Assyria: Instrument of Judgment and Its Doom
Isaiah 10:5-19
Isa.10.5 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- הוי: INTJ
- אשור: NOUN,prop,m,sg
- שבט: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אפי: NOUN,m,sg,poss1s
- ומטה: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
- בידם: PREP+PRON,3,m,pl
- זעמי: NOUN,m,sg,abs,1s.suf
Parallels
- Isa.10.6 (structural): Immediate continuation of the same oracle: explains how God uses Assyria as an instrument of wrath against a godless nation—directly expands the metaphor of Assyria as "rod" in God's hand.
- Isa.5.26 (thematic): Describes Yahweh summoning foreign peoples as instruments of punishment against Israel; parallels the theme of God raising and using a nation as an agent of his anger.
- Jer.27.6 (thematic): God declares he has given lands and peoples into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar/foreign rulers—same theological idea of God handing over nations to a conqueror as an instrument of judgment.
- Jer.51.20-24 (verbal): Speaks of Babylon as God’s 'weapon' or 'hammer' in his hand to shatter nations—close verbal and conceptual parallel to Assyria as the rod/staff of God's wrath.
- Ps.2.9 (verbal): Uses the image of ruling or judging with a rod/rod of iron; parallels the metaphor of a rod as the means of executing divine judgment, though applied to the king/Messiah rather than a foreign nation.
Alternative generated candidates
- Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger— the staff is in their hand, the stroke of my wrath.
- Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger — the staff is in their hand, the indignation of my wrath.
Isa.10.6 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- בגוי: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- חנף: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- אשלחנו: VERB,qal,imperf,1,x,sg
- ועל: CONJ+PREP
- עם: PREP
- עברתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,m,sg
- אצונו: VERB,qal,fut,1,_,sg,suff3ms
- לשלל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- שלל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ולבז: CONJ+VERB,qal,inf
- בז: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ולשומו: CONJ+VERB,qal,inf
- מרמס: VERB,piel,ptc,3,m,sg
- כחמר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- חוצות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
Parallels
- Isaiah 10:5 (structural): Immediate context: God declares Assyria the rod of his anger sent against a godless people, framing verse 10:6’s depiction of Assyria as God’s instrument.
- Deuteronomy 28:49-51 (thematic): Warning that the LORD will raise a foreign nation from afar to devour, plunder and trample Israel—paralleling the motif of God using a ruthless foreign power to punish and plunder.
- Habakkuk 1:5-11 (thematic): God raises the Chaldeans as a bitter, swift people who take spoil, seize nations and trample them—closely echoing the image of a conquering foreign power used to execute divine judgment.
- Jeremiah 25:8-9 (thematic): God says he will summon the king of Babylon and make him his servant to punish nations and take their plunder—another explicit instance of God employing a foreign empire to carry out punishment and seize spoil.
Alternative generated candidates
- I send them against a godless nation; against the people of my wrath I command them: Take spoil, seize plunder, tread them down like the mire of the streets.
- I will send him against a godless nation; upon a people I will give him charge — to take spoil and plunder, to tread them down like the clay of the streets.
Isa.10.7 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והוא: CONJ+PRON,3,m,sg
- לא: PART_NEG
- כן: ADV
- ידמה: VERB,hiph,impf,3,m,sg
- ולבבו: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+3ms
- לא: PART_NEG
- כן: ADV
- יחשב: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- כי: CONJ
- להשמיד: VERB,hiph,inf
- בלבבו: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+3,m,sg
- ולהכרית: CONJ+VERB,hiph,inf
- גוים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- לא: PART_NEG
- מעט: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Isaiah 10:5-6 (structural): Immediate context: God raises Assyria as his instrument to punish nations, explaining the conqueror’s violent intent described in 10:7.
- Isaiah 10:11 (verbal): Continuation of the Assyrian boast about taking spoil and destroying nations (including Israel), echoing the same aim to 'destroy and cut off' peoples.
- Psalm 2:1-4 (thematic): Kings and nations conspire and arrogantly oppose God’s plan; their proud plotting is met by God’s sovereign judgment—parallel to imperial boasting and divine response.
- Habakkuk 2:6-8 (thematic): Condemnation of those who violently seize nations and possessions for gain—parallels the conqueror’s aim to destroy and plunder many peoples.
- Isaiah 14:12-15 (allusion): Taunt against a proud, overreaching ruler who aspires beyond his station and is destined for humiliation—thematically parallel to the arrogant conqueror in 10:7.
Alternative generated candidates
- Yet he does not so intend, nor does his heart so think; for it is in his heart to destroy and to cut off nations not a few.
- Yet he does not so intend, nor does his heart so think; for it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few.
