Bible Strands
Isaiah 32:19
But hail will level the forest, and the city will sink to the depths.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Isaiah delivers a prophetic message to Judah, positioning this declaration of judgment between promises of future security and blessing.
The words — The text centers on בָּרַד (barad/hail) that descends and the verb שָׁפַל (shaphal/become low), which together describe the forest being leveled and the city sinking.
The thread — The motif of hail executing judgment and the humbling of elevated places appears in Isaiah 28:17, Isaiah 26:5, and Isaiah 28:2.
Why it lands — The passage demands recognition that divine intervention dismantles human security before establishing the peace and provision described in the surrounding verses.
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
When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 28:17 I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the level. Hail will sweep away your refuge of lies, and water will flood your hiding place.
- Isaiah 26:5 For He has humbled those who dwell on high; He lays the lofty city low. He brings it down to the ground; He casts it into the dust.
- Isaiah 28:2 Behold, the Lord has one who is strong and mighty. Like a hailstorm or destructive tempest, like a driving rain or flooding downpour, he will smash that crown to the ground.
- Isaiah 30:30 And the LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard and His mighty arm to be revealed, striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire, and with cloudburst, storm, and hailstones.
- Zechariah 11:2 Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen; the majestic trees are ruined! Wail, O oaks of Bashan, for the dense forest has been cut down!
- Exodus 9:18 Behold, at this time tomorrow I will rain down the worst hail that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded until now.
- Isaiah 10:19 The remaining trees of its forests will be so few that a child could count them.
- Isaiah 14:22 “I will rise up against them,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will cut off from Babylon her name and her remnant, her offspring and her posterity,” declares the LORD.
- Isaiah 24:10 The city of chaos is shattered; every house is closed to entry.
- Isaiah 25:4 For You have been a refuge for the poor, a stronghold for the needy in distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like rain against a wall,