Bible Strands
Isaiah 30:28
His breath is like a rushing torrent that rises to the neck. He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction; He bridles the jaws of the peoples to lead them astray.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet speaks for Yahweh to Judah’s leadership after condemning their alliance with Egypt. This declaration follows a vision of the LORD’s approach and precedes a promise of restored worship.
The words — רוּח (ruach) denotes breath or wind, paired with נַחַל (nachal) meaning a torrent or stream. Together they describe an unstoppable, overflowing force that reaches the neck.
The thread — The neck-reaching flood echoes Isaiah 8:8, while the bit-and-hook imagery parallels Isaiah 37:29. Both passages frame divine judgment as a controlled, inescapable force.
Why it lands — The text asserts that Yahweh uses overwhelming power to separate and redirect the nations. It demands recognition that human alliances cannot override divine sovereignty.
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
And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 37:29 Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
- Isaiah 8:8 It will pour into Judah, swirling and sweeping over it, reaching up to the neck; its spreading streams will cover your entire land, O Immanuel!
- Isaiah 11:4 but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and with equity He will decide for the lowly of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and slay the wicked with the breath of His lips.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of His mouth and annihilate by the majesty of His arrival.
- 2 Kings 19:28 Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
- Amos 9:9 “For surely I will give the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations as grain is sifted in a sieve; but not a pebble will reach the ground.
- Luke 22:31 Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you like wheat.
- Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
- Revelation 2:16 Therefore repent! Otherwise I will come to you shortly and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth.
- 2 Samuel 17:14 Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than that of Ahithophel.” For the LORD had purposed to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom.