Isaiah 32:12
New International Version
Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vines

New Living Translation
Beat your breasts in sorrow for your bountiful farms and your fruitful grapevines.

English Standard Version
Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,

Berean Standard Bible
Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vines,

King James Bible
They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.

New King James Version
People shall mourn upon their breasts For the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.

New American Standard Bible
Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,

NASB 1995
Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,

NASB 1977
Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,

Legacy Standard Bible
Beat your breasts for the desirable fields, for the fruitful vine,

Amplified Bible
Beat your breasts [in mourning] for the beautiful fields, for the fruitful vine,

Christian Standard Bible
Beat your breasts in mourning for the delightful fields and the fruitful vines,

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Beat your breasts in mourning for the delightful fields and the fruitful vines,

American Standard Version
They shall smite upon the breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.

Contemporary English Version
Slap your breasts in sorrow because of what happened to the fruitful fields and vineyards,

English Revised Version
They shall smite upon the breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Beat your breasts as you mourn for the fields, for the vines bearing grapes.

Good News Translation
Beat your breasts in grief because the fertile fields and the vineyards have been destroyed,

International Standard Version
For people will be beating their breasts in mourning over the pleasant fields, over the fruitful vines,

Majority Standard Bible
Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vines,

NET Bible
Mourn over the field, over the delightful fields and the fruitful vine!

New Heart English Bible
Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.

Webster's Bible Translation
They shall lament for the breasts, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.

World English Bible
Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
They are lamenting for breasts, "" For fields of desire, for the fruitful vine.

Young's Literal Translation
For breasts they are lamenting, For fields of desire, for the fruitful vine.

Smith's Literal Translation
Smiting upon the breasts for the fields of desire, for the fruitful vine.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Mourn for your breasts, for the delightful country, for the fruitful vineyard.

Catholic Public Domain Version
Mourn over your breasts, over the delightful country, over the fruitful vineyard.

New American Bible
Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine;

New Revised Standard Version
Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Mourn and beat upon your breasts, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
And mourn upon your chests over the grass of the field and over the vine of its fruit
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
Smiting upon the breasts For the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine;

Brenton Septuagint Translation
and beat your breasts, because of the pleasant field, and the fruit of the vine.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Women of Jerusalem
11Shudder, you ladies of leisure; tremble, you daughters of complacency. Strip yourselves bare and put sackcloth around your waists. 12Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vines, 13and for the land of my people, overgrown with thorns and briers—even for every house of merriment in this city of revelry.…

Cross References
Joel 1:11-12
Be dismayed, O farmers, wail, O vinedressers, over the wheat and barley, because the harvest of the field has perished. / The grapevine is dried up, and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, palm, and apple—all the trees of the orchard—are withered. Surely the joy of mankind has dried up.

Amos 5:16-17
Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says: “There will be wailing in all the public squares and cries of ‘Alas! Alas!’ in all the streets. The farmer will be summoned to mourn, and the mourners to wail. / There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst,” says the LORD.

Jeremiah 9:10
I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness pasture, for they have been scorched so no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they have gone away.

Lamentations 2:11-12
My eyes fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city. / They cry out to their mothers: “Where is the grain and wine?” as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their lives fade away in the arms of their mothers.

Ezekiel 27:30-31
They will raise their voices for you and cry out bitterly. They will throw dust on their heads and roll in ashes. / They will shave their heads for you and wrap themselves in sackcloth. They will weep over you with anguish of soul and bitter mourning.

Hosea 9:1-2
Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation like the nations, for you have played the harlot against your God; you have made love for hire on every threshing floor. / The threshing floor and winepress will not feed them, and the new wine will fail them.

Micah 1:8
Because of this I will lament and wail; I will walk barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and mourn like an ostrich.

Zephaniah 1:13
Their wealth will be plundered and their houses laid waste. They will build houses but not inhabit them, and plant vineyards but never drink their wine.

Isaiah 24:7-9
The new wine dries up, the vine withers. All the merrymakers now groan. / The joyful tambourines have ceased; the noise of revelers has stopped; the joyful harp is silent. / They no longer sing and drink wine; strong drink is bitter to those who consume it.

Jeremiah 48:33
Joy and gladness are removed from the orchard and from the fields of Moab. I have stopped the flow of wine from the presses; no one treads them with shouts of joy; their shouts are not for joy.

Revelation 18:11-13
And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because there is no one left to buy their cargo— / cargo of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls; of fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; of all kinds of citron wood and every article of ivory, precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble; / of cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; of wine, olive oil, fine flour, and wheat; of cattle, sheep, horses, and carriages; of bodies and souls of slaves.

