Verse Lens · Context pointer
Isaiah 51:20 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 20. 20Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
The prophetic poem or speech in Isaiah states or reports “Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in…” at Isaiah 51:20 as a specific part of “Jerusalem Awakens after Drinking the Cup.”
Read It With
- Isaiah 51:17–23
Read Isaiah 51:20 with 51:17–23. By itself, “Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in…” can be detached from the speaker, addressee, historical horizon, poetic movement, or outcome that gives it force. The complete unit establishes: Zion's incomparable devastation and absent guides are acknowledged before the cup of staggering is removed and transferred to tormentors.
Why It Needs Context
The verse is a premise, action, image, response, or transition within Isaiah 51:17–23, not an independent maxim. The prophetic poem or speech in Isaiah states or reports “Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in…” at Isaiah 51:20 as a specific part of “Jerusalem Awakens after Drinking the Cup.”
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Isaiah 51:17–23 — Jerusalem Awakens after Drinking the CupSources 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 51:17–23, 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 51:17–23 with Hebrew/KJV versification difference checked
Open the fixed Hebrew Isaiah file ↗