Isaiah 28:27

Surely caraway is not threshed with a sledge, and the wheel of a cart is not rolled over the cumin. But caraway is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — God speaks through the prophet to Judah, using a farmer’s routine to illustrate how divine instruction operates. The words — חָרוּץ (cha.Rutz) means threshing sledge, and קֶצַח (ke.tzach) means black cumin, anchoring the agricultural comparison. The thread — The threshing sledge appears as an instrument of judgment in Isaiah 41:15, while the cart wheel and horse imagery recur in Isaiah 28:28 and 2 Kings 13:7. Why it lands — The text states that different crops require different tools, demanding the reader accept that adapted instruction, not uniform force, produces the intended result.

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

כִּ֣יkithat לֹ֤אlo'not בֶֽחָרוּץ֙ve./cha.Rutzwith <the>/ threshing sledge י֣וּדַשׁYu.dashit is threshed קֶ֔צַחKe.tzachblack cumin וְאוֹפַ֣ןve./'o.Fanand/ a wheel of עֲגָלָ֔ה'a.ga.Laha cart עַל־'al-over כַּמֹּ֖ןka.Moncumin יוּסָּ֑בyu.Savit is turned כִּ֧יkifor בַמַּטֶּ֛הva./ma.Tehwith <the>/ staff יֵחָ֥בֶטye.Cha.vetit is beaten out קֶ֖צַחKe.tzachblack cumin וְכַמֹּ֥ןve./kha.Monand/ cumin בַּשָּֽׁבֶט׃ba./Sha.vetwith <the>/ rod

King James Version

For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.

Cross-references

Isaiah 41:15 Behold, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff.
2 Kings 13:7 Jehoahaz had no army left, except fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers, because the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing.
Isaiah 27:7 Has the LORD struck Israel as He struck her oppressors? Was she killed like those who slayed her?
Jeremiah 10:24 Correct me, O LORD, but only with justice—not in Your anger, or You will bring me to nothing.
Jeremiah 46:28 And you, My servant Jacob, do not be afraid, declares the LORD, for I am with you. Though I will completely destroy all the nations to which I have banished you, I will not completely destroy you. Yet I will discipline you justly, and will by no means leave you unpunished.”
Amos 1:3 This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they threshed Gilead with sledges of iron.