Isaiah 31:4-9

4 For this is what the Lord said to me: As a lion or young lion growls over its prey when a band of shepherds is called out against it, and is not terrified by their shouting or subdued by their noise, so the Lord of Hosts will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill.
5 Like hovering birds, so the Lord of Hosts will protect Jerusalem- by protecting [it], He will rescue [it], by sparing [it], He will deliver [it].
6 Return to the One the Israelites have greatly rebelled against.
7 For on that day, each one will reject the silver and gold idols that your own hands have sinfully made.
8 Then Assyria will fall, but not by human sword; a sword will devour him, but not one made by man. He will flee from the sword, his young men will be put to forced labor.
9 His rock[a] will pass away because of fear, and his officers will be afraid because of the signal flag. [This is] the Lord's declaration-whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

Isaiah 31:4-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 31

This chapter denounces woe to those that trusted in the Egyptians; assures the Jews of God's care and protection of them; calls them to repentance, and foretells the destruction of the Assyrian army. The sin of those that trusted in Egypt, with the reasons of their trust, and not looking to the Lord, and seeking him, is declared in Isa 31:1 and their folly exposed in so doing; since the Lord is wise, powerful, and unchangeable, and the Egyptians frail and weak; so that the helper and the helped must fall before him, Isa 31:2,3 whereas protection might be expected from the Lord, as is promised, whose power is like that of the lion, and whose tender care is like that of birds to defend their young, Isa 31:4,5 wherefore the Jews are called upon to return to the Lord by repentance, from whom they had revolted; which would be shown by their detestation of idolatry, the sin they had been guilty of, Isa 31:6,7 and the chapter is closed with a prophecy of the ruin of the Assyrian army, and the flight of their king, Isa 31:8,9.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Perhaps the Assyrian king
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