Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 33:11
Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, [as] fire, shall devour you.
11. Still the words of Jehovah, addressed to the enemy. The present tense would be better than the future. For the first figure see ch. Isa 59:4; Job 15:35; Psa 7:14.
your breath ] Better as R.V. your breath (i.e. “anger”) is a fire that devours you.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ye shall conceive chaff – An address of God to the Assyrians. The figure is one that denotes that their counsels would be in vain. Chaff and stubble are used in the Scriptures, in contrast with grain, to denote anything which is not solid, nutritious, or substantial; then anything which is frivolous, useless, vain. A similar image occurs in Isa 26:18 (see the note on that place; compare Isa 59:4).
Your breath as fire shall devour you – The word breath here ( ruach, spirit) is evidently used in the sense of the thumos, and denotes anger, as in Isa 30:28. It refers to the haughty and arrogant spirit of Sennacherib; the enraged and excited mind intent on victory and plunder. The sense is, that his mind, so intent on conquest – so proud, excited, and angry, would be the means of his own destruction. Lowth proposes to read my spirit, but for this change there is no authority from manuscripts (see the notes at Isa 1:31).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 11. Your breath – “And my spirit”] “For ruchechem, your spirit, read ruchi kemo.” Secker. Which reading is confirmed by the Chaldee, where meywri, “my word,” answers to ruchi, “my spirit.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble, instead of solid corn. Your great hopes and designs, O ye Assyrians! shall be utterly disappointed.
Your breath, as fire, shall devour you; your rage against my people shall bring ruin upon yourselves.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. Yethe enemy.
conceive chaff(Isa 26:18; Isa 59:4).
your breathrather,your own spirit of anger and ambition [MAURER],(Isa 30:28).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble,…. Signifying that all the counsels, designs, and schemes, of the antichristian party, to continue themselves in their present state, and save themselves from ruin, as well as utterly to destroy the interest of Christ, would be weak, vain, and fruitless; their conceptions and actions, their purposes and attempts, would be alike; would be abortive, like chaff and stubble, and only serve as such for their own destruction:
your breath [as] fire shall devour you; or, “your spirit” a; your pride and haughtiness, in self praises, commendations, and glorying; your rage, wrath, and fury, against the saints; your blasphemy against God and Christ shall be the reason why the fire of God’s wrath shall consume you. The Targum is,
“you have thought for yourselves, O ye people, thoughts of wickedness; ye have done for yourselves evil works; because of your evil works, my Word shall destroy you, as a whirlwind the stubble;”
Christ, the essential Word of God.
a “spiritus vester”, V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, &c.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
After the prophet has heard this from Jehovah, he knows how it will fare with them. He therefore cries out to them in triumph (Isa 33:11), “Ye are pregnant with hay, ye bring forth stubble! Your snorting is the fire that will devour you.” Their vain purpose to destroy Jerusalem comes to nothing; their burning wrath against Jerusalem becomes the fire of wrath, which consumes them (for chashash and qash , see at Isa 5:24).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
11. Ye shall conceive chaff. He now addresses his discourse to the enemies of the Church, whose insolence, he says, is foolish and to no purpose; for when God shall have brilliantly displayed his power, they shall know that their efforts will be fruitless, and that they will accomplish nothing, even though they be leagued together in vast crowds. The Lord laughs at their madness, in thinking that everything is in their power, when he can instantly, by the slightest expression of his will, restrain and destroy them, though they may be defended by a very powerful army.
It is customary in the Scriptures to employ the word conceptions for denoting the designs and efforts of men. (Job 15:35.) The metaphor is taken from pregnant women. Men are said to “conceive” and to “bring forth,” when they attempt anything; but he declares that their “conception” shall be fruitless, and that they shall also “bring forth” to no purpose, for whatever they undertake shall be unsuccessful. There is nothing, therefore, in the brilliant military forces of our adversaries that ought to alarm us; for, although God may permit them for a time to bustle, and toil, and rage, yet God will at length turn into “chaff” all their rash and daring attempts. Let us learn that what Isaiah foretold about Sennacherib relates to all the adversaries of believers and of the Church.
The fire of your breath shall devour you. That they “shall be devoured by the fire of their breath” is usually explained to mean, “Your breath, like fire, shall devour you.” But that is an unsuitable and even absurd comparison, and the true meaning readily suggests itself, “The fire kindled by your breath shall devour you.” We commonly kindle a fire by blowing, and therefore he declares, that the fire which wicked men have blown by their wicked contrivances shall be destructive to them, because it shall consume them. It is the same statement which is often conveyed by a variety of metaphors in Scripture.
“
They shall fall into the pit which they have digged. They are entangled in a net which they had prepared for others. The sword which they had drawn hath entered into their own bowels. Their arrow hath been turned back to pierce their own hearts.” (Psa 7:15.)
Thus the Prophet shews that the wicked tyrant who laid waste Judea and besieged Jerusalem with a numerous army, and all others who in like manner are adversaries of the Church, bring down destruction on themselves, and will at length be destroyed; and, in short, that they will be consumed by that “fire” which they have kindled.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) Ye shall conceive chaff . . .Primarily the words are addressed to the Assyrian invaders, but not without a side glance at all who had been weaving their own webs of policy instead of trusting in Jehovah. Scheme and result, conception and parturition, would be alike worthless.
Your breath, as fire . . .Breath, the hot panting of rage; this, instead of working the destruction of Judah, should prove suicidal.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 33:11 Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, [as] fire, shall devour you.
Ver. 11. Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble. ] Gravidi estis stramiue, parietis stipulum. So did Pharaoh, Antiochus, Julian, &c. So doth Antichrist and his champions, notwithstanding his bloody alarms to them, such as was that sounded out in the year 1582.
“ Utere iure tao, Caesar, sectamque Lutheri
Ease, rota, ponto, funibus, igne neca. ”
And that other of the King of France not many years since, exhorting him to kill up all the Protestants per Galliam stabulantes,
Your breath as fire shall devour you.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
breath, as fire = breath as a fire. Hebrew. ruach.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
conceive: Isa 8:9, Isa 8:10, Isa 10:7-14, Isa 17:13, Isa 29:5-8, Isa 59:4, Job 15:35, Psa 2:1, Psa 7:14, Psa 83:5-18, Act 5:4, Jam 1:15
your: Isa 5:24, Isa 30:30-33, Isa 31:8, Isa 31:9, Isa 37:23-29, Nah 1:5-10
Reciprocal: Psa 83:14 – As the fire Isa 29:6 – General Hab 2:10 – sinned
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
33:11 {q} Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, [as] fire, shall devour you.
(q) This is spoken against the enemies, who thought all was their own, but he shows that their enterprise will be in vain, and that the fire which they had kindled for others would consume them.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Judahites had done their best to bring forth victory through their own efforts, but all they yielded was chaff and stubble, nothing substantial. Now God would thoroughly consume the little that they were able to produce. It is possible that the Lord addressed Assyria in these verses, but I think Judah is the more probable "you." He would also destroy Israel’s enemies as thoroughly as limestone and thorns.
"The tragedy of sin is that it ruins the life of the sinner; the danger of sin is that it excites the wrath of God." [Note: Motyer, p. 265.]