Bible Strands
Isaiah 31:2
Yet He too is wise and brings disaster; He does not call back His words. He will rise up against the house of the wicked and against the allies of evildoers.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet addresses Judah’s leadership at a moment when they are abandoning reliance on the LORD to seek military protection from Egypt.
The words — The text highlights חָכָם (cha.Kham), meaning wise, and רָע (Ra'), meaning calamity, to show that divine wisdom actively brings disaster upon those who defy Him.
The thread — This theme of God’s unchanging word and sovereign control over calamity appears in Numbers 23:19, Isaiah 45:7, and Jeremiah 10:12.
Why it lands — It demands a clear-eyed assessment of political alliances against the reality of divine judgment, requiring the reader to abandon false security and look to the Holy One of Israel.
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
Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.
Cross-references
- Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
- Isaiah 45:7 I form the light and create the darkness; I bring prosperity and create calamity. I, the LORD, do all these things.
- Jeremiah 10:12 The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.
- Amos 3:6 If a ram’s horn sounds in a city, do the people not tremble? If calamity comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?
- Zephaniah 3:8 Therefore wait for Me,” declares the LORD, “until the day I rise to testify. For My decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them My indignation—all My burning anger. For all the earth will be consumed by the fire of My jealousy.
- Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
- Romans 16:27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.
- 1 Corinthians 1:21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
- Jude 1:25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord before all time, and now, and for all eternity. Amen.
- Numbers 10:35 Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say, “Rise up, O LORD! May Your enemies be scattered; may those who hate You flee before You.”