Samaritan's Purse Is Aiding Communities Devastated by Hurricane Helene. You Can Help

Isaiah 10:4

4 Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain. 1For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.

Isaiah 10:4 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 10:4

Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and
they shall fall under the slain
That is, either, being forsaken by me, and destitute of my help, they shall bow down; or, "because they are without me", are not my people, and do not hearken to me, therefore they shall bow down, so David Kimchi; or, were it not for me, they would, as others; or that they might not bow down and fall; and so the words may be connected with the preceding verse ( Isaiah 10:3 ) : others render the word, translated "without me, besides"; and the sense is either, as Moses Kimchi, besides their bowing in their own land, when subdued by the Gentiles, a greater affliction shall befall them, captivity; when they should be either carried captive or slain; or besides him that shall bow down under the prisoners, they shall fall under the slain; besides those that are taken, others shall be killed; or none shall escape, but, or "except", him that bows, and hides himself under the prisoners, or in the place of the slain, that he might not be thought to be alive: or the sense is, the desolation shall be so general, that none shall escape, either they shall be taken prisoners, or they shall be slain; agreeably to which Noldius F9 renders the words, "without me", everyone "shall bow down among the prisoners, or shall fall among the slain"; which gives the best sense of them; that, being left of God for their sins, they would either be bound and carried captive, or else slain with the sword, and one or the other would be the lot of everyone of them: for all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is
stretched out still;
the final and utter destruction of the nation of the Jews being then not yet come, when carried captive to Babylon, there remained a greater calamity for them, to come by the hands of the Romans. These first four verses ( Isaiah 10:1-4 ) seem more properly to belong to the preceding chapter ( Isaiah 9:1-21 ) , and this should begin with the next verse ( Isaiah 10:5 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F9 Ebr. Concord. Part. p. 201, 771.

Isaiah 10:4 In-Context

2 to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
3 What will you do on the day of punishment, in the ruin that will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth?
4 Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners or fall among the slain. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.
5 Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury!
6 Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

Cross References 1

  • 1. See Isaiah 9:12
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.