Bible Strands
Isaiah 7:18
On that day the LORD will whistle to the flies at the farthest streams of the Nile and to the bees in the land of Assyria.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet Isaiah addresses King Ahaz and the house of Judah during a military crisis, announcing that a time unlike any since Ephraim separated from Judah is about to arrive.
The words — The Hebrew verb יִשְׁרֹק (yish.Rok) means “he will whistle,” directed toward לַ/זְּב֔וּב (la./ze.Vuv), literally “for the fly,” describing the LORD’s active summons of foreign armies.
The thread — The motif of divine whistling to summon nations appears in Isaiah 5:26, while the imagery of invading forces moving like bees or hornets echoes Deuteronomy 1:44 and Deuteronomy 7:20.
Why it lands — The text declares that God will actively summon hostile forces from Egypt and Assyria to execute judgment, demanding recognition that geopolitical threats operate under divine sovereignty rather than random chance.
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
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 5:26 He lifts a banner for the distant nations and whistles for those at the ends of the earth. Behold—how speedily and swiftly they come!
- Deuteronomy 1:44 Then the Amorites who lived in the hills came out against you and chased you like a swarm of bees. They routed you from Seir all the way to Hormah.
- Deuteronomy 7:20 Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet against them until even the survivors hiding from you have perished.
- Joshua 24:12 I sent the hornet ahead of you, and it drove out the two Amorite kings before you, but not by your own sword or bow.
- Isaiah 31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in their abundance of chariots and in their multitude of horsemen. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel; they do not seek the LORD.
- Exodus 8:21 But if you will not let My people go, I will send swarms of flies upon you and your officials and your people and your houses. The houses of the Egyptians and even the ground where they stand will be full of flies.
- Exodus 8:24 And the LORD did so. Thick swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials. Throughout Egypt the land was ruined by swarms of flies.
- 2 Kings 23:33 And Pharaoh Neco imprisoned Jehoahaz at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he could not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
- Psalms 118:12 They swarmed around me like bees, but they were extinguished like burning thorns; in the name of the LORD I cut them off.
- Isaiah 7:17 The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since the day Ephraim separated from Judah—He will bring the king of Assyria.”