James 5:1-2
Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you. / Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes.

Luke 6:25
Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.

Matthew 11:17
‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’

1 Corinthians 7:30
those who weep, as if they did not; those who are joyful, as if they were not; those who make a purchase, as if they had nothing;


Treasury of Scripture

They shall lament for the teats, for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine.

lament

Lamentations 2:11
Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.

Lamentations 4:3,4
Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness…

pleasant fields.

Deuteronomy 8:7,8
For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; …

Deuteronomy 11:11,12
But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: …

Ezekiel 20:6,15
In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands: …

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Beat Breasts Desire Fertile Fields Fruitful Lament Pleasant Pleasing Smite Smiting Sorrow Teats Vine Vines Vineyards
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Beat Breasts Desire Fertile Fields Fruitful Lament Pleasant Pleasing Smite Smiting Sorrow Teats Vine Vines Vineyards
Isaiah 32
1. The blessings of Christ's kingdom
9. Desolation is foreshown
14. Restoration is promised to succeed














Beat your breasts
This phrase is a vivid expression of mourning and deep sorrow. In ancient Near Eastern cultures, including Israel, beating one's breast was a common gesture of lamentation and repentance. The Hebrew root for "beat" is "סָפַד" (saphad), which conveys the idea of wailing or lamenting. This act is a physical manifestation of inner grief and is often associated with times of national calamity or personal loss. In the context of Isaiah, it reflects the people's recognition of their dire situation and their need for repentance and divine intervention.

for the pleasant fields
The "pleasant fields" symbolize the prosperity and abundance that the people of Israel once enjoyed. The Hebrew word for "pleasant" is "חֶמְדָּה" (chemdah), which denotes something desirable or delightful. These fields were a source of sustenance and joy, representing God's blessing upon the land. Historically, the land of Israel was known for its fertility and agricultural productivity. The loss of these fields signifies not only economic hardship but also a spiritual decline, as the land's desolation is often linked to the people's unfaithfulness to God.

for the fruitful vines
Vines and vineyards are frequently used in Scripture as symbols of Israel's spiritual and physical health. The Hebrew word for "fruitful" is "פֹּרִיָּה" (poriyah), indicating abundance and productivity. In the Bible, a fruitful vine is a sign of God's favor and blessing. The destruction or barrenness of the vines, therefore, represents a withdrawal of divine favor due to the people's disobedience. This imagery would resonate deeply with the original audience, as vineyards were central to their economy and culture, and their loss would be both a practical and spiritual crisis.

(12) They shall lament for the teats . . .--Better, shall smite upon the breasts. The Hebrew nouns for "teats" and "fields," Shadaim and Sade, have an assonance which may be represented by the Latin ubera and ubertas. In the renewed, unabated luxury of the women of Jerusalem Isaiah sees the precursor of another time of desolation like that which he had foretold before in the reign of Ahaz (Isaiah 7:24). "Thorns and briers" are again to take the place of the fair gardens in the outskirts of Jerusalem during the invasion of Sennacherib, as they had once before in that of Rezin and Pekah. The "houses of joy" are manifestly what we should call the stately villas of the rich.

Verse 12. - They shall lament for the teats, etc.; rather, they shall beat upon the breasts for the pleasant fields, etc. (so the LXX., the Vulgate, Jarchi, Gesenius, Ewald, Maurer, Knobel, Delitzsch, and Mr. Cheyne). Dr. Kay prefers the rendering of the Authorized Version, understanding by "the teats" such "dry breasts" as Hosea speaks of (Hosea 9:14). But nothing has been said in this place of any such affliction. For the pleasant fields, etc.; i.e. for their loss (see ver. 10).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Beat
סֹֽפְדִ֑ים (sō·p̄ə·ḏîm)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 5594: To tear the hair and beat the breasts, to lament, to wail

your breasts
שָׁדַ֖יִם (šā·ḏa·yim)
Noun - md
Strong's 7699: The breast of a, woman, animal

for
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

the pleasant
חֶ֕מֶד (ḥe·meḏ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2531: Desire, delight

fields,
שְׂדֵי־ (śə·ḏê-)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 7704: Field, land

for the fruitful
פֹּרִיָּֽה׃ (pō·rî·yāh)
Verb - Qal - Participle - feminine singular
Strong's 6509: To bear fruit, be fruitful

vines,
גֶּ֖פֶן (ge·p̄en)
Noun - common singular
Strong's 1612: A vine, the grape


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OT Prophets: Isaiah 32:12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields (Isa Isi Is)
Isaiah 32:11
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