Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 21:4
My heart panted, fearfulness frightened me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me.
4. My heart panted ] lit. strayeth; as we should say “my reason reels.” “Heart,” as often, is used of the intellect. fearfulness ] R.V. horror.
the night of my pleasure ] i.e. “my pleasant evening hours,” favourable for visionary communications and therefore dear to a prophet. (Job 4:13).
hath he turned ] Better: “is turned”; or “it (the vision) turns.”
fear ] trembling (as R.V.).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
My heart panted – Margin, My mind wandered. The Hebrew word rendered panted ( taah) means to wander about; to stagger; to be giddy; and is applied often to one that staggers by being intoxicated. Applied to the heart, it means that it is disquieted or troubled. The Hebrew word heart here is to be taken in the sense of mind.
The night of my pleasure – There can be no doubt that the prophet here refers to the night of revelry and riot in which Babylon was taken. The prophet calls it the night of his pleasure, because he represents himself as being in Babylon when it should be taken, and, therefore, uses such language as an inhabitant of Babylon would use. They would call it the night of their pleasure, because it was set apart to feasting and revelry.
Hath he turned into fear – God has made it a night of consternation and alarm. The prophet here refers to the fact that Babylon would be taken by Cyrus during that night, and that consternation and alarm would suddenly pervade the affrighted and guilty city (see Dan. 5).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
The night of my pleasure; the night, in which I used to have a sweet repose and sleep. He seems to have had this vision in a night. But withal this horror of the prophet by night was typical, and did signify that grievous horror and destruction which should befall the Babylonians in a night of great feasting and jollity, as it did, Dan 5:1,30.
Hath he, God, who showed him that vision,
turned into fear unto me; into a time and matter of fear.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. panted“is bewildered”[BARNES].
night of my pleasureTheprophet supposes himself one of the banqueters at Belshazzar’s feast,on the night that Babylon was about to be taken by surprise; hencehis expression, “my pleasure” (Isa 14:11;Jer 51:39; Dan 5:1-31).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
My heart panted,…. Fluttered about, and could hardly keep its place: or, “my mind wandered” r; like a person in distraction and confusion, that knew not what to think say or do:
fearfulness affrighted me; the terror of Cyrus’s army seized him, of its irruption into the city, and of his being destroyed by it; the writing on the wall threw him into a panic, and the news of the Medes and Persians being entered the city increased it:
the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me; in which he promised himself so much pleasure, at a feast he had made for his princes, wives, and concubines; either in honour of his god, as some think s, being an annual one; or, as Josephus ben Gorion t says, on account of the victory he had obtained over the Medes and Persians; and so was quite secure, and never in the least thought of destruction being at hand; but in the midst of all his revelling, mirth, and jollity, the city was surprised and taken, and he slain, Da 5:1. So mystical Babylon, in the midst of her prosperity, while she is saying that she sits a queen, and knows no sorrow, her judgment and plagues shall come upon her, Re 18:7.
r “erravit cor meum”, Montanus; “errat animus meus”, Junius Tremellius “errat cor meum”, Piscator. s Vid. Herodot. l. 1. c. 191. Xenophon. l. 7. c. 23. t L. 1. c. 5. p. 24. Ed. Braithaupt.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4. My heart was shaken. Others render it not amiss, “my heart wandered;” for excessive terror moves the heart, as it were, out of its place. He declares how sudden and unlooked for will be the destruction of Babylon, for a sudden calamity makes us tremble more than one which has been long foreseen and expected. Daniel relates, that what Isaiah here foretells was accomplished, and that he was an eye-witness. Belshazzar had that night prepared a magnificent banquet, when the Persians suddenly rushed upon him, and nothing was farther from his expectation than that he would be slain. High delight was thus suddenly changed into terror. (Dan 5:30.)
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(4) The night of my pleasure . . .The words point to the prophets longing for the darkness of night, either as a time of rest from his labour, or, more probably, for contemplation and prayer (Psa. 119:148), and to the invasion of that rest by the vision of terror. The suggestion that the prophet speaks as identifying himself with the Babylonians, and refers to the capture of their city during a night of revelry (Dan. 5:1; Dan. 5:30; Herod., i. 121; Xenoph. Cyrop., vii. 23), is hardly tenable.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 21:4 My heart panted, fearfulness affrighted me: the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me.
Ver. 4. My heart panted. ] Or, Fluttereth to and fro, as not able to keep in its place. Viro impio calamitatibus presso nihil desperatius est. Nothing is more hopeless and crest fallen than a wicked man in distress: for what reason? his life and hopes end together.
The night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
night. A Homonym. Hebrew. nesheph = darkness, here, but daylight in Job 7:4. 1Sa 30:17. See notes there. The Revised Version, in doubt, renders it here “twilight”.
pleasure = joy.
fear = trembling.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
heart panted: or, mind wandered
the night: Isa 5:11-14, 1Sa 25:36-38, 2Sa 13:28, 2Sa 13:29, Est 5:12, Est 7:6-10, Job 21:11-13, Jer 51:39, Jer 51:57, Dan 5:1, Dan 5:5, Dan 5:30, Nah 1:10, Luk 21:34-36
turned: Heb. put
Reciprocal: 1Sa 28:5 – he was afraid 1Ki 1:49 – General Job 4:15 – the hair Job 20:23 – rain it Job 30:31 – General Psa 38:10 – heart Psa 69:23 – make their Psa 73:19 – they are Psa 91:5 – terror Ecc 7:4 – the heart Isa 5:14 – he that rejoiceth Isa 13:8 – pangs Isa 14:11 – pomp Isa 22:13 – behold Isa 47:8 – given Jer 4:9 – that the heart Jer 50:43 – king Dan 5:6 – so that Amo 6:7 – and the Amo 8:10 – I will turn Luk 6:25 – mourn Luk 17:27 – General 1Th 5:3 – Peace 1Th 5:7 – and they Heb 11:25 – the pleasures
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
21:4 My heart panted, fearfulness terrified me: the night {g} of my pleasure hath he turned into fear to me.
(g) He prophecies the death of Belshazzar as in Dan 5:30 who in the midst of his pleasures was destroyed.