Isaiah 30:16 (GNV)

Passage

For ye haue sayd, No, but we wil flee away vpon horses. Therefore shall ye flee. We will ride vpon the swiftest. Therefore shall your persecuters be swifter.

Nearby Context

Isaiah 30:14 And the breaking thereof is like the breaking of a potters pot, which is broken without pitie, and in the breaking thereof is not found a sheard to take fire out of the hearth, or to take water out of the pit.

Isaiah 30:15 For thus sayd the Lord God, the Holy one of Israel, In rest and quietnes shall ye be saued: in quietnes and in confidence shall be your strength, but ye would not.

Isaiah 30:16 For ye haue sayd, No, but we wil flee away vpon horses. Therefore shall ye flee. We will ride vpon the swiftest. Therefore shall your persecuters be swifter.

Isaiah 30:17 A thousand as one shall flee at the rebuke of one: at the rebuke of fiue shall ye flee, till ye be left as a ship maste vpon the top of a mountaine, and as a beaken vpon an hill.

Isaiah 30:18 Yet therefore will the Lord waite, that he may haue mercy vpon you, and therefore wil he be exalted, that hee may haue compassion vpon you: for the Lord is the God of iudgement. Blessed are all they that waite for him.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "haue", "sayd", "flee", "away", "vpon", "horses", "therefore", and "shall". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "haue" and "sayd", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 15's "For thus sayd the Lord God the..." into verse 17's "A thousand as one shall flee at...", so "haue" and "sayd" 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 "haue" and "sayd" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.