Isa.10.8 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- יאמר: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,m,sg
- הלא: PART
- שרי: NOUN,m,pl,cs
- יחדו: ADV
- מלכים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
Parallels
- Isaiah 10:13 (verbal): Immediate context — the Assyrian speaker continues the same boast, claiming credit for his conquests and asserting the status and power of his princes.
- Isaiah 14:13-14 (thematic): Parallel of royal pride and self-exaltation (the king of Babylon's boastful language about ascending and equating himself with the Most High).
- Ezekiel 28:2 (thematic): Address to the prince of Tyre for his proud, godlike boasting — similar motif of a ruler arrogantly inflating his status.
- Psalm 2:2 (thematic): Motif of earthly kings and rulers banding together in defiance/aspiration — echoes the picture of rulers claiming kingly authority apart from God.
- 2 Kings 19:11-12 (thematic): Assyrian taunt against Israel/Judah in the historical narrative — like Isaiah 10, it reflects Assyrian arrogance and the belittling of other nations' gods and rulers.
Alternative generated candidates
- For he says, Are not my princes all kings together?
- For he says, "Are not my princes all kings?"
Isa.10.9 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- הלא: PART
- ככרכמיש: PREP+NOUN,prop,sg,abs
- כלנו: PRON,1,pl
- אם: CONJ
- לא: PART_NEG
- כארפד: PREP+NOUN,prop,sg,abs
- חמת: NOUN,f,sg,cons
- אם: CONJ
- לא: PART_NEG
- כדמשק: PREP+NOUN,prop,sg,abs
- שמרון: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- 2 Kings 19:13 (verbal): Sennacherib's boasts list conquered Syrian and northern cities (Calno/Carchemish, Hamath, Arpad, Samaria), echoing the same city-names and defeated-city motif found in Isa 10:9.
- Isaiah 37:13 (verbal): Parallel account in Isaiah's narrative repeats the Assyrian taunt and enumerates the same cities, reflecting the same rhetorical comparison of conquered cities.
- Isaiah 10:11 (structural): Immediate continuation of the same rhetorical catalogue—both verses form a unit of taunting questions comparing these cities to Assyria's past conquests.
- Isaiah 10:12-14 (thematic): Develops the theme implicit in v.9: Assyria's past victories fuel pride, and God announces judgment on Assyria for its arrogance and self-exaltation.
- Amos 1:3-5 (esp. v.5) (allusion): Amos pronounces judgment on Damascus/Hamath and other Aramean centers—comparable prophetic condemnations of the same regional cities and their fate.
Alternative generated candidates
- Is not Calneh like Carchemish? Is not Hamath like Arpad? Is not Samaria like Damascus?
- Is not Calno like Carchemish? Is not Arpad like Hamath? Is not Damascus like Samaria?
Isa.10.10 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- כאשר: CONJ
- מצאה: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- ידי: NOUN,f,pl,cons
- לממלכת: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,const
- האליל: NOUN,m,sg,def
- ופסיליהם: CONJ+NOUN,m,pl,abs+PRON,3,m,pl
- מירושלם: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ומשמרון: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Isa.10:11 (structural): Immediate continuation of the same speech—Assyria's boast about acting against Jerusalem and its idols, directly linked to the mention of 'the kingdom of idols.'
- Isa.2:8 (verbal): Condemns a land 'full of idols' and the worship of works of human hands—language and theme echo the indictment of images and idols in Jerusalem and Samaria.
- 2 Kings 17:29-33 (thematic): Describes Samaria's adoption of foreign gods and the establishment of images there—historical background for the reference to idols in Samaria (שמרון).
- Ezekiel 6:4-6 (thematic): Prophecy of judgment against Israel's altars and idols ('your altars shall be desolate, your idols broken'), paralleling the overthrow of the 'kingdom of idols'.
Alternative generated candidates
- As my hand found the kingdoms of the idols and their images—Jerusalem and Samaria—
- As my hand found the kingdoms of idols and their images in Jerusalem and in Samaria,
Isa.10.11 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- הלא: PART
- כאשר: CONJ
- עשיתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- לשמרון: PREP+NOUN,prop,m,sg
- ולאליליה: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,pl,prs3fs,abs
- כן: ADV
- אעשה: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg
- לירושלם: PREP+NOUN,prop,f,sg
- ולעצביה: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,pl,prs3fs,abs
Parallels
- 2 Kings 17:7-23 (thematic): Narrates the historical fall of Samaria because of Israel’s idolatry and the LORD’s judgment—provides the concrete precedent Isaiah invokes when saying he did to Samaria and will do likewise to Jerusalem.
- Micah 1:6-7 (thematic): Prophecy declaring Samaria’s destruction and the removal of its images/altars for its sins; parallels Isaiah’s use of Samaria’s fate as a model for Jerusalem’s coming punishment.
