Bible Strands
Isaiah 7:20
On that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates—the king of Assyria—to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to remove your beard as well.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Isaiah delivers this oracle to Judah during a period of political crisis, immediately preceding warnings that survivors will flee to rocky ravines and thornbushes. The prophecy addresses the nation's imminent vulnerability to foreign invasion.
The words — יְגַלַּ֣ח (ye.ga.Lach) = he will shave, and הַ/שְּׂכִירָ֜ה (ha./se.khi.Rah) = the hired. The text states the Lord will employ a razor brought by a contracted agent from beyond the Euphrates to shave the head, leg hair, and beard.
The thread — Isaiah 8:7 identifies the Euphrates floodwaters with the king of Assyria, while Ezekiel 5:1 employs a barber's razor to symbolize forced removal and judgment. Isaiah 10:15 reinforces the motif by questioning whether an axe can boast over its wielder.
Why it lands — The passage requires a reader to acknowledge that foreign military campaigns function as instruments of divine action rather than mere political events. It demands an assessment of national security strategies against the reality of sovereign judgment.
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
In the same day shall the Lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet: and it shall also consume the beard.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 8:7 the Lord will surely bring against them the mighty floodwaters of the Euphrates—the king of Assyria and all his pomp. It will overflow its channels and overrun its banks.
- Isaiah 10:15 Does an axe raise itself above the one who swings it? Does a saw boast over him who saws with it? It would be like a rod waving the one who lifts it, or a staff lifting him who is not wood!
- Ezekiel 5:1 “As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword, use it as a barber’s razor, and shave your head and beard. Then take a set of scales and divide the hair.
- Ezekiel 29:18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to labor strenuously against Tyre. Every head was made bald and every shoulder made raw. But he and his army received no wages from Tyre for the labor they expended on it.
- 2 Kings 16:7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hands of the kings of Aram and Israel, who are rising up against me.”
- 2 Kings 18:13 In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign, Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked and captured all the fortified cities of Judah.
- 2 Chronicles 28:20 Then Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came to Ahaz but afflicted him rather than strengthening him.
- Isaiah 1:5 Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head has a massive wound, and your whole heart is afflicted.
- Isaiah 9:14 So the LORD will cut off Israel’s head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day.
- Isaiah 10:5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.