Bible Strands
Isaiah 24:12
The city is left in ruins; its gate is reduced to rubble.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet pronounces judgment on the earth and its inhabitants, marking the moment when communal celebration ends and urban collapse begins.
The words — נִשְׁאַר (nish.'Ar) means "it has remained," and שְׁאִיָּה (she.'i.Yah) denotes "ruin," describing a settlement that persists only as a desolate space.
The thread — The motif of abandoned cities and rubble recurs in Isaiah 32:14, Jeremiah 9:11, and Lamentations 1:1, where populated centers become empty or desolate.
Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to acknowledge that human infrastructure and joy are subject to irreversible judgment, demanding a sober assessment of the described collapse.
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
In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 32:14 For the palace will be forsaken, the busy city abandoned. The hill and the watchtower will become caves forever—the delight of wild donkeys and a pasture for flocks—
- Jeremiah 9:11 “And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
- Lamentations 1:1 How lonely lies the city, once so full of people! She who was great among the nations has become a widow. The princess of the provinces has become a slave.
- Lamentations 1:4 The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to her appointed feasts. All her gates are deserted; her priests groan, her maidens grieve, and she herself is bitter with anguish.
- Lamentations 2:9 Her gates have sunk into the ground; He has destroyed and shattered their bars. Her king and her princes are exiled among the nations, the law is no more, and even her prophets find no vision from the LORD.
- Lamentations 5:18 because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate, patrolled by foxes.
- Micah 1:9 For her wound is incurable; it has reached even Judah; it has approached the gate of my people, as far as Jerusalem itself.
- Micah 1:12 For the dwellers of Maroth pined for good, but calamity came down from the LORD, even to the gate of Jerusalem.
- Matthew 22:7 The king was enraged, and he sent his troops to destroy those murderers and burn their city.