Bible Strands
Isaiah 51:20
Your sons have fainted; they lie at the head of every street, like an antelope in a net. They are full of the wrath of the LORD, the rebuke of your God.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet addresses Jerusalem, personified as an afflicted woman, amid a sequence of divine judgments including devastation, destruction, famine, and sword. The speech occurs within an oracle of impending disaster that immediately precedes a call to heed future deliverance.
The words — עֻלְּפ֥וּ ('u.le.Fu) denotes a state of extreme fainting or collapse, while מִכְמָ֑ר (mikh.Mar) refers to a hunting net. The text literally describes the sons lying at every street corner like a caught antelope, overwhelmed by divine wrath.
The thread — The imagery of trapped animals and widespread suffering echoes Lamentations 2:11, while the theme of unmerited divine judgment parallels the plagues in Revelation 16:9. The specific animal comparison draws on the fauna listed in Deuteronomy 14:5.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that national collapse results directly from divine rebuke rather than random chance. It requires the reader to acknowledge the severity of the judgment before turning to the subsequent call for attention in the following verse.
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
Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God.
Cross-references
- Lamentations 2:11 My eyes fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.
- Revelation 16:9 And the people were scorched by intense heat, and they cursed the name of God, who had authority over these plagues. Yet they did not repent and give Him glory.
- Deuteronomy 14:5 the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.
- Psalms 88:15 From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.
- Isaiah 5:25 Therefore the anger of the LORD burns against His people; His hand is raised against them to strike them down. The mountains quake, and the corpses lie like refuse in the streets. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.
- Isaiah 8:21 They will roam the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged; and looking upward, they will curse their king and their God.
- Isaiah 9:19 By the wrath of the LORD of Hosts the land is scorched, and the people are fuel for the fire. No man even spares his brother.
- Isaiah 29:9 Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not from strong drink.
- Isaiah 49:26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
- Isaiah 51:17 Awake, awake! Rise up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of His fury; you who have drained the goblet to the dregs—the cup that makes men stagger.