Bible Strands
Isaiah 29:8
as when a hungry man dreams he is eating, then awakens still hungry; as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking, then awakens faint and parched. So will it be for all the many nations who go to battle against Mount Zion.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Isaiah delivers this oracle to Judah concerning the impending failure of hostile nations besieging Mount Zion. The prophet announces this judgment during a period of military threat against Jerusalem.
The words — The verb יַחֲלֹם (ya.cha.Lom) means "he dreams," set against וְ/רֵיקָ֣ה (ve./rei.Kah), "and [is] empty," to depict the hungry man's futile awakening. These terms establish the core metaphor of illusory satisfaction followed by unfulfilled deprivation.
The thread — This dream motif reappears in Psalms 73:20, where earthly pursuits vanish upon divine awakening, and aligns with Isaiah 10:7, where human military plans collapse against God's actual purpose. The imagery also parallels the futility of idol-making in Isaiah 44:12.
Why it lands — The text declares that nations attacking Mount Zion will experience their campaigns as illusory and ultimately empty, just as a dreamer wakes with persistent hunger. Readers must recognize that opposition to God's chosen place yields only frustration, not conquest.
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
It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.
Cross-references
- Psalms 73:20 Like one waking from a dream, so You, O Lord, awaken and despise their form.
- Isaiah 44:12 The blacksmith takes a tool and labors over the coals; he fashions an idol with hammers and forges it with his strong arms. Yet he grows hungry and loses his strength; he fails to drink water and grows faint.
- Isaiah 10:7 But this is not his intention; this is not his plan. For it is in his heart to destroy and cut off many nations.
- 2 Chronicles 32:21 and the LORD sent an angel who annihilated every mighty man of valor and every leader and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace. And when he entered the temple of his god, some of his own sons struck him down with the sword.