Isaias 3:7

Filipino Cebuano Bible

7 Niadtong adlawa ipatugbaw niya ang iyang tingog nga magaingon: Dili ako buot mahimo nga mananambal; kay sa akong balay walay tinapay ni saput: dili ninyo buhaton ako nga pangulo sa katawohan.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

swear: Heb. lift up the hand, Genesis 14:22, Deuteronomy 32:40, Revelation 10:5, Revelation 10:6

healer: Heb. binder up, Isaiah 58:12, Jeremiah 14:19, Lamentations 2:13, Hosea 5:13, Hosea 6:1

neither bread: Princes and great men in the East, as Sir J. Chardin testifies, are obliged to have a great stock of clothes in readiness for presents on all occasions; and a great quantity of provisions for the table is equally necessary - see 1 Kings 4:22, 1 Kings 4:23. Nehemiah 5:17, Nehemiah 5:18. Hence the person desired to undertake the government, alleges as an excuse that he is not able to support the dignity of his station.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

In that day shall he swear,.... Or "lift up", that is, his hand e, which was a gesture used in swearing, and therefore is so rendered; the meaning is, that he shall at once immediately give an answer, and for the solemn confirmation of it shall say an oath with it, saying,

I will not be a healer, or "a binder"; that is, of wounds, of political wounds, made in the nation, and which were incurable. See Isaiah 1:6 for the meaning is, that he neither was fit to be, nor could he be, a healer of the distempered state of the nation, it was so desperately bad. The Targum is,

"I am not fit to be a head or governor;''

and so Kimchi explains it of a governor, who, he says, is so called, because he binds and imprisons those that transgress his commands; and to this sense Jarchi and Abarbinel:

for in my house [is] neither bread nor clothing; not a sufficiency of either to support such grandeur and dignity; not enough to keep a proper table, and a suitable equipage:

make me not a ruler of the people; this shows that the state of the nation must be very bad indeed, that men, who are naturally ambitious of power and honour, should refuse government when offered to them.

e ישא "attollet manum", Piscator.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In that day shall he swear - Hebrew, ישׁא yı̂shā' ‘Shall he lift up’ - that is, the voice, or the hand. To lift up the hand was one of the modes of taking an oath. Perhaps it means only that he should lift up “the voice” - that is, “should answer;” compare Numbers 14:1. The Vulgate, the Septuagint, and the Chaldee, read it simply ‘he shall answer.’

I will not be an healer - Hebrew, ‘a binder up,’ Isaiah 1:6. The Vulgate renders it, ‘I am not a physician.’ The Septuagint and the Chaldee, ‘I am not sufficient to be a leader.’ The meaning is, that the state of affairs was so ruinous and calamitous that he would not attempt to restore them; as if, in the body, disease should have so far progressed that he would not undertake to restore the person, and have him “die” under his hands, so as to expose himself to the reproach of being an unsuccessfill and unskillful physician.

Is neither bread nor clothing - I am not rich. I have not the means of providing for the needs of the people, or to maintain the rank of a ruler. ‘It is customary,’ says Sir John Chardin, ‘to gather together an immense quantity of clothes, for their fashions never alter.’ ‘The kings of Persia have great wardrobes, where they have always many hundreds of habits ready, designed for presents, and sorted.’ - “Lowth.” The description here is one of very great calamity and anarchy. So great would be the ruin and danger, that men would be unwilling to be chosen to the office of princes and rulers, and none could be found who would desire to possess the highest honors of the nation. Generally men “aspire” to office; here they were unwilling, on account of the disordered and ruined state of affairs, even to accept of it.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 3:7. In that day shall he swear - "Then shall he openly declare"] The Septuagint, Syriac, and Jerome, read וישא veyissa, adding the conjunction, which seems necessary in this place.

I will not be a healer — I am not a leche. - Old MS. Bible. Leech was the ancient English word for a physician.

For in my house is neither bread nor clothing - "For in my house is neither bread nor raiment"] "It is customary through all the East," says Sir J. Chardin, "to gather together an immense quantity of furniture and clothes; for their fashions never alter." Princes and great men are obliged to have a great stock of such things in readiness for presents upon all occasions. "The kings of Persia," says the same author, "have great wardrobes, where there are always many hundreds of habits ready, designed for presents, and sorted," Harmer, Observ., II. 11 and 88. A great quantity of provision for the table was equally necessary. The daily provision for Solomon's household, whose attendants were exceedingly numerous, was proportionately great, 1 Kings 4:22-23. Even Nehemiah, in his strait circumstances, had a large supply daily for his table; at which he received a hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, besides those that came from among the neighbouring heathen, Nehemiah 5:17-18.

This explains the meaning of the excuse made by him that is desired to undertake the government. He alleges that he has not wherewithal to support the dignity of the station, by such acts of liberality and hospitality as the law of custom required of persons of superior rank. See Harmer's Observations, I. 340, II. 88.