Isaiah 33:7

Douay-Rheims Bible

Behold they that see shall cry without, the angels of peace shall weep bitterly.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Listen! Their warriors cry loudly in the streets;the messengers of peace weep bitterly.

Hebrew Names Version
Behold, their valiant ones cry outside; the ambassadors of shalom weep bitterly.

King James Version
Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without: the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.

English Standard Version
Behold, their heroes cry in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.

New American Standard Bible
Behold, their brave men cry out in the streets, The ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.

New Century Version
See, brave people are crying out in the streets; those who tried to bring peace are weeping loudly.

Amplified Bible
Now look, their brave men shout outside; The ambassadors [seeking a treaty] of peace weep bitterly.

World English Bible
Behold, their valiant ones cry outside; the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Behold, their messengers shal cry without, and ye ambassadours of peace shal weepe bitterly.

Legacy Standard Bible
Behold, their brave men cry in the streets;The messengers of peace weep bitterly.

Berean Standard Bible
Behold! Their warriors cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.

Contemporary English Version
Listen! Our bravest soldiers are running through the streets, screaming for help. Our messengers hoped for peace, but came home crying.

Complete Jewish Bible
Hear their brave men crying out for help! The envoys of peace weep bitterly.

Darby Translation
Behold, their valiant ones cry without; the messengers of peace weep bitterly.

Easy-to-Read Version
But listen! The messengers are crying outside. The messengers who bring peace are crying very hard.

George Lamsa Translation
If he should be seen by them they shall howl violently; the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.

Good News Translation
The brave are calling for help. The ambassadors who tried to bring about peace are crying bitterly.

Lexham English Bible
Look! Their heroes cry out in the street; the messengers of peace weep bitterly.

Literal Translation
Behold, their heroes cry outside; the envoys of peace shall weep bitterly.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Beholde, their aungels crie with out, the messaungers of peace wepe bytterly.

American Standard Version
Behold, their valiant ones cry without; the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.

Bible in Basic English
See, the men of war are sorrowing outside the town: those who came looking for peace are weeping bitterly.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Behold, their valiant ones cry without; the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.

King James Version (1611)
Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without: the ambassadours of peace shall weepe bitterly.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Beholde the messengers shall crye without: and the embassadours of peace shall weepe bitterly.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Behold now, these shall be terrified with fear of you: those whom ye feared shall cry out because of you: messengers shall be sent, bitterly weeping, entreating for peace.

English Revised Version
Behold, their valiant ones cry without: the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Lo! seeris withoutenforth schulen crye, aungels of pees schulen wepe bittirli.

Update Bible Version
Look, I will appear to them; they cry out in the streets; the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.

Webster's Bible Translation
Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without: the embassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.

New English Translation
Look, ambassadors cry out in the streets; messengers sent to make peace weep bitterly.

New King James Version
Surely their valiant ones shall cry outside, The ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.

New Living Translation
But now your brave warriors weep in public. Your ambassadors of peace cry in bitter disappointment.

New Life Bible
See, their men with strength of heart cry in the streets. The men sent to bring peace cry many tears.

New Revised Standard
Listen! the valiant cry in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Lo! their heroes, have cried out openly, - the messengers of peace, in bitterness, continue weeping they say :

Revised Standard Version
Behold, the valiant ones cry without; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.

Young's Literal Translation
Lo, `Their Ariel,' they have cried without, Messengers of peace do weep bitterly.

THE MESSAGE
But look! Listen! Tough men weep openly. Peacemaking diplomats are in bitter tears. The roads are empty— not a soul out on the streets. The peace treaty is broken, its conditions violated, its signers reviled. The very ground under our feet mourns, the Lebanon mountains hang their heads, Flowering Sharon is a weed-choked gully, and the forests of Bashan and Carmel? Bare branches.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Behold, their brave men cry in the streets, The ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.

Contextual Overview

¹ Woe to thee that spoilest, shalt not thou thyself also be spoiled? and thou that despisest, shalt not thyself also be despised? when thou shalt have made an end of spoiling, thou shalt be spoiled: when being wearied thou shalt cease to despise, thou shalt be despised. ² O Lord, have mercy on us: for we have waited for thee: be thou our arm in the morning, and our salvation in the time of trouble. ³ At the voice of the angel the people fled, and at the lifting up thyself the nations are scattered. ⁴ And your spoils shall be gathered together as the locusts are gathered, as when the ditches are full of them. ⁵ The Lord is magnified, for he hath dwelt on high: he hath filled Sion with judgment and justice. ⁶ And there shall be faith in thy times: riches of salvation, wisdom and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is his treasure. ⁷ Behold they that see shall cry without, the angels of peace shall weep bitterly. ⁸ The ways are made desolate, no one passeth by the road, the covenant is made void, he hath rejected the cities, he hath not regarded the men. ⁹ The land hath mourned, and languished: Libanus is confounded, and become foul, and Saron is become as a desert: and Basan and Carmel are shaken. ¹⁰ Now will I rise up, saith the Lord: now will I be exalted, now will I lift up myself.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

valiant ones: or, messengers

the ambassadors: Isaiah 36:3, Isaiah 36:22, 2 Kings 18:18, 2 Kings 18:37, 2 Kings 19:1-3

