Isaiah 7:25

Updated Bible Version

And all the hills that were dug with the mattock, you shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheep.

Parallel Translations

Legacy Standard Bible
As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the hoe, you will not go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place for pasturing oxen and for sheep to trample.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the hoe, you will not go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place for pasturing oxen and for sheep to trample.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
As for all hilles that shalbe digged with the mattocke, there shall not come vpon them any feare of bryers and thornes: but the cattell shalbe driuen thyther, and the sheepe shal feede there.

Darby Translation
And all mountains that have been dug up with the hoe—thither will they not come, from fear of briars and thorns; and they shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of small cattle.

New King James Version
And to any hill which could be dug with the hoe, You will not go there for fear of briers and thorns; But it will become a range for oxen And a place for sheep to roam.

Literal Translation
And all the hills which were hoed with the hoe, you shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending out of the ox, and for trampling of sheep.

Easy-to-Read Version
People once worked the soil and grew food on these hills, but at that time they will not go there, because the fields will be covered with weeds and thorns. It will be a place where cattle graze and sheep wander."

World English Bible
All the hills that were dug with the mattock, you shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheep."

King James Version (1611)
And on all hilles that shalbe digged with the mattocke, there shall not come thither the feare of briars and thornes: but it shall bee for the sending foorth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattell.

King James Version
And on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And as for all hilles that now are hewen downe, thou shalt not come vpo them, for feare of brears and thornes. But the catel shalbe dryuen thither, and the shepe shal fede there.

Amplified Bible
As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the pick and the hoe, you will no longer go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place where oxen are pastured and where sheep tread.

American Standard Version
And all the hills that were digged with the mattock, thou shalt not come thither for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheep.

Bible in Basic English
And they will send out the oxen and the sheep on all the hills which before were worked with the spade, Three dots are used where it is no longer possible to be certain of the true sense of the Hebrew words, and for this reason no attempt has been made to put them into Basic English. fear of blackberries and thorns.

Webster's Bible Translation
And [on] all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle.

New English Translation
They will stay away from all the hills that were cultivated, for fear of the thorns and briers. Cattle will graze there and sheep will trample on them.

Contemporary English Version
The hills where you once planted crops will be overgrown with thorns and thistles. You will be afraid to go there, and your cattle, sheep, and goats will be turned loose on those hills.

Complete Jewish Bible
You won't visit hills once worked with a hoe, for fear of the briars and thorns; it will be good only for pasturing cattle and being trampled down by sheep.

Geneva Bible (1587)
But on all the mountaines, which shalbe digged with the mattocke, there shal not come thither the feare of briers and thornes: but they shalbe for the sending out of bullocks, and for the treading of sheepe.

George Lamsa Translation
And on all the hills that once were ploughed with a plough, you shall not go for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall become pasture for cattle and for the treading of sheep.

Hebrew Names Version
All the hills that were dug with the mattock, you shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheep."

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And all the hills that were digged with the mattock, thou shalt not come thither for fear of briers and thorns, but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheep.

New Living Translation
No one will go to the fertile hillsides where the gardens once grew, for briers and thorns will cover them. Cattle, sheep, and goats will graze there.

New Life Bible
As for all the hills which used to be cared for as a garden, you will not go there for fear of thistles and thorns. They will become a place where cattle feed and where sheep will run.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And every mountain shall be certainly ploughed: there shall no fear come thither: for there shall be from among the barren ground and thorns that whereon cattle shall feed and oxen shall tread.

English Revised Version
And all the hills that were digged with the mattock; thou shalt not come thither for fear of briers and thorns, but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheep.

Berean Standard Bible
For fear of the thorns and briers, you will no longer traverse the hills once tilled by the hoe; they will become places for oxen to graze and sheep to trample.

New Revised Standard
and as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not go there for fear of briers and thorns; but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But all the hills which, with the hoe, can be weeded, - there shall not come thither, the fear of briars anti thorns, - but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the tread of lesser cattle.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And as for the hills that shall be raked with a rake, the fear of thorns and briers shall not come thither, but they shall be for the ox to feed on, and the lesser cattle to tread upon.

Lexham English Bible
And as for all of the hills that they hoed with the hoe, you will not go there, for fear of briers and thornbushes. And it will become like pastureland for cattle and overtrodden land for sheep.

English Standard Version
And as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear of briers and thorns, but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.

New American Standard Bible
As for all the hills which used to be cultivated with the plow, you will not go there for fear of briars and thorns; but they will become a place for pasturing oxen and for sheep to trample.

