Verse Lens · Context pointer
Isaiah 18:5 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 5. 5For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
The oracle concerning Zion and the nations supplies a stated reason through “For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower…” at Isaiah 18:5 in “Cush's Envoys Hear of a Harvest Cut and a Gift to Zion.”
Read It With
- Isaiah 18:1–7
Read Isaiah 18:5 with 18:1–7. By itself, “For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower…” can be detached from the speaker, addressee, historical horizon, poetic movement, or outcome that gives it force. The complete unit establishes: Swift messengers, a global signal, divine stillness, pruned shoots, exposed carrion, and a future gift from a formidable people form an enigmatic oracle about Cush.
Why It Needs Context
Isaiah 18:5 performs a local role inside “Cush's Envoys Hear of a Harvest Cut and a Gift to Zion.” The oracle concerning Zion and the nations supplies a stated reason through “For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower…” at Isaiah 18:5 in “Cush's Envoys Hear of a Harvest Cut and a Gift to Zion.” The selected verse alone does not carry the full claim.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Isaiah 18:1–7 — Cush's Envoys Hear of a Harvest Cut and a Gift to ZionSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Isaiah 18:1–7, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Isaiah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology at the exact unit, without treating morphology as apparatus, lexicon, composition history, or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Isa.xml, OSIS 18:1–7 with Hebrew/KJV versification difference checked
Open the fixed Hebrew Isaiah file ↗