Bible Strands
Isaiah 21:12
The watchman replies, “Morning has come, but also the night. If you would inquire, then inquire. Come back yet again.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The watchman answers the caller from Seir who asks what remains of the night, delivering a message of partial relief followed by continued darkness.
The words — שֹׁמֵ֔ר (sho.Mer) means [the] watchman, and בֹ֖קֶר (Vo.ker) means morning, marking the transition the speaker announces.
The thread — This pattern of inquiry and divine response appears in Isaiah 17:14, which contrasts evening terror with morning disappearance, and in Acts 2:37 and Acts 17:30, where listeners ask what to do and God commands repentance.
Why it lands — The text commands the listener to ask further questions and return for more answers, demanding active seeking rather than passive waiting.
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
The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come.
Cross-references
- Acts 17:30 Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent.
- Acts 2:37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
- Isaiah 17:14 In the evening, there is sudden terror! Before morning, they are no more! This is the portion of those who loot us and the lot of those who plunder us.
- Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.
- Jeremiah 42:19 The LORD has told you, O remnant of Judah, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Know for sure that I have warned you today!
- Ezekiel 7:5 This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Disaster! An unprecedented disaster—behold, it is coming!
- Ezekiel 7:10 Behold, the day is here! It has come! Doom has gone out, the rod has budded, arrogance has bloomed.
- Ezekiel 7:12 The time has come; the day has arrived. Let the buyer not rejoice and the seller not mourn, for wrath is upon the whole multitude.
- Ezekiel 14:1 Then some of the elders of Israel came and sat down before me.
- Ezekiel 18:30 Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, so that your iniquity will not become your downfall.