Reciprocal: Isaiah 22:4 - Weep bitterly Isaiah 28:19 - and it Isaiah 29:2 - I will Isaiah 36:1 - that Sennacherib Zephaniah 1:14 - the mighty Ephesians 6:20 - I am

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without,.... Or, "in the street": this, and the two following verses Isaiah 33:8, describe the sad and desolate condition of the people of God, before the above happy times take place; "their valiant ones", such who have been valiant for the truth on earth; or "their angels", as Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech interpret the word; these are the angels and pastors of the churches, the two witnesses that prophesy in sackcloth openly and publicly, and who will be slain, and their bodies lie unburied in the street of the great city, Revelation 11:3:

the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly; most interpreters understand this of the ambassadors which Hezekiah sent to the king of Assyria to obtain peace, but could not succeed, on account of which they are said to weep bitterly; but the character of "ambassadors of peace" well agrees with the ministers of the Gospel, who are "ambassadors" in Christ's stead, and whose work it is to exhort men to "be reconciled to God", and to preach the Gospel of peace to sinful men; these now will "weep bitterly", when they are removed into corners, and are silenced, and not suffered to deliver their messages of peace, to the comfort of the Lord's people, and the glory of his name; which will be the case at the time of the slaying of the witnesses.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Behold - This verse introduces a new subject by a very sudden transition. It is designed, with the two following, to exhibit the desolation of the land on the invasion of Sennacherib, and the consternation that would prevail. For this purpose, the prophet introduces Isaiah 33:7 the ambassadors who had been sent to sue for peace, as having sought it in vain, and as weeping now bitterly; he represents Isaiah 33:8 the desolation that abounded, and the fact that Sennacherib refused to come to any terms; and Isaiah 33:9 the extended desolations that had come upon the fairest portions of the land.

Their valiant ones - The ‘valiant ones’ of the Jews who had been sent to Sennacherib to obtain conditions of pence, or to enter into a negotiation with him to spare the city and the nation. The word which is rendered here ‘valiant ones’ (אראלם 'er^e'elâm) has given great perplexity to expositors. It occurs nowhere else in the Scriptures. The Septuagint renders the verse, ‘With the dread of you shall they be terrified; they, of whom you have been afraid, will, for fear of you, raise a grievous cry.’ Jerome renders it, ‘Behold, they seeing, cry without,’ as if the word was derived from ראה râ'âh, to see. The Chaldee renders it, ‘And when it shall be revealed to them, the messengers of the people who went to announce peace, shall cry bitterly.’ The Syriac, ‘If he shall permit himself to be seen by them, they shall weep bitterly.’ Symmachus and Theodotion render it, Ἰδοὺ ὀφθήσομαι αὐτοῖς Idou ophthēsomai autois - ‘Lo, I will appear to them.’ So Aquila, Ὁραθήσομαι αὐτοῖς Horathēsomai autois. Most or all the versions seem to have read it as if it were compounded of לם אראה 'er^e'eh lm - ‘I will appear to them.’ But probably the word is formed from אראל 'ăr^e'el, the same as אריאל 'ărı̂y'êl (Ariel), ‘a hero’ (see the note at Isaiah 29:1), and means “their hero” in a collective sense, or their heroes; that is, their men who were distinguished as military leaders, and who were sent to propose terms of peace with Sennacherib. The most honorable and valiant men would be selected, of course, for this purpose (compare the note at Isaiah 30:4), but they had made the effort to obtain peace in vain, and were returning with consternation and alarm.

Shall cry without - They would lift up their voice with weeping as they returned, and publicly proclaim with bitter lamentation that their efforts to obtain peace had failed.

The ambassadors of peace - When Sennacherib invaded fife land, and had advanced as far as to Lachish, Hezekiah sent messengers to him with a rich present, having stripped the temple of its gold, and sent him all the silver which was in his treasury, for the purpose of propitiating his favor, and of inducing him to return to his own land 2 Kings 18:14-16. But it was all in vain. Sennacherib sent his generals with a great host against Jerusalem, and was unmoved by all the treasures which Hezekiah had sent to him, and by his solicitations for peace 2 Kings 18:17. It was to the failure of this embassy that Isaiah refers in the passage before us.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 33:7. Their valiant ones shall cry without - "The mighty men raise a grievous cry"] Three MSS. read אראלים erelim, that is, lions of God, or strong lions. So they called valiant men heroes; which appellation the Arabians and Persians still use. See Bochart. Hieroz. Part I. lib. iii. cap. 1. "Mahomet, ayant reconnu Hamzeh son oncle pour homme de courage et de valeur, lui donne le titre ou surnom d'Assad Allah, qui signifie le lion de Dieu." D'Herbelot, p. 427. And for חצה chatsah, the Syriac and Chaldee, read קשה kashah, whom I follow. The Chaldee, Syriac, Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion read אראה להם ereh lahem, or יראה yireh, with what meaning is not clear.

The word אראלם erellam, which we translate valiant ones, is very difficult; no man knows what it means. Kimchi supposes that it is the name of the angel that smote the Assyrian camp! The Vulgate, and my old MS., translate it seers; and most of the Versions understand it in this way. None of the MSS. give us any help, but as we see above in Lowth.