Isaiah 22:2
 Isaiah 22:2 
New International Version (©2011)
you town so full of commotion, you city of tumult and revelry? Your slain were not killed by the sword, nor did they die in battle.

New Living Translation (©2007)
The whole city is in a terrible uproar. What do I see in this reveling city? Bodies are lying everywhere, killed not in battle but by famine and disease.

English Standard Version (©2001)
you who are full of shoutings, tumultuous city, exultant town? Your slain are not slain with the sword or dead in battle.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
You who were full of noise, You boisterous town, you exultant city; Your slain were not slain with the sword, Nor did they die in battle.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
Thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city, a joyous city: thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
The noisy city, the jubilant town, is filled with revelry. Your dead did not die by the sword; they were not killed in battle.

International Standard Version (©2012)
you who are full of commotion, you passionate city, you rollicking town? Your slain weren't killed by the sword, nor are they dead in battle.

NET Bible (©2006)
The noisy city is full of raucous sounds; the town is filled with revelry. Your slain were not cut down by the sword; they did not die in battle.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
You are a city filled with shouting, a town filled with noise and excitement. Your people weren't killed with swords. Your dead didn't die in battle.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
You that are full of shoutings, a tumultuous city, a joyous city: your slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.

American King James Version
You that are full of stirs, a tumultuous city, joyous city: your slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.

American Standard Version
O thou that art full of shoutings, a tumultuous city, a joyous town; thy slain are not slain with the sword, neither are they dead in battle.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Full of clamour, a populous city, a joyous city: thy slain are not slain by the sword, nor dead in battle.

Darby Bible Translation
Thou that wast full of stir, a town of tumult, a joyous city: thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.

English Revised Version
O thou that art full of shoutings, a tumultuous city, a joyous town; thy slain are not slain with the sword, neither are they dead in battle.

Webster's Bible Translation
Thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city, a joyous city: thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.

World English Bible
You that are full of shouting, a tumultuous city, a joyous town; your slain are not slain with the sword, neither are they dead in battle.

Young's Literal Translation
Full of stirs -- a noisy city -- an exulting city, Thy pierced are not pierced of the sword, Nor dead in battle.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:1-7 Why is Jerusalem in such terror? Her slain men are not slain with the sword, but with famine; or, slain with fear, disheartened. Their rulers fled, but were overtaken. The servants of God, who foresee and warn sinners of coming miseries, are affected by the prospect. But all the horrors of a city taken by storm, faintly shadow forth the terrors of the day of wrath.


Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - A joyous city (comp. ver. 13). Thy slain men are not slain with the sword. It is a blockade rather than a siege. Men die, not of wounds, but of privations (Lamentations 4:9). Sennacherib himself says, "Hezekiah, like a caged bird, within Jerusalem, his royal city, I confined; towers round about him I raised; and the exit of the great gate of his city I shut" (G. Smith, 'Eponym Canon,' p. 135, II. 15-18).


Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thou art full of stirs,.... Or, "wast full of stirs"; through the multitude of people walking about in it, and the vast hurry of business done in it; but now all hush and quiet, the streets clear of people, and the shops shut up, and all got up to the housetops for shelter; or, "full of noises" (l), as a populous trading city is. The word signifies shoutings and acclamations, and is used for joyful ones, Zechariah 4:7 and may be so taken here, and may design such as were expressed at their festivals, and on other occasions; unless it is to be understood of doleful ones, on account of the invasion and siege:

a tumultuous city; through the throng of people, and the noise of thorn:

a joyous city; some on business, others on pleasure; some hurrying from place to place about their trade and commerce, and others amusing themselves with pastime, mirth, and jollity; which is commonly the case of populous cities in prosperity. This had been Jerusalem's case, but now it was otherwise:

thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle; for Sennacherib never entered into it, nor put any of its inhabitants to the sword; nor was there any battle fought between them, nor was he suffered so much as to shoot an arrow into it, Isaiah 37:33 wherefore those that died in it died either through the fright and consternation they were put into, or through the famine his army had caused, in laying the country round about them desolate.

(l) "plena strepitibus", Munster; "tumultuationibus", Montanus, Junius & Tremellius; "fragoribus", Piscator.


Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. art—rather, "wert"; for it could not now be said to be "a joyous city" (Isa 32:13). The cause of their joy (Isa 22:13) may have been because Sennacherib had accepted Hezekiah's offer to renew the payment of tribute, and they were glad to have peace on any terms, however humiliating (2Ki 18:14-16), or on account of the alliance with Egypt. If the reference be to Zedekiah's time, the joy and feasting are not inapplicable, for this recklessness was a general characteristic of the unbelieving Jews (Isa 56:12).

not slain with the sword—but with the famine and pestilence about to be caused by the coming siege (La 4:9). Maurer refers this to the plague by which he thinks Sennacherib's army was destroyed, and Hezekiah was made sick (Isa 37:36; 38:1). But there is no authority for supposing that the Jews in the city suffered such extremities of plague at this time, when God destroyed their foes. Barnes refers it to those slain in flight, not in open honorable "battle"; Isa 22:3 favors this.


Isaiah 22:2 Parallel Commentaries

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The Valley of Vision
1The burden of the valley of vision. What ails you now, that you are wholly gone up to the housetops? 2You that are full of stirs, a tumultuous city, joyous city: your slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle. 3All your rulers are fled together, they are bound by the archers: all that are found in you are bound together, which have fled from far. …

Isaiah 10:4 Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives or fall among the slain. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.
Isaiah 23:7 Is this your city of revelry, the old, old city, whose feet have taken her to settle in far-off lands?
Isaiah 32:13 and for the land of my people, a land overgrown with thorns and briers-- yes, mourn for all houses of merriment and for this city of revelry.
Isaiah 32:14 The fortress will be abandoned, the noisy city deserted; citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever, the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks,
Jeremiah 14:18 If I go into the country, I see those slain by the sword; if I go into the city, I see the ravages of famine. Both prophet and priest have gone to a land they know not.'"
Lamentations 1:1 How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations! She who was queen among the provinces has now become a slave.
Lamentations 2:20 "Look, LORD, and consider: Whom have you ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the children they have cared for? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
Ezekiel 22:5 Those who are near and those who are far away will mock you, you infamous city, full of turmoil.
Zephaniah 2:15 This is the city of revelry that lived in safety. She said to herself, "I am the one! And there is none besides me." What a ruin she has become, a lair for wild beasts! All who pass by her scoff and shake their fists.