Thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city, a joyous city: thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.

ISAIAH 22:2KJV
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Isaiah 22:2 (KJV)

What does Isaiah 22:2 mean?

Isaiah 22:2 addresses a city filled with noise and excitement, yet marked by deaths that did not come from fighting with swords. Isaiah sets the city’s lively appearance beside the loss of its people, exposing a painful contrast between the noise in the streets and the disaster behind it.

Isaiah speaks directly to the city as though it were a person. Following the question about people gathering on rooftops in verse 1, he describes a crowd whose uproar sits uneasily beside the mention of the dead.

The Hebrew behind Isaiah 22:2

  • “stirs” — תְּשֻׁאוֹת (teshuʾot): The word refers to loud noises or uproars. Here, the plural gives a sense of commotion filling the city.
  • “tumultuous” — הָמָה (hamah): The word carries the sense of making a loud, restless noise. Isaiah uses it to portray the city as a place in an uproar.
  • “joyous” — עַלִּיזָה (ʿallizah): The word describes being lively or joyful. Its place beside the account of the dead makes the contrast especially sharp.

Why Isaiah 22:2 matters

  • The verse points to deaths outside direct combat. “Not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle” distinguishes these deaths from those of people killed while fighting.
  • The city’s noise is not the whole story. Isaiah’s description of a “joyous city” is followed immediately by “thy slain men,” bringing public excitement and human loss into the same sentence.
  • The wider passage places the city under threat. Verse 7 describes valleys filled with chariots and horsemen at the gates, giving the scene a setting of danger.

Where else these words appear

“stirs” Hebrew H8663 · used in 4 verses

  • Job 36:29 Also can any understand the spreadings of the clouds, or the noise of his tabernacle?
  • Job 39:7 He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver.
  • Zechariah 4:7 Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.

“joyous” Hebrew H5947 · used in 7 verses

  • Isaiah 13:3 I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.
  • Isaiah 24:8 The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.
  • Zephaniah 2:15 This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.

“city” Hebrew H7151 · used in 31 verses

  • Numbers 21:28 For there is a fire gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon: it hath consumed Ar of Moab, and the lords of the high places of Arnon.
  • Proverbs 11:10 When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting.
  • Isaiah 29:1 Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.

“tumultuous” Hebrew H1993 · used in 32 verses

  • 1 Kings 1:41 And Adonijah and all the guests that were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, Wherefore is this noise of the city being in an uproar?
  • Psalms 77:3 I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.
  • Isaiah 59:11 We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.