgil, Horace. The pretenders to the art of necromancy, who were chiefly women, had an art of speaking with a feigned voice, so as to deceive those who applied to them, by making them believe that it was the voice of the ghost. They had a way of uttering sounds, as if they were formed, not by the organs of speech, but deep in the chest, or in the belly; and were thence called εγγαστριμυθοι, ventriloqui: they could make the voice seem to come from beneath the ground, from a distant part, in another direction, and not from themselves; the better to impose upon those who consulted them. Εξεπιτηδες το γενος τουτο τον αμυδρον ηχον επιτηδευονται, ἱνα δια την ασαφειαν της φωνης τον του ψευδους αποδιδρασκωσιν ελεγχον. Psellus De Daemonibus, apud Bochart, i. p. 731. "These people studiously acquire, and affect on purpose, this sort of obscure sound; that by the uncertainty of the voice they may the better escape being detected in the cheat." From these arts of the necromancers the popular notion seems to have arisen, that the ghost's voice was a weak, stridulous, almost inarticulate sort of sound, very different from the speech of the living.