Isaiah 5:18
New International Version
Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit, and wickedness as with cart ropes,

New Living Translation
What sorrow for those who drag their sins behind them with ropes made of lies, who drag wickedness behind them like a cart!

English Standard Version
Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin as with cart ropes,

Berean Standard Bible
Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes,

King James Bible
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:

New King James Version
Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, And sin as if with a cart rope;

New American Standard Bible
Woe to those who drag wrongdoing with the cords of deceit, And sin as if with cart ropes;

NASB 1995
Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood, And sin as if with cart ropes;

NASB 1977
Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood, And sin as if with cart ropes;

Legacy Standard Bible
Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of worthlessness, And sin as if with cart ropes,

Amplified Bible
Woe (judgment is coming) to those who drag along wickedness with cords of falsehood, And sin as if with cart ropes [towing their own punishment];

Christian Standard Bible
Woe to those who drag iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes,

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Woe to those who drag wickedness with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes,

American Standard Version
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and sin as it were with a cart rope;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Woe to those who pull out their sins like a long rope and their sin like the leather rein of an heifer!

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Woe to them that draw sins to them as with a long rope, and iniquities as with a thong of the heifer's yoke:

Contemporary English Version
You are in for trouble! The lies you tell are like ropes by which you drag along sin and evil.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Woe to you that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as the rope of a cart.

English Revised Version
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:

GOD'S WORD® Translation
How horrible it will be for those who string people along with lies and empty promises, whose lives are sinful.

Good News Translation
You are doomed! You are unable to break free from your sins.

International Standard Version
"How terrible it will be for those who parade iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin along as with a cart rope;

JPS Tanakh 1917
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, And sin as it were with a cart rope,

Literal Standard Version
Woe [to] those drawing out iniquity with cords of vanity, | And as [with] thick ropes of the cart—sin.

Majority Standard Bible
Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes,

New American Bible
Ah! Those who tug at guilt with cords of perversity, and at sin as if with cart ropes!

NET Bible
Those who pull evil along using cords of emptiness are as good as dead, who pull sin as with cart ropes.

New Revised Standard Version
Ah, you who drag iniquity along with cords of falsehood, who drag sin along as with cart ropes,

New Heart English Bible
Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope;

Webster's Bible Translation
Woe to them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart-rope:

World English Bible
Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope,

Young's Literal Translation
Woe to those drawing out iniquity with cords of vanity, And as with thick ropes of the cart -- sin.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Woes to the Wicked
17Lambs will graze as in their own pastures, and strangers will feed in the ruins of the wealthy. 18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes, 19to those who say, “Let Him hurry and hasten His work so that we may see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come so that we may know it!”…

Cross References
Isaiah 59:4
No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case honestly. They rely on empty pleas; they tell lies; they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.

Jeremiah 23:10
For the land is full of adulterers--because of the curse, the land mourns and the pastures of the wilderness have dried up--their course is evil and their power is misused.

Jeremiah 36:23
And as soon as Jehudi had read three or four columns, Jehoiakim would cut them off with a scribe's knife and throw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll had been consumed by the fire.


Treasury of Scripture

Woe to them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:

draw

Isaiah 28:15
Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:

Judges 17:5,13
And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest…

2 Samuel 16:20-23
Then said Absalom to Ahithophel, Give counsel among you what we shall do…

Jump to Previous
Bands Cart Cords Cursed Deceit Drag Draw Drawing Evil Falsehood Iniquity Pulling Rope Ropes Sin Use Vanity Wickedness Woe Young
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Bands Cart Cords Cursed Deceit Drag Draw Drawing Evil Falsehood Iniquity Pulling Rope Ropes Sin Use Vanity Wickedness Woe Young
Isaiah 5
1. Under the parable of a vineyard, God excuses his severe judgment
8. His judgments upon covetousness
11. Upon lasciviousness
13. Upon impiety
20. And upon injustice
26. The executioners of God's judgments














(18) That draw iniquity with cords of vanity.--The phrase is boldly figurative. Evil-doers are thought of as harnessing themselves as to the chariot of sin. The "cords of vanity"--i.e., of emptiness or ungodliness--are the habits by which they are thus bound. The "cart ropes," thicker and stronger than the "cords," represent the extreme stage, when such habits become irresistibly dominant. Probably the words may point to some idolatrous procession, in which the chariot of Baal or Ashtaroth was thus drawn by their worshippers, like that of Demeter or Cybele in Greece, or Juggernath in India.

Verse 18. - Woe unto them, etc. We come here to the third woe, which is pronounced against those who openly pile up sin upon sin, and scoff at God. These men are represented as "drawing iniquity with cords of vanity," i.e. dragging after them a load of sin by cords that seem too weak; and then as "sinning with a cart-rope," which is a mere variant expression of the same idea. Mr. Cheyne quotes from the Rig-Veda, as a parallel metaphor, the phrase, "Undo the rope of sin."

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Woe
ה֛וֹי (hō·w)
Interjection
Strong's 1945: Ah! alas! ha!

to those who draw
מֹשְׁכֵ֥י (mō·šə·ḵê)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural construct
Strong's 4900: To draw, drag

iniquity
הֶֽעָוֺ֖ן (he·‘ā·wōn)
Article | Noun - common singular
Strong's 5771: Iniquity, guilt, punishment for iniquity

with cords
בְּחַבְלֵ֣י (bə·ḥaḇ·lê)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 2256: A rope, a measuring line, a district, inheritance, a noose, a company, a throe, ruin

of deceit
הַשָּׁ֑וְא (haš·šāw)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7723: Evil, idolatry, uselessness

and pull sin along
חַטָּאָֽה׃ (ḥaṭ·ṭā·’āh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 2403: An offence, its penalty, occasion, sacrifice, expiation, an offender

with cart
הָעֲגָלָ֖ה (hā·‘ă·ḡā·lāh)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 5699: Something revolving, a wheeled vehicle

ropes,
וְכַעֲב֥וֹת (wə·ḵa·‘ă·ḇō·wṯ)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-k | Noun - common singular construct
Strong's 5688: Something intwined, a string, wreath, foliage


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OT Prophets: Isaiah 5:18 Woe to those who draw iniquity (Isa Isi Is)
Isaiah 5:17
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