- Hosea 13:16 (thematic): Pronounces the judgment and humiliation of Samaria for unfaithfulness—language of fall and punishment echoes Isaiah’s appeal to what was done to Samaria as a pattern for Jerusalem.
- Isaiah 10:6 (structural): Earlier in the same chapter God identifies Assyria as the instrument of judgment against a godless nation; verse 10:11 applies that instrumental judgment to the concrete example of Samaria and then to Jerusalem.
Alternative generated candidates
- shall I not do to Jerusalem and its images as I did to Samaria and its idols?
- so shall I do to Jerusalem and to her images as I did to Samaria and to her idols.
Isa.10.12 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והיה: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,m,sg
- כי: CONJ
- יבצע: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- אדני: NOUN,m,sg,abs,1,sg
- את: PRT,acc
- כל: DET
- מעשהו: NOUN,m,sg,abs,suf3m
- בהר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,def
- ציון: NOUN,prop,f,sg,abs
- ובירושלם: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אפקד: VERB,qal,impf,1,sg
- על: PREP
- פרי: NOUN,m,sg,cs
- גדל: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- לבב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מלך: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- אשור: NOUN,prop,m,sg
- ועל: CONJ+PREP
- תפארת: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- רום: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- עיניו: NOUN,f,pl,suff
Parallels
- Isaiah 10:5-6 (structural): Immediate context: Assyria is portrayed as the rod of God's anger (an instrument He raised up); verse 10:12 continues this oracle by declaring that God will nevertheless punish Assyria for its pride.
- Isaiah 10:33-34 (structural): Same chapter's depiction of Assyria's overthrow (trees felled, high ones cut down) echoes the theme of humbling the proud 'high-looking' Assyrian king found in 10:12.
- Isaiah 2:11 (verbal): Uses the motif of 'lofty looks' being humbled; parallels the language and theme of proud eyes/heart in 10:12 that must be judged and brought low.
- Ezekiel 31:3-9 (thematic): Ezekiel depicts a great, prideful tree (often applied to mighty nations/rulers) that God brings down—parallel imagery of proud power cut down and divine judgment on national pride, applicable to Assyria.
- Obadiah 1:3-4 (thematic): Condemnation of a nation's pride leading to downfall (Edom in Obadiah) parallels Isaiah's judgment on the 'pride' and 'high looks' of the Assyrian king in 10:12.
Alternative generated candidates
- Therefore it shall come to pass, when the LORD has completed all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, that I will punish the fruit of the proud heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of the loftiness of his eyes.
- And it shall be, when the Lord has completed all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, that I will punish the pride of the stout heart of the king of Assyria and the pomp of the haughtiness of his eyes.
Isa.10.13 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- אמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- בכח: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ידי: NOUN,f,pl,cons
- עשיתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- ובחכמתי: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs+1s
- כי: CONJ
- נבנותי: VERB,niphal,perf,1,com,sg
- ואסיר: CONJ+VERB,qal,impf,1,com,sg
- גבולת: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- עמים: NOUN,pl,m,abs
- ועתודותיהם: CONJ+NOUN,f,pl,abs+3mp
- שושתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,com,sg
- ואוריד: CONJ+VERB,qal,impf,1,com,sg
- כאביר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יושבים: VERB,qal,ptcp,act,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Deut.8:17-18 (verbal): Both passages contain near-verbal claims of achievement — 'by the power of my hand'/'the might of my hand' — attributing conquest/wealth to human strength rather than God.
- Isa.14:13-14 (thematic): Boastful, self-exalting language of a conqueror who claims autonomy and exaltation above others; parallels the proud imperial boasting in Isa 10:13.
- Ezek.28:2,17 (thematic): A ruler’s pride and corrupted wisdom are highlighted in Ezekiel’s taunt against Tyre, echoing the theme of arrogant claim to strength and sagacity found in Isa 10:13.
- Isa.2:11-12 (thematic): Isaiah elsewhere treats the motif of the proud being brought low — the humbling of lofty men — which corresponds to the judgment implicit against the boast of Isa 10:13.
Alternative generated candidates
- For he says in his heart, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding. I removed the boundaries of peoples and took their treasures; I rejoiced and brought them down like a mighty man.
- For he says, "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom — for I am prudent; I have removed the borders of peoples and taken their treasuries; I have made myself great and brought down those who sat on thrones."
