Isaiah Chapter 5 verse 18 Holy Bible
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and sin as it were with a cart rope;
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Cursed are those who make use of ox-cords for pulling the evil thing, and the bands of a young ox for their sin!
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Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as with cart-ropes!
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Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
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read chapter 5 in WBT
Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, And wickedness as with cart rope;
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Wo `to' those drawing out iniquity with cords of vanity, And as `with' thick ropes of the cart -- sin.
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 18. - Woe unto them, etc. We come here to the third woe, which is pronounced against those who openly pile up sin upon sin, and scoff at God. These men are represented as "drawing iniquity with cords of vanity," i.e. dragging after them a load of sin by cords that seem too weak; and then as "sinning with a cart-rope," which is a mere variant expression of the same idea. Mr. Cheyne quotes from the Rig-Veda, as a parallel metaphor, the phrase, "Undo the rope of sin."
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(18) That draw iniquity with cords of vanity.--The phrase is boldly figurative. Evil-doers are thought of as harnessing themselves as to the chariot of sin. The "cords of vanity"--i.e., of emptiness or ungodliness--are the habits by which they are thus bound. The "cart ropes," thicker and stronger than the "cords," represent the extreme stage, when such habits become irresistibly dominant. Probably the words may point to some idolatrous procession, in which the chariot of Baal or Ashtaroth was thus drawn by their worshippers, like that of Demeter or Cybele in Greece, or Juggernath in India.