Isaiah 30:21 (DBY)

Passage

And when ye turn to the right hand or when ye turn to the left, thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it.

Nearby Context

Isaiah 30:19 For the people shall dwell in Zion, at Jerusalem. Thou shalt weep no more; he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; as he heareth it, he will answer thee.

Isaiah 30:20 And the Lord will give you the bread of adversity, and the water of oppression; yet thy teachers shall not be hidden any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers.

Isaiah 30:21 And when ye turn to the right hand or when ye turn to the left, thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it.

Isaiah 30:22 And ye shall defile the silver covering of your graven images, and the gold overlaying of your molten images; thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth: Out! shalt thou say unto it.

Isaiah 30:23 And he will give the rain of thy seed with which thou shalt sow the ground; and bread, the produce of the ground, and it shall be fat and rich. In that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures;

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "turn", "right", "hand", "left", "thine", "ears", and "shall". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "turn" and "right", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 20's "And the Lord will give you the..." into verse 22's "And ye shall defile the silver covering...", so "turn" and "right" belong inside that flow. In Isaiah context, the local focus is the Holy One of Israel, judgment and restoration, the servant of the LORD, and Zion's hope.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "turn" and "right" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.