Bible Strands
Isaiah 14:30
Then the firstborn of the poor will find pasture, and the needy will lie down in safety, but I will kill your root by famine, and your remnant will be slain.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Yahweh speaks to Philistia in Isaiah 14:29–31, interrupting their anticipated celebration over Judah’s political collapse with a declaration of coming judgment.
The words — בְּכוֹרֵי דַלִּים (be.kho.rei da.lim) literally means "firstborn of the poor," and לָ/בֶ֣טַח (la./Ve.tach) translates to "to security," describing the temporary refuge granted to the destitute before the stated slaughter.
The thread — The pattern of sudden uprooting and reversed fortunes recurs in Isaiah 7:21, Zephaniah 2:4, and Job 18:13, where temporary stability or prosperity is abruptly terminated by divine action.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to abandon triumphalism over others' misfortune and recognize that human political shifts do not suspend the execution of stated judgment.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 7:21 On that day a man will raise a young cow and two sheep,
- Zephaniah 2:4 For Gaza will be abandoned, and Ashkelon left in ruins. Ashdod will be driven out at noon, and Ekron will be uprooted.
- Job 18:13 It devours patches of his skin; the firstborn of death devours his limbs.
- Isaiah 3:15 Why do you crush My people and grind the faces of the poor?” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.
- Isaiah 5:17 Lambs will graze as in their own pastures, and strangers will feed in the ruins of the wealthy.
- Isaiah 8:21 They will roam the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged; and looking upward, they will curse their king and their God.
- Isaiah 9:20 They carve out what is on the right, but they are still hungry; they eat what is on the left, but they are still not satisfied. Each one devours the flesh of his own offspring.
- Isaiah 30:23 Then He will send rain for the seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food that comes from your land will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.
- Isaiah 33:16 he will dwell on the heights; the mountain fortress will be his refuge; his food will be provided and his water assured.
- Isaiah 37:30 And this will be a sign to you, O Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from the same. But in the third year you will sow and reap; you will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.