Bible Strands
Isaiah 34:12
No nobles will be left to proclaim a king, and all her princes will come to nothing.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet addresses the nation of Edom, delivering a declaration of divine judgment immediately after describing the land's desolation by owls and ravens. The moment marks the completion of a measured destruction where human leadership is entirely erased.
The words — חֹרֶי/הָ (cho.rei/ha) denotes the nobles or chiefs of the land, while מְלוּכָה (me.lu.khah) refers to a kingship or royal office. The text literally states that no nobles remain there to call out a king.
The thread — This theme of vanished leadership and societal collapse echoes Isaiah 3:6, where civil order fractures, and Isaiah 41:11, where adversaries are reduced to nothing. It also contrasts with Ecclesiastes 10:16, which laments poor governance under a youth king.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that human authority cannot withstand divine judgment. It asks the reader to observe how political structures dissolve when God's decree of chaos is executed.
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
They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 3:6 A man will seize his brother within his father’s house: “You have a cloak—you be our leader! Take charge of this heap of rubble.”
- Ecclesiastes 10:16 Woe to you, O land whose king is a youth, and whose princes feast in the morning.
- Isaiah 41:11 Behold, all who rage against you will be ashamed and disgraced; those who contend with you will be reduced to nothing and will perish.
- Isaiah 41:24 Behold, you are nothing and your work is of no value. Anyone who chooses you is detestable.
- Jeremiah 27:20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he carried Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.
- Jeremiah 39:6 There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also killed all the nobles of Judah.
- 1 Corinthians 8:4 So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one.
- 1 Corinthians 13:2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
- 2 Corinthians 12:11 I have become a fool, but you drove me to it. In fact, you should have commended me, since I am in no way inferior to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.