Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, May 1st, 2025
the Second Week after Easter
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

The Darby Translation

Isaiah 47:11

But evil shall come upon thee—thou shalt not know from whence it riseth; and mischief shall fall upon thee, which thou shalt not be able to ward off; and desolation that thou suspectest not shall come upon thee suddenly.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Infidelity;   Sorcery;   Wisdom;   Thompson Chain Reference - Destruction;   Insecurity of the Wicked;   Security-Insecurity;   Sudden Destruction;   The Topic Concordance - Desolation;   Evil;   Mischief;   Trust;   Wickedness;   Wisdom;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Babylon;   Self-Delusion;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Babylon;   Divination;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Propitiation;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Divination;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Isaiah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Election;   Micah, Book of;   Righteousness;   Servant of the Lord;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Atonement;   Babylon ;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Zion;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Magic;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Magic;   Parallelism in Hebrew Poetry;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
But disaster will happen to you;you will not know how to avert it.And it will fall on you,but you will be unable to ward it off.Devastation will happen to you suddenlyand unexpectedly.
Hebrew Names Version
Therefore shall evil come on you; you shall not know the dawning of it: and mischief shall fall on you; you shall not be able to put it away: and desolation shall come on you suddenly, which you don't know.
King James Version
Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.
English Standard Version
But evil shall come upon you, which you will not know how to charm away; disaster shall fall upon you, for which you will not be able to atone; and ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing.
New American Standard Bible
"But evil will come on you Which you will not know how to charm away; And disaster will fall on you For which you cannot atone; And destruction about which you do not know Will come on you suddenly.
New Century Version
But troubles will come to you, and you will not know how to stop them. Disaster will fall on you, and you will not be able to keep it away. You will be destroyed quickly; you will not even see it coming.
Amplified Bible
"Therefore disaster will come on you; You will not know how to make it disappear [with your magic]. And disaster will fall on you For which you cannot atone [with all your offerings to your gods]; And destruction about which you do not know Will come on you suddenly.
World English Bible
Therefore shall evil come on you; you shall not know the dawning of it: and mischief shall fall on you; you shall not be able to put it away: and desolation shall come on you suddenly, which you don't know.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Therefore shall euill come vpon thee, and thou shalt not knowe the morning thereof: destruction shall fal vpon thee, which thou shalt not be able to put away: destruction shall come vpon thee suddenly, or thou beware.
Legacy Standard Bible
But evil will come on youWhich you will not know how to charm away;And disaster will fall on youFor which you cannot atone;And destruction about which you do not knowWill come on you suddenly.
Berean Standard Bible
But disaster will come upon you; you will not know how to charm it away. A calamity will befall you that you will be unable to ward off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly.
Contemporary English Version
But without warning, disaster will strike— and your magic charms won't help at all.
Complete Jewish Bible
Yet disaster will befall you, and you won't know how to charm it away; calamity will come upon you, and you won't be able to turn it aside; ruin will overcome you, suddenly, before you know it.
Easy-to-Read Version
"But disaster is coming your way. You don't know when it will happen, but disaster is coming. And there is nothing you can do to stop it.
George Lamsa Translation
Therefore evil shall come upon you in the early morning, and you shall not know from whence it rises; and mischief shall fall upon you and you shall not be able to put it off; and desolation shall come upon you suddenly, which you shall not know.
Good News Translation
Disaster will come upon you, and none of your magic can stop it. Ruin will come on you suddenly— ruin you never dreamed of!
Lexham English Bible
And evil shall come upon you, you will not know; it will be on the lookout for her. And disaster shall fall upon you; you will not be able to avert it. And ruin shall come on you suddenly; you do not know.
Literal Translation
For this, evil shall come on you; you shall not know its origin. And mischief shall fall on you; you shall not be able to cover it. And ruin shall come on you suddenly, you shall not know.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Therfore shal trouble come vpo ye, & thou shalt not knowe, from whece it shal arise. Myschefe shal fall vpo ye, which thou shalt not be able to put of. A sodane misery shal come vpon the, or euer thou be awarre.
American Standard Version
Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know the dawning thereof: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it away: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou knowest not.
Bible in Basic English
Because of this evil will come on you, which may not be turned away for any price: and trouble will overtake you, from which no money will give salvation: destruction will come on you suddenly, without your knowledge.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Yet shall evil came upon thee; thou shalt not know how to charm it away; and calamity shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it away; and ruin shall come upon thee suddenly, before thou knowest.
King James Version (1611)
Therefore shall euill come vpon thee, thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischiefe shall fall vpon thee, thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come vpon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Therefore shall trouble come vpon thee, and thou shalt not knowe from whence it shall arise: Mischiefe shall fal vpon thee, which thou shalt not be able to put of, a sodayne vtter destruction shall come vpon thee or euer thou be ware.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And destruction shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not be aware; there shall be a pit, and thou shalt fall into it: and grief shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not be able to be clear; and destruction shall come suddenly upon thee, and thou shalt not know.
English Revised Version
Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know the dawning thereof: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it away: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou knowest not.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Y am, and outakun me ther is noon other. Yuel schal come on thee, and thou schalt not knowe the bigynning therof; and wrecchidnesse schal falle on thee, which thou schalt not mowe clense; wretchidnesse which thou knowist not, schal come on thee sudenly.
Update Bible Version
Therefore shall evil come on you; you shall not know the dawning thereof: and mischief shall fall on you; you shall not be able to put it away: and desolation shall come on you suddenly, which you do not know.
Webster's Bible Translation
Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, [which] thou shalt not know.
New English Translation
Disaster will overtake you; you will not know how to charm it away. Destruction will fall on you; you will not be able to appease it. Calamity will strike you suddenly, before you recognize it.
New King James Version
Therefore evil shall come upon you; You shall not know from where it arises. And trouble shall fall upon you; You will not be able to put it off. And desolation shall come upon you suddenly, Which you shall not know.
New Living Translation
So disaster will overtake you, and you won't be able to charm it away. Calamity will fall upon you, and you won't be able to buy your way out. A catastrophe will strike you suddenly, one for which you are not prepared.
New Life Bible
Much trouble will come upon you, and you will not know how to get away from it. Trouble will fall on you, and there will be no way for you to pay that it might go away. You will not know it but all at once you will be destroyed.
New Revised Standard
But evil shall come upon you, which you cannot charm away; disaster shall fall upon you, which you will not be able to ward off; and ruin shall come on you suddenly, of which you know nothing.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Therefore shall come on thee - Mischief, Thou shalt not know how to charm it away Yea there shall fall on thee, Ruin, Thou shalt not be able to appease it, - And there shall come on thee suddenly. Desolation. Thou shalt not know.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Evil shall come upon thee, and thou shalt not know the rising thereof: and calamity shall fall violently upon thee, which thou canst not keep off: misery shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.
Revised Standard Version
But evil shall come upon you, for which you cannot atone; disaster shall fall upon you, which you will not be able to expiate; and ruin shall come on you suddenly, of which you know nothing.
Young's Literal Translation
And come in on thee hath evil, Thou knowest not its rising, And fall on thee doth mischief, Thou art not able to pacify it, And come on thee suddenly doth desolation, Thou knowest not.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"But evil will come on you Which you will not know how to charm away; And disaster will fall on you For which you cannot atone; And destruction about which you do not know Will come on you suddenly.

