Isaiah 30:20 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

The bread of adversity. — Better, bread in small quantity, and water in scant measure. The words seem to imply an allusion to the scant rations of a siege such as Jerusalem was to endure from the Assyrian armies. For this there should be the compensation that the true “teachers” of the people, Isaiah and his fellow-workers, should at least be recognised — no longer thrust into a corner, as they had been in the days of Ahaz. The clearer vision of the truth was to be the outcome of the sharp teaching of chastisement. A various reading gives “thy teacher,” i.e., Jehovah Himself; but the plural seems more in harmony with the context. In the mission of Isaiah 37:2 we have a virtual fulfilment of the prediction.