Isaiah 10:4

4 All you can do is bow down in fear among the prisoners. All you can do is fall among those who have died in battle. Even then, the LORD is still angry. His hand is still raised against them.

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 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Isaiah 10:4 In-Context

2 You take away the rights of poor people. You hold back what is fair from my people who are suffering. You take for yourselves what belongs to widows. You rob children whose fathers have died.

3 What will you do on the day when the LORD punishes you? On that day trouble will come from far away. Who will you run to for help? Who will you trust your riches with?

4 All you can do is bow down in fear among the prisoners. All you can do is fall among those who have died in battle. Even then, the LORD is still angry. His hand is still raised against them.

5 The LORD says, "How terrible it will be for the people of Assyria! They are the war club that carries out my anger.

6 I will send them against the ungodly nation of Judah. I will order them to fight against my own people. They make me angry. I will order them to take their goods and carry them away. I will order them to walk on my people as if they were walking on mud.