Isaiah 22:4

4 Therefore I said, “Turn away from me; let me weep bitterly. Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people.”

Isaiah 22:4 in Other Translations

4 Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.

4 Therefore I said: "Look away from me; let me weep bitter tears; do not labor to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people."

4 That’s why I said, “Leave me alone to weep; do not try to comfort me. Let me cry for my people as I watch them being destroyed.”

4 In the midst of the shouting, I said, "Let me alone. Let me grieve by myself. Don't tell me it's going to be all right. These people are doomed. It's not all right."

4 Therefore said I, Look away from me, I will weep bitterly; labor not to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

4 That is why I say, "Turn away from me so that I can cry bitterly. Don't try to comfort me because of the destruction brought on my people."

4 Therefore I said, "Look away from me! Let me weep bitterly! Do not try to comfort me about the destruction of my dear people."

4 So I said, "Leave me alone. Let me sob bitter tears. Don't try to comfort me. My people have been destroyed."

Isaiah 22:4 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 22:4

Therefore said I
Not God to the ministering angels, as Jarchi; but the prophet to those that were about him, his relations, friends, and acquaintance: look away from me;
turn away from me, look another way; cease from me, let me alone; leave me to myself, that I may weep in secret, take my fill of sorrow, and give full vent to it: I will weep bitterly;
or, "I will be bitter", or, "bitter myself in weeping" ^F14; it denotes the vehemence of his grief, the greatness of his sorrow, and the strength of his passion: labour not to comfort me;
make use of no arguments to persuade me to lay aside my mourning; do not be urgent and importunate with me to receive consolation, for my soul refuses to be comforted: because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people;
his countrymen, which were as dear to him as a daughter to a tender parent, now spoiled, plundered, and made desolate by the ravages of the enemy, in many cities of Judea.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 (ykbb rrma) "amarificabo me in fletu", Montanus; "amaritudine afficiam me in isto fletu", Junius & Tremellius.

Isaiah 22:4 In-Context

2 you town so full of commotion, you city of tumult and revelry? Your slain were not killed by the sword, nor did they die in battle.

3 All your leaders have fled together; they have been captured without using the bow. All you who were caught were taken prisoner together, having fled while the enemy was still far away.

4 Therefore I said, “Turn away from me; let me weep bitterly. Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people.”

5 The Lord, the LORD Almighty, has a day of tumult and trampling and terror in the Valley of Vision, a day of battering down walls and of crying out to the mountains.

6 Elam takes up the quiver, with her charioteers and horses; Kir uncovers the shield.

Cross References

• 1. S Isaiah 15:3; S Lamentations 1:16; Ezekiel 21:6; Luke 19:41
• 2. Jeremiah 9:1