Isaiah 7:25 describes hillsides once tended with a hoe that will become so overgrown with briers and thorns that no one will dare to farm them, leaving them only for grazing cattle and sheep. The verse is part of a prophecy spoken by Isaiah, a prophet of Judah, to the people of Jerusalem during a time of political crisis around 735 to 732 BC. It describes what the land will look like after an invading army has come through and the population has been drastically reduced.
All the hills that were cultivated with the hoe, you shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending out of oxen, and for the treading of sheep.”
Isaiah 7:25 (WEB)
What Isaiah 7:25 Means
The verse begins with “All the hills that were cultivated with the hoe,” which pictures terraced hillsides that were once carefully worked and planted, probably with vines or grain. Those fields were valuable because someone invested labor in them. The verse then says that people “shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns.” The land has become so choked with wild growth that the farmers have stopped going out to it, not because the soil has failed, but because the danger and the futility of the work have become too great.
The final clause shifts the picture: the hills “shall be for the sending out of oxen, and for the treading of sheep.” Oxen and sheep can roam over rough, wild ground in a way that cultivated fields cannot allow. So the land is not destroyed entirely. It is simply turned from cultivated farmland into open pasture for animals that need little human attention. The verse describes a loss and a change, not a total desolation, and it does not promise that the land will ever return to its former state within the verse itself.
The Context of Isaiah 7:25
The book of Isaiah is traditionally attributed to the eighth-century prophet Isaiah son of Amoz, though many scholars recognize later editorial material in the book. Chapter 7 belongs to the narrative of the Syro-Ephraimite crisis, when Aram and the northern kingdom of Israel threatened Judah, and King Ahaz was tempted to seek help from Assyria. Isaiah’s message in this section is addressed to Ahaz and the people of Judah, warning them that trusting in human alliances instead of God would bring devastating consequences.
The verses just before, in Isaiah 7:22 to 24, describe a land where vineyards worth a thousand silver shekels become briers and thorns, and where people must go out with bow and arrow simply to move through a wilderness. Verse 25 continues that same image of ruin. Read in this setting, the verse is not a general reflection on farming but a sober description of what the land will become after foreign invasion. It is a warning and a judgment, given to a people who were being asked to choose between faith and fear.
Key Phrases in Isaiah 7:25
Isaiah 5:6
I will lay it a wasteland. It won’t be pruned nor hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.”
(WEB)
This verse comes from the Song of the Vineyard earlier in Isaiah and describes a vineyard left untended, overgrown with briers and thorns, as a picture of Judah’s failure. It helps explain the same imagery found in chapter 7.
Genesis 3:18
It will yield thorns and thistles to you; and you will eat the herb of the field.
(WEB)
In the Garden account, the ground is cursed to bring forth thorns and thistles for the man who works it. Reading it alongside Isaiah 7:25 shows how the Bible connects hard, overgrown ground with the consequences of human rebellion.
A Short Prayer From Isaiah 7:25
Lord, you know the places in my life that have grown over with neglect and fear. I confess that I have sometimes stopped going out to the ground you gave me, worn down by thorns I did not want to face. Give me courage to return to the work you have called me to, even where the growth seems thick. Where judgment or loss has come, help me grieve honestly and trust you to be faithful in what comes after. Amen.
