Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.
my people
Isaiah 1:7 Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
Isaiah 42:22-25 But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore…
2 Kings 17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
because
Isaiah 1:3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Isaiah 27:11 When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.
Jeremiah 8:7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.
honourable men are famished.
Jeremiah 14:18 If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not.
Lamentations 4:4,5,9 The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them…
multitude
Jeremiah 14:3 And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.
Amos 8:13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
their dignitaries are starving
The "dignitaries" or leaders of the people, who were expected to guide and protect the nation, are depicted as starving. This can be understood both literally and metaphorically. Literally, the siege and subsequent exile would lead to physical deprivation. Metaphorically, it reflects a spiritual starvation due to the leaders' failure to seek and impart God's wisdom. This mirrors the warnings given in Hosea 4:6, where a lack of knowledge leads to destruction. The leaders' failure to provide spiritual nourishment results in their own downfall, emphasizing the responsibility of leadership in maintaining faithfulness to God.
and their masses are parched with thirst.
The "masses" or common people suffer from thirst, symbolizing a deep spiritual need that is unmet due to the nation's collective disobedience. This thirst can be seen as a longing for truth and righteousness, which is not satisfied because of the people's estrangement from God. In a broader biblical context, thirst is often used to describe a yearning for God, as seen in Psalm 42:1-2. The imagery of thirst also points forward to the New Testament, where Jesus offers Himself as the living water (John 4:14), providing eternal satisfaction to those who believe in Him. This connection underscores the ultimate fulfillment of spiritual needs through Christ.
“Therefore My people will go into exile…” (Isaiah 5:13a)
• God’s “therefore” links directly to Judah’s prior sins in Isaiah 5:8-12—greed, drunkenness, and disregard for the LORD.
• Exile is not arbitrary; it is covenant discipline (Leviticus 26:33; Deuteronomy 28:36). The same pattern appears later when Babylon carries Judah away (2 Kings 24:10-16).
• The certainty of exile reminds believers that sin has real-world consequences. As Hebrews 12:6 affirms, “The Lord disciplines the one He loves.”
“…for their lack of understanding…” (Isaiah 5:13b)
• The failure is spiritual, not intellectual. They possess Scripture but refuse to heed it (Isaiah 1:3; Jeremiah 4:22).
• Hosea 4:6 echoes the charge: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”
• Genuine understanding involves:
– Listening to God’s Word (Psalm 119:130)
– Obeying what is heard (James 1:22)
– Walking in reverent fear (Proverbs 1:7)
• When comprehension is surrendered, deception fills the vacuum (Romans 1:21-22).
“…their dignitaries are starving…” (Isaiah 5:13c)
• Leaders, who should model righteousness (Psalm 72:1-4), are pictured famished—physically and spiritually.
• Starving nobles expose a nation’s collapse from the top down (Lamentations 4:4-5).
• Without godly leadership, people “groan” (Proverbs 29:2). The text presses today’s leaders to feed on God’s truth so they can feed others (John 21:17).
“…and their masses are parched with thirst.” (Isaiah 5:13d)
• Spiritual drought mirrors physical thirst (Amos 8:11). Because leaders have nothing to give, the multitudes languish.
• Jesus offers the remedy: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37).
• The picture challenges believers to:
– Drink deeply from Scripture daily (Psalm 42:1-2)
– Share the “living water” with others (John 4:14)
Isaiah 5:13 warns that when God’s people reject His truth, exile, hunger, and thirst follow—from palace to common square. Understanding is anchored in hearing and obeying Scripture. Leaders and laity alike must return to the Word, or emptiness will prevail. Yet the Lord stands ready with living water for all who repent and believe.
(13) My people are gone into captivity.--The great captivity of Judah lay as yet far off, but the prophet may be speaking of it as already present in his vision of the future. Probably, however, the disastrous wars of Ahaz had involved many captures of the kind referred to (2Chronicles 28:5; 2Chronicles 28:8; 2Chronicles 28:17-18).Because they have no knowledge.--Better, and they knew not--i.e., did not foresee that this must be the outcome of their conduct. The "honourable men" and the "multitude" are named as representing all classes of society.
Verse 13. - Therefore my people are gone into captivity. "Are gone" or "have gone" is "the perfect of prophetic certainty" (Cheyne). The prophet sees the captivity as a thing that had already taken place. It as an appropriate punishment for drunkenness and revelry to be carried off into servitude, and in that condition to suffer, as slaves so often did, hunger and thirst. Because they have no knowledge; or, unawares, without foreseeing it (so Rosenmüller, Gesenius, Ewald, Delitzsch, Cheyne). Their honorable men; literally, their glory, for "their glorious ones" - the abstract for the concrete. Are famished; literally, sons of famine; i.e. "starvelings." Their multitude; or, their noisy crowd (Kay) - the "throng of voluptuaries" who frequented the great banquets of vers. 11, 12.