Isaiah 47:9 - Clarke's commentary and critical notes on the Bible

Bible Comments

But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. These two things shall come to thee in a moment - That is, suddenly. Belshazzar was slain; thus the city became metaphorically a widow, the husband - the governor of it, being slain. In the time in which the king was slain, the Medes and Persians took the city, and slew many of its inhabitants, see Daniel 5:30, Daniel 5:31. When Darius took the city, he is said to have crucified three thousand of its principal inhabitants.

In their perfection "On a sudden" - Instead of בתמם bethummam, "in their perfection," as our translation renders it, the Septuagint and Syriac read, in the copies from which they translated, פתאם pithom, suddenly; parallel to רגע rega, in a moment, in the preceding alternate member of the sentence. The concurrent testimony of the Septuagint and Syriac, favored by the context, may be safely opposed to the authority of the present text.

For the multitude "Notwithstanding the multitude" - ברב berob. For this sense of the particle ב beth, see Numbers 14:11.

Isaiah 47:9

9 But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.