Contextual Overview

7 and thou saidst, I shall be a mistress for ever; so that thou didst not take these things to heart, thou didst not remember the end thereof. 8 And now hear this, thou voluptuous one, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thy heart, It is I, and there is none but me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know loss of children: 9 yet these two things shall come upon thee in a moment, in one day, loss of children and widowhood; they shall come upon thee in full measure for the multitude of thy sorceries, for the great abundance of thine enchantments. 10 For thou hast confided in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath seduced thee; and thou hast said in thy heart, It is I, and there is none but me. 11 But evil shall come upon thee—thou shalt not know from whence it riseth; and mischief shall fall upon thee, which thou shalt not be able to ward off; and desolation that thou suspectest not shall come upon thee suddenly. 12 Stand now with thine enchantments and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to turn them to profit, if so be thou mayest cause terror. 13 Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the interpreters of the heavens, the observers of the stars, who predict according to the new moons what shall come upon thee, stand up, and save thee. 14 Behold, they shall be as stubble, the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, [nor] fire to sit before it. 15 Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, they that trafficked with thee from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his own quarter; there is none to save thee.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

thou shalt not know: Isaiah 37:36, Exodus 12:29, Exodus 12:30, Nehemiah 4:11, Revelation 3:3

from whence it riseth: Heb. the morning thereof

thou shalt not be: Psalms 50:22, Jeremiah 51:39-42, Daniel 5:25-30, 1 Thessalonians 5:3, Revelation 18:9, Revelation 18:10

put it off: Heb. expiate, Matthew 18:34, Luke 12:59

Reciprocal: Judges 20:34 - knew not Isaiah 19:14 - hath mingled Jeremiah 51:31 - to show Habakkuk 2:7 - they

Cross-References

Genesis 47:6
The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land settle thy father and thy brethren: let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if thou knowest men of activity among them, then set them as overseers of cattle over what I have.
Exodus 1:11
And they set over them service-masters to oppress them with their burdens. And they built store-cities for Pharaoh, Pithom and Rameses.
Exodus 12:37
And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot [that were] men, besides children.
John 10:10
The thief comes not but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy: I am come that they might have life, and might have [it] abundantly.
John 10:28
and I give them life eternal; and they shall never perish, and no one shall seize them out of my hand.
John 14:2
In my Father's house there are many abodes; were it not so, I had told you: for I go to prepare you a place;
John 14:23
Jesus answered and said to him, If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him.
John 17:2
as thou hast given him authority over all flesh, that [as to] all that thou hast given to him, he should give them life eternal.
John 17:24
Father, [as to] those whom thou hast given me, I desire that where I am they also may be with me, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me, for thou lovedst me before [the] foundation of [the] world.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Therefore shall evil come upon thee,.... The evil of punishment, a great calamity; so Nebuchadnezzar foretold, as Abydenus relates o, that συμφορη, a calamity, should come upon the Babylonians; a day of evil, because of the above sins Babylon was guilty of:

