Bible Strands
Isaiah 30:17
A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee, until you are left alone like a pole on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet addresses rebellious Judah during a military crisis when the people reject divine counsel to flee on horses (Isaiah 30:16). The oracle is delivered in the context of their reliance on human strategy rather than waiting on the Lord.
The words — The Hebrew אֶלֶף ('E.lef) means "a thousand" and אֶחָד ('e.Chad) means "one," establishing a stark numerical contrast. The phrase מִפְּנֵי גַעֲרָת (mi./pe.Nei ga.'a.Rat) literally translates as "from the threat of" or "because of the reproof."
The thread — The motif of disproportionate flight runs through Deuteronomy 28:25, where Israel marches out in one direction and flees in many, and Leviticus 26:36, where survivors flee in terror. It directly parallels the rhetorical challenge in Deuteronomy 32:30 regarding how a single pursuer could put a thousand to flight.
Why it lands — The text states that relying on human escape routes results in total exposure and abandonment. It requires the reader to cease self-directed flight and recognize that survival depends on submitting to divine judgment rather than military calculations.
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
One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 28:25 The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will march out against them in one direction but flee from them in seven. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
- Leviticus 26:36 As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.
- Deuteronomy 32:30 How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?
- Joshua 23:10 One of you can put a thousand to flight, because the LORD your God fights for you, just as He promised.
- Leviticus 26:8 Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.
- Proverbs 28:1 The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
- John 15:2 He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful.
- Romans 11:17 Now if some branches have been broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others to share in the nourishment of the olive root,
- Nehemiah 1:2 Hanani, one of my brothers, arrived with men from Judah. So I questioned them about the remnant of the Jews who had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 1:7 Your land is desolate; your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners devour your fields before you—a desolation demolished by strangers.