Verse

Isaiah 1:30

ESV For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden without water.
NIV You will be like an oak with fading leaves, like a garden without water.
NASB For you will be like an oak whose leaf withers away, Or like a garden that has no water.
CSB For you will become like an oak whose leaves are withered, and like a garden without water.
NLT You will be like a great tree with withered leaves, like a garden without water.
KJV For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.
NKJV For you shall be as a terebinth whose leaf fades, And as a garden that has no water.

What does Isaiah 1:30 mean?

Isaiah has promised from the Lord that those who forsake Him will be consumed and destroyed (Isaiah 1:28). He has included those who worshipped false gods in groves of sacred oak trees and gardens with rituals that may have included sexual immorality. They worshipped false gods in hopes of being made stronger and perhaps more fertile (Isaiah 1:29). .

These unfaithful Israelites will be embarrassed when the Lord's judgment falls. Instead of being stronger, they will end up like withered versions of these oaks and dried up gardens that are set aflame by the smallest spark (Isaiah 1:31). What's depicted here is not a typical autumn where leaves naturally fall. This is a wasting, shriveling experience for the oak, symbolic of intense suffering.
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