And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.

ISAIAH 4:5KJV
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Isaiah 4:5 (KJV)

What does Isaiah 4:5 mean?

Isaiah 4:5 pictures the LORD providing shelter for the people of Zion, the place associated with Jerusalem. The cloud and fire show his protective presence over both their homes and their gatherings, surrounding the community wherever they live and meet.

The image recalls the cloud and fire that accompanied the Israelites after they left Egypt (Exodus 13:21–22). Isaiah places those familiar signs over Zion itself. The final phrase pictures a covering spread over what Isaiah calls “the glory.”

The Hebrew behind Isaiah 4:5

  • “assemblies” — מִקְרָא (miqra): The word can mean a gathering or a place of gathering. Here it stands alongside “dwelling place,” extending the picture from homes to the community assembled together.
  • “defence” — חֻפָּה (ḥuppah): The word can mean a canopy or covering. That sense gives a physical shape to the KJV’s “defence”: protection spread overhead.

Why Isaiah 4:5 matters

  • The promise reaches the community as well as individual households. Isaiah names “every dwelling place” and “her assemblies,” rather than limiting the image to one building.
  • The protection is pictured as continuing through the whole day. The cloud and smoke appear “by day,” while the flaming fire shines “by night.”
  • The covering belongs to a larger picture of shelter. In Isaiah 4:6, shade and refuge from storm and rain expand on the protection pictured here.

Where else these words appear

“defence” Hebrew H2646 · used in 3 verses

  • Psalms 19:5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
  • Joel 2:16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.

“place” Hebrew H4349 · used in 17 verses

  • Exodus 15:17 Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established.
  • 2 Chronicles 6:2 But I have built an house of habitation for thee, and a place for thy dwelling for ever.
  • Psalms 33:14 From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth.

“shining” Hebrew H5051 · used in 19 verses

  • 2 Samuel 22:13 Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled.
  • Isaiah 60:19 The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.
  • Ezekiel 10:4 Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the LORD'S glory.

“flaming” Hebrew H3852 · used in 19 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.
  • Isaiah 5:24 Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
  • Ezekiel 20:47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.