The Meaning of Isaiah 1:30 Explained

Isaiah 1:30

KJV: For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.

YLT: For ye are as an oak whose leaf is fading, And as a garden that hath no water.

Darby: For ye shall be as a terebinth whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.

ASV: For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

For ye shall be as an oak  whose leaf  fadeth,  and as a garden  that hath no water. 

What does Isaiah 1:30 Mean?

Context Summary

Isaiah 1:21-31 - A Nation Purged Of Dross By Disaster
The great lover of our souls does not abandon His people even when they spurn the first overtures of His appealing pity. Though they refuse to yield to them, He refuses to cast them off; and sets Himself by the cleansing judgments of His providence to wean them from the evil ways they have chosen and to win them back to Himself. If only Jerusalem had now listened to Isaiah's earnest pleadings, she would never have been carried away into the seventy years' captivity in a land of strangers. This is the cleansing fire referred to in Isaiah 1:25. Their ground of confidence, whether in themselves or their allies, would be destroyed, Isaiah 1:29-30; the ringleaders of the evil which had brought them to desolation would be exterminated; and there would emerge a new and purified people as in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. Let us thank God for the cleansing fires in national and personal experience. Let us not fear them when plied by the hand of love. See Malachi 3:3 and John 15:2-3. [source]

Chapter Summary: Isaiah 1

1  Isaiah complains of Judah for her rebellion
5  He laments her judgments
10  He upbraids their whole service
16  He exhorts to repentance, with promises and threats
21  Bewailing their wickedness, he denounces God's judgments
25  He promises grace
28  And threatens destruction to the wicked

What do the individual words in Isaiah 1:30 mean?

For you shall be as a terebinth fades whose leaf and as a garden that water has no to
כִּ֣י תִֽהְי֔וּ כְּאֵלָ֖ה נֹבֶ֣לֶת עָלֶ֑הָ וּֽכְגַנָּ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־ מַ֖יִם אֵ֥ין לָֽהּ

תִֽהְי֔וּ  you  shall  be 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, second person masculine plural
Root: אֶהְיֶה 
Sense: to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out.
כְּאֵלָ֖ה  as  a  terebinth 
Parse: Preposition-k, Noun, feminine singular
Root: אֵלָה  
Sense: terebinth, terebinth tree.
נֹבֶ֣לֶת  fades 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Participle, feminine singular construct
Root: נָבֵל 
Sense: to be senseless, be foolish.
עָלֶ֑הָ  whose  leaf 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, third person feminine singular
Root: עָלֶה  
Sense: leaf, leafage.
וּֽכְגַנָּ֔ה  and  as  a  garden 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition-k, Noun, feminine singular
Root: גַּנָּה  
Sense: garden, orchard.
אֲשֶׁר־  that 
Parse: Pronoun, relative
Root: אֲשֶׁר 
Sense: (relative part.).
מַ֖יִם  water 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: מַיִם  
Sense: water, waters.
אֵ֥ין  has  no 
Parse: Adverb
Root: אַיִן 
Sense: nothing, not, nought n.