Bible Strands
Isaiah 30:24
The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder, winnowed with shovel and pitchfork.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet speaks on behalf of Yahweh to Judah, describing a future moment of agricultural restoration following a season of famine and national crisis. The address shifts from warning to concrete promise as God outlines the renewal of the land.
The words — The text highlights חָמִ֖יץ (cha.Mitz), literally "salted," and עֹֽבְדֵי֙ ('oe.Dei), meaning "working," to describe the prepared feed for draft animals. These terms specify that the sustenance provided is preserved and processed for laborers.
The thread — This promise of abundant, processed fodder contrasts with the barren fields of Genesis 45:6 and echoes the agricultural rhythms noted in Exodus 34:21 and Deuteronomy 25:4. It continues the immediate context of Isaiah 30:23 by detailing how restored land will sustain both people and livestock.
Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to acknowledge that divine restoration operates through tangible, everyday provisions rather than abstract miracles. It demands recognition that covenant faithfulness ultimately restores the practical means of survival.
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 oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.
Cross-references
- Genesis 45:6 For the famine has covered the land these two years, and there will be five more years without plowing or harvesting.
- Deuteronomy 25:4 Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.
- Exodus 34:21 Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in the seasons of plowing and harvesting, you must rest.
- Deuteronomy 21:4 bring the heifer to a valley with running water that has not been plowed or sown, and break its neck there by the stream.
- 1 Samuel 8:12 He will appoint some for himself as commanders of thousands and of fifties, and others to plow his ground, to reap his harvest, and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.
- Matthew 3:12 His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
- Luke 3:17 His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
- 1 Corinthians 9:9 For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned?