Isaiah 7:25

For fear of the briers and thorns, you will no longer traverse the hills once tilled by the hoe; they will become places for oxen to graze and sheep to trample.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Isaiah delivers this declaration to King Ahaz during the Syro-Ephraimite crisis, describing the immediate agricultural collapse that will follow Assyrian invasion. The prophet contrasts the former cultivated hills with their coming desolation.

The words — The Hebrew יֵעָדֵרוּ (ye'adheru) means "they will be hoed," paired with לֹא תָבוֹא (lo tavo) "you will not go," marking the end of human cultivation. בַּמַּעְדֵּר (ba.ma'der) "with the hoe" specifies the agricultural tool abandoned in this judgment.

The thread — This reversal of cultivation appears in Isaiah 5:17 where displaced people graze in former wealthy lands, and Isaiah 13:20 where nomads will never pitch tents. The motif of reverted pastures echoes the promise in Isaiah 7:21 of a man raising cattle and sheep.

Why it lands — The text demands recognition that divine judgment will strip human industry from the land, leaving it to wild growth and livestock. It requires the reader to accept that security cannot be built on cultivated ground when God withholds protection.

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

וְכֹ֣לve./Kholand/ all הֶהָרִ֗יםhe./ha.Rimthe/ hills אֲשֶׁ֤ר'a.Sherwhich בַּמַּעְדֵּר֙ba./ma'.Derwith the/ hoe יֵעָ֣דֵר֔וּןye.'A.de.Ru/nthey were hoed/ !לֹֽא־lo'-not תָב֣וֹאta.Vo'you will go שָׁ֔מָּהSha.ma/hthere/ <towards>יִרְאַ֖תyir.'Atfear of שָׁמִ֣ירsha.Mirthorn[s]וָשָׁ֑יִתva./Sha.yitand/ bush[es]וְהָיָה֙ve./ha.Yahand/ it will become לְמִשְׁלַ֣חle./mish.Lach<into>/ pastureland of שׁ֔וֹרShorox[en]וּלְמִרְמַ֖סu./le./mir.Masand/ <into>/ a trampling place of שֶֽׂה׃ פSehsheep

King James Version

And on all hills that shall be digged with the mattock, there shall not come thither the fear of briers and thorns: but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of lesser cattle.

Cross-references

Isaiah 5:17 Lambs will graze as in their own pastures, and strangers will feed in the ruins of the wealthy.
Isaiah 7:21 On that day a man will raise a young cow and two sheep,
Isaiah 13:20 She will never be inhabited or settled from generation to generation; no nomad will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flock there.
Isaiah 17:2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they will be left to the flocks, which will lie down with no one to fear.
Zephaniah 2:6 So the seacoast will become a land of pastures, with wells for shepherds and folds for sheep.