New Century Version
People once worked and grew food on these hills, but at that time people will not go there, because the land will be filled with weeds and thorns. Only sheep and cattle will go to those places."

Good News Translation
All the hills where crops were once planted will be so overgrown with thorns that no one will go there. It will be a place where cattle and sheep graze."

Christian Standard Bible®
You will not go to all the hills that were once tilled with a hoe, for fear of the thorns and briers. Those hills will be places for oxen to graze and for sheep to trample.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And alle hillis that schulen be purgid with a sarpe, the drede of thornes and of breris schal not come thidir; and it schal be in to lesewe of oxen, and in to treding of scheep.

Revised Standard Version
and as for all the hills which used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.

Young's Literal Translation
And all the hills that with a mattock are kept in order, Thither cometh not the fear of brier and thorn, And it hath been for the sending forth of ox, And for the treading of sheep!'

Contextual Overview

¹⁷ Yahweh will bring on you, and on your people, and on your father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah-[even] the king of Assyria. ¹⁸ And it shall come to pass in that day, that Yahweh will hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. ¹⁹ And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all thorn-hedges, and on all pastures. ²⁰ In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired in the parts beyond the River, [even] with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard. ²¹ And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep; ²² and it shall come to pass, that because of the abundance of milk which they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the midst of the land. ²³ And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, shall be for briers and thorns. ²⁴ With arrows and with bow shall one come there, because all the land shall be briers and thorns. ²⁵ And all the hills that were dug with the mattock, you shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheep.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

but it: Isaiah 7:21, Isaiah 7:22, Isaiah 13:20-22, Isaiah 17:2, Zephaniah 2:6

Reciprocal: 2 Chronicles 34:6 - mattocks Isaiah 5:17 - shall the lambs Isaiah 27:10 - there shall the

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And [on] all hills that shall be digged with the mattock,.... Which could not be ploughed with a plough, but used to be dug with a mattock or spade, and then sowed with corn:

there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns; where thorns and briers used not to grow, and where there was no fear or danger of being overrun with them, as the vineyards in the valleys and champaign country; yet those places should become desolate in another way; or rather, there shall be now no fences made of briers and thorns, which deter cattle from entering into fields and vineyards thus fenced:

but it shall be for the setting forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle; there being no fence of briers and thorns to keep them out, cattle both of the greater and lesser sort should get into the corn, and feed upon it, and make such places desolate, where much pains were taken to cultivate them. The Targum is,

"it shall be for a place of lying down of oxen, and for a place of dwelling of flocks of sheep;''

not for pastures, but for folds for them; though the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions, suggest these places should become pastures; and therefore some understand this as a prophecy of a change in the country for the better, and of the great fruitfulness of it after the Jews' return from the Babylonish captivity.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And on all hills ... - All the fertile places in the mountains that used to be cultivated with the spade. Vineyards were often planted on the sides of hills; and those places were among the most productive and fertile in the land; see Isaiah 5:1.

The mattock - The spade; the garden hoe; or the weeding-hook. An instrument chiefly used, probably, in vineyards.

There shall not come thither - There shall not be.

The fear of briers and thorns - This does not make sense; or if it does, it is not a sense consistent with the connection. The idea of the whole passage is, that the land, even the most fertile parts of it, should be given up to briers and thorns; that is, to desolation. The Hebrew here, is ambiguous. It may mean, ‘thou shalt not come there, for fear of the briers and thorns.’ That is, the place that was formerly so fertile, that was cultivated with the spade, shall now be so completely covered with thorns, and shall furnish so convenient a resting place for wild beasts and reptiles, as to deter a man from going there. The Septuagint, and the Syriac, however, understand it differently - as denoting that those places should be still cultivated. But this is evidently a departure from the sense of the connection. Lowth understands it in the past tense; ‘where the fear of briers and thorns never came.’ The general idea of the passage is plain, that those places, once so highly cultivated, would now be desolate.

Shall be for the sending forth ... - Shall be wild, uncultivated, and desolate - vast commons on which oxen and sheep shall feed at large. “Lesser cattle.” Hebrew ‘Sheep, or the flock.’ Sheep were accustomed to range in deserts and uncultivated places, and to obtain there, under the guidance of the shepherd, their subsistence. The description, therefore, in these verses, is one of extensive and wide desolation; and one that was accomplished in the calamities that came upon the land in the invasions by the Egyptians and Assyrians.