Bible Strands
Isaiah 8:4
For before the boy knows how to cry ‘Father’ or ‘Mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried off by the king of Assyria.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Isaiah receives a message from the LORD concerning the son born to the prophetess, just before the LORD continues speaking in the following verse.
The words — בְּטֶרֶם (beTereM) translates literally as “before,” and יֵדַע (yeDa') means “he will know,” establishing a strict chronological limit tied to the child’s development.
The thread — The prophecy of Assyrian plunder aligns with 2 Kings 16:9, where the king of Assyria captures Damascus and takes its people as captives. The developmental timeline marker parallels Deuteronomy 1:39, which references children who have not yet reached maturity.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that divine judgments operate on fixed timelines independent of human preparation, requiring the reader to treat prophetic deadlines as binding historical markers rather than symbolic delays.
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
For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.
Cross-references
- Romans 9:11 Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s plan of election might stand,
- Deuteronomy 1:39 And the little ones you said would become captives—your children who on that day did not know good from evil—will enter the land that I will give them, and they will possess it.
- 2 Kings 16:9 So the king of Assyria responded to him, marched up to Damascus, and captured it. He took its people to Kir as captives and put Rezin to death.
- 2 Kings 17:3 Shalmaneser king of Assyria attacked him, and Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute.
- 2 Kings 17:5 Then the king of Assyria invaded the whole land, marched up to Samaria, and besieged it for three years.
- Isaiah 7:8 For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered as a people.
- Isaiah 7:15 By the time He knows enough to reject evil and choose good, He will be eating curds and honey.
- Isaiah 10:6 I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.
- Isaiah 17:3 The fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and the sovereignty from Damascus. The remnant of Aram will be like the splendor of the Israelites,” declares the LORD of Hosts.
- Jonah 4:11 So should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well?”