thou shall not know from whence it riseth; from what quarter it will come, little dreaming of Cyrus, with whom the Chaldeans had had no quarrel. So mystical Babylon will not know from whence her ruin will come; little thinking that the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication with her, and have given their kingdoms to her, will hate her, and burn her flesh with fire: or, "thou shall not know the morning of it" p: that is, on what day, or at what time, it will be. Babylon was taken when it was not thought of, as appears from the book of Daniel, and profane history. Aristotle q reports, that it was said, that the third day after Babylon was taken, one part of the city did not know that it was taken. Or the sense is, this day of evil and calamity should be such a dark and gloomy day, there should be no light in it, it should be as the night, and therefore its morning or light should not be known, so Aben Ezra: "and mischief shall fall upon thee"; contrived for others; the pit dug for others she should fall into herself: though the phrase seems to denote the mischief coming from above, by the hand of heaven, and suddenly and irresistibly; which should fall with weight and vengeance upon her, to the crushing and utter destruction of her:

thou shalt not be able to put it off; or, "to expiate it" r; and atone for it, either by prayers and entreaties, which God will not regard, Isaiah 47:3 or by gifts, or by ransom price, by gold and silver, which the Medes and Persians were no lovers of, Isaiah 13:17:

and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know; that is, before hand; neither the persons from whom nor the time when it shall come; notwithstanding their astrologers, diviners, and monthly prognosticators, pretended to tell what would come to pass every day; but not being able by their art to give the least hint of Babylon's destruction, as to either time or means, the Chaldeans were in great security, quite ignorant of their ruin at hand, and which therefore came suddenly and unawares upon them; as will the destruction of mystical Babylon.

o Ib. c. 41. p. 456. p לא תרעי שחרה "non scis auroram ejus", Montanus, Vatablus, Cocceius; "cujus non cognoscis auroram", Vitringa. That is, as Ben Melech explains it, thou shalt not know the time of its coming; for it shall come suddenly, as a thing comes in a morning, which a man is not aware of till he sees it. q Politic. l. 3. c. 3. r לא תוכלי כפרה "non potens placare eam", Montanus; "expiare", Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Vitringa.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Therefore shall evil come upon thee - In consequence of thy pride and self-confidence; of the prevalence of corruption, licentiousness, and sin; of the prevalence of the arts of magic and of divination abounding there; and of the cruel and unfeeling oppression of the people of God; for all these crimes ruin shall come certainly and suddenly upon thee.

Thou shalt not know from whence it cometh - Margin, ‘The morning thereof.’ The margin expresses the true sense of the phrase. The word used here (שׁחר shachar) means “the aurora,” the dawn, the morning (see the notes at Isaiah 14:12). Lowth has strangely rendered it, ‘Evil shall come upon thee, which thou shalt not know how to deprecate.’ But the word properly means the dawning of the morning, the aurora; and the sense is, that calamity should befall them whose rising or dawning they did not see, or anticipate. It would come unexpectedly and suddenly, like the first rays of the morning. It would spring up as if from no antecedent cause which would seem to lead to it, as the light comes suddenly out of the darkness.

And mischief - Destruction; ruin.

Thou shalt not be able to put it off - Margin, ‘Expiate.’ This is the sense of the Hebrew (see the notes at Isaiah 43:3). The meaning is, that they could not then avert these calamities by any sacrifices, deprecations, or prayers. Ruin would suddenly and certainly come; and they had nothing which they could offer to God as an expiation by which it could then be prevented. We need not say how strikingly descriptive this is of the destruction of Babylon. Her ruin came silently and suddenly upon her, as the first rays of morning light steal upon the world, and in such a way that she could not meet it, or turn it away.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 47:11. Thou shalt not know from whence it riseth - "Thou shalt not know how to deprecate"] שחרה shachrah; so the Chaldee renders it, which is approved by Jarchi on the place; and Michaelis Epim. in Praelect. xix.; see Psalms 78:34.

Videtur in fine hujus commatis deese verbum, ut hoc membrum prioribus respondeat. "A word appears to be wanting at the end of this clause to connect it properly with the two preceding. - SECKER.

In order to set in a proper light this judicious remark, it is necessary to give the reader an exact verbal translation of the whole verse: -


"And evil shall come upon thee, thou shalt not know how to

deprecate it;

And mischief shall fall upon thee, thou shalt not be able

to expiate it;

And destruction shall come suddenly upon thee, thou shalt

not know" --


What? how to escape, to avoid it, to be delivered from it? perhaps צאת ממנה tseth mimmennah, "they could not go out from it," Jeremiah 11:11. I am persuaded that a phrase is here lost out of the text. But as the ancient versions retain no traces of it, and a wide field lies open to uncertain conjecture, I have not attempted to fill up the chasm, but have in the translation, as others have done before me, palliated and disguised the defect, which I cannot with any assurance pretend to supply. - L.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile