Isaiah 7:21
◄  Isaiah 7:21  ►
New International Version (©2011)
In that day, a person will keep alive a young cow and two goats.

New Living Translation (©2007)
In that day a farmer will be fortunate to have a cow and two sheep or goats left.

English Standard Version (©2001)
In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep,

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
Now in that day a man may keep alive a heifer and a pair of sheep;

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep;

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
On that day a man will raise a young cow and two sheep,

International Standard Version (©2012)
"At that time, a man will keep alive a heifer and two sheep,

NET Bible (©2006)
At that time a man will keep alive a young cow from the herd and a couple of goats.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
On that day a person will keep alive a young cow and two sheep.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep;

American King James Version
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep;

American Standard Version
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep.

Darby Bible Translation
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow and two sheep,

English Revised Version
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep;

Webster's Bible Translation
And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep;

World English Bible
It shall happen in that day that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep;

Young's Literal Translation
And it hath come to pass, in that day, A man keepeth alive a heifer of the herd, And two of the flock,

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:17-25 Let those who will not believe the promises of God, expect to hear the alarms of his threatenings; for who can resist or escape his judgments? The Lord shall sweep all away; and whomsoever he employs in any service for him, he will pay. All speaks a sad change of the face of that pleasant land. But what melancholy change is there, which sin will not make with a people? Agriculture would cease. Sorrows of every kind will come upon all who neglect the great salvation. If we remain unfruitful under the means of grace, the Lord will say, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforth for ever.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 21. - A man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep; literally, two ewes. A stop having been put to cultivation, men shall return to the pastoral life, but shall not possess more than two or three head of cattle apiece, the Assyrians having swept off most of the beasts. Tiglath-Pileser, in his inscriptions, mentions his carrying off homed cattle and sheep to the amount of many thousands from the countries which he overran or conquered ('Records of the Past,' vol. 5. pp. 49, 52).

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And it shall come to pass in that day,.... Not in the days of Hezekiah, after the destruction of Sennacherib's army, when there followed great fruitfulness and plenty, Isaiah 37:30 as Kimchi and Jarchi interpret it; but in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, after the destruction of Jerusalem, when some poor men were left in the land to till it, Jeremiah 39:10 for of these, and not of rich men, are the following words to be understood:

that a man shall nourish a young cow and two sheep; this seems to denote both the scarcity of men and cattle, through the ravages of the army of the Chaldeans; that there should not be large herds and flocks, only a single cow, and two or three sheep; and yet men should be so few, and families so thin, that these would be sufficient to support them comfortably.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Isa 7:21-25. The Coming Desolate State of the Land Owing to the Assyrians and Egyptians.

21. nourish—that is, own.

young cow—a heifer giving milk. Agriculture shall cease, and the land become one great pasturage.

Isaiah 7:21 Parallel Commentaries

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Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible


Judgment to Come
…20In 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. 21And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall nourish a young cow, and two sheep; 22And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the land. …

Isaiah 14:30 The poorest of the poor will find pasture, and the needy will lie down in safety. But your root I will destroy by famine; it will slay your survivors.
Isaiah 17:2 The cities of Aroer will be deserted and left to flocks, which will lie down, with no one to make them afraid.
Isaiah 27:10 The fortified city stands desolate, an abandoned settlement, forsaken like the wilderness; there the calves graze, there they lie down; they strip its branches bare.
Isaiah 35:1 The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus,
Jeremiah 39:10 But Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people, who owned nothing; and at that time he gave them vineyards and fields.