Bible Strands
Isaiah 33:17
Your eyes will see the King in His beauty and behold a land that stretches afar.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet addresses the people of Judah regarding God’s future reign following a period of military terror and oppression. The passage transitions from the disappearance of the oppressor to the direct vision of divine rule.
The words — עֵינֶיךָ ('ei.Nei./kha) means "your eyes," and מֶלֶךְ (Me.lekh) translates literally as "a king." The parallel verbs תֶּחֱזֶ֣ינָה and תִּרְאֶ֖ינָה both denote the active perception of beholding.
The thread — The vision of divine beauty and enduring provision aligns with the abundance in Zechariah 9:17 and the eternal focus commanded in 2 Corinthians 4:18. The requirement to keep commandments and love Jesus in John 14:21 mirrors the posture needed to behold this reign.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to shift attention from temporary threats to God’s visible sovereignty and lasting territory. It demands acceptance of divine provision and rule instead of anxiety over past or present oppression.
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
Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.
Cross-references
- Zechariah 9:17 How lovely they will be, and how beautiful! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine, the young women.
- John 14:21 Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”
- 2 Corinthians 4:18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
- 1 John 3:2 Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when Christ appears, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.
- Isaiah 6:5 Then I said: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts.”
- John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
- John 17:24 Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, that they may see the glory You gave Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
- 2 Chronicles 32:23 Many brought offerings to Jerusalem for the LORD and valuable gifts for Hezekiah king of Judah, and from then on he was exalted in the eyes of all nations.
- Psalms 31:8 You have not delivered me to the enemy; You have set my feet in the open.
- Psalms 45:2 You are the most handsome of men; grace has anointed your lips; therefore God has blessed you forever.