Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 30:20

"And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be hidden anymore, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers;" — Isaiah 30:20 (ASV)

And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity - The bread that is eaten in a time of calamity; that is, he would bring upon them severe distress and want.

The water of affliction - Margin, ‘Oppression.’ That is, water drunk in times of affliction and oppression, or in the long and weary days of captivity.

Yet shall not thy teachers - This refers to your public instructors and guides (Psalms 74:9; Isaiah 43:27; Daniel 12:3; Amos 8:11–12). This refers to “all” those who would be the true guides and teachers of the people of God in subsequent times. It relates, therefore, not only to prophets and pious men whom God would raise up under their own dispensation, but also to all whom he would appoint to communicate his will. It is a promise that the church of God should never lack a pious and devoted ministry qualified to make known his will and defend his truth.

Be removed into a corner - The word used here (יכנף yikânēp, from כנף kânap) occurs nowhere else in the Scriptures. It is probably derived from כנף kânâp—a wing; and in Syriac and Chaldee, it means to collect together.

The Septuagint renders this, ‘And those who deceived you shall no more come near to you.’ The Syriac, ‘And he (that is, the Lord) shall no more collect your seducers.’ The Chaldee, ‘And he shall no more take away his own glory from the house of his sanctuary.’ Rosenmuller, in accordance with Schultens, renders it, ‘And your teachers shall no more hide themselves,’ referring to the fact that the wing of a fowl furnishes a hiding-place or shelter. This would accord with the general idea that they should not be removed from public view.

Lowth, singularly, and without authority from versions or manuscripts, renders it:

‘Yet the timely rain shall no more be restrained.’

The general idea is, evidently, that they should be no more taken away; and probably the specific idea is that proposed by Taylor (“Heb. Con.”), that your teachers shall no more, as it were, be winged, or fly away; that is, be removed by flight, or like a flock of birds moving together rapidly on the wing.