Isa.10.14 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ותמצא: CONJ+VERB,niph,perf,3,sg
- כקן: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ידי: NOUN,f,pl,cons
- לחיל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- העמים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- וכאסף: CONJ+PREP+VERB,qal,perf,1,sg
- ביצים: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- עזבות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- כל: DET
- הארץ: NOUN,f,sg,def
- אני: PRON,1,sg
- אספתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- היה: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- נדד: VERB,qal,perf,3,ms,sg
- כנף: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ופצה: CONJ+VERB,qal,perf,3,ms,sg
- פה: ADV
- ומצפצף: CONJ+PART,pi'el,ptc,m,sg
Parallels
- Isaiah 10:8-11 (verbal): Immediate context: the Assyrian speaker boasts of plundering nations like eggs in a nest (same metaphors of easy, unresisted spoil and boasting of conquest).
- Isaiah 10:6 (thematic): Earlier in the chapter God describes using Assyria as an instrument of punishment against nations—links the motif of a divinely‑ordained conqueror who takes spoil for divine judgment.
- Habakkuk 1:6-7 (thematic): The Chaldeans are depicted as a ruthless, foreign power raised by God to sweep away nations and take spoil—parallels the image of a swift, unstoppable conqueror plundering the peoples.
- Exodus 12:35-36 (thematic): When Israel left Egypt the people of Egypt gave them silver, gold and clothing—an instance of spoil being taken from a defeated/abandoning people without resistance, echoing the 'gathering eggs' image of easy plunder.
- Nahum 3:1-7 (thematic): Pronounces Nineveh's fall and the stripping of her wealth—parallels the theme of a formerly secure, plundering empire becoming the object of despoiling and the consequences of violence and arrogance.
Alternative generated candidates
- Was not my hand found as a nest for the spoil of the nations? As one gathers abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth; there was none that fluttered a wing, nor opened the mouth, nor chirped.
- Like one who gathers abandoned eggs, so I gathered all the earth; there was none that fluttered a wing, nor opened a mouth, nor chirped.
Isa.10.15 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- היתפאר: VERB,hitp,impf,3,m,sg
- הגרזן: NOUN,m,sg,def
- על: PREP
- החצב: NOUN,m,sg,def
- בו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
- אם: CONJ
- יתגדל: VERB,hitp,impf,3,m,sg
- המשור: NOUN,m,sg,def
- על: PREP
- מניפו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
- כהניף: VERB,hiph,perf,3,m,sg
- שבט: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ואת: CONJ
- מרימיו: NOUN,m,pl,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
- כהרים: VERB,hiph,impf,3,m,sg
- מטה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לא: PART_NEG
- עץ: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Isaiah 45:9 (verbal): Uses the same role-reversal image of the created object contending with its maker (clay vs potter), echoing the rhetorical rebuke of a tool boasting over its user.
- Romans 9:20 (allusion): Paul poses the related rhetorical question ‘Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it...?’—the same motif of creaturely presumption against the Creator found in Isaiah 10:15.
- Deuteronomy 8:17-18 (thematic): Warns against boasting in one’s own power or achievements (’my power and the might of my hand’), thematically parallel to Isaiah’s critique of presumptuous pride in instruments or nations.
- Jeremiah 18:1-6 (verbal): The potter/ clay metaphor demonstrates the Creator’s sovereignty over the formed object, reinforcing the same contrast between maker and made that Isaiah 10:15 highlights.
Alternative generated candidates
- Shall the ax boast over the one who wields it? Shall the saw exalt itself against the one who lifts it? As if the rod could lift the one who lifts it, or the staff raise him who is not wood.
- Shall the ax boast over him who swings it? Shall the saw exalt itself against the one who wields it? As if the rod could lift the one who lifts it, or the club lift up him who is not wood.
Isa.10.16 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- לכן: ADV
- ישלח: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- האדון: NOUN,m,sg,def
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- צבאות: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- במשמניו: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,poss,3,m,sg
- רזון: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ותחת: CONJ+PREP
- כבדו: VERB,qal,perf,3,pl
- יקד: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- יקד: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- כיקוד: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אש: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 32:15 (thematic): Uses the image of a people growing 'fat' from prosperity and then provoking divine judgment—parallels Isaiah's idea that God will afflict the 'fat ones' because of their pride and complacency.
- Amos 4:6 (verbal): God declares he sent 'cleanness of teeth' and 'lack of bread' on Israel—an explicit motif of God bringing famine/leanness on a people similar to 'sending... leanness among his fat ones' in Isaiah 10:16.
- Amos 6:1-7 (thematic): Condemns the wealthy/complacent in Zion ('at ease'), promising judgment—echoes Isaiah's targeting of the prosperous 'fat' for punishment.
- Ezekiel 16:49-50 (thematic): Attributes Sodom's judgment to pride, fullness of bread and idleness—parallels the moral cause (prosperity leading to sin) and consequent divine punishment in Isaiah 10:16.
- Isaiah 5:8-16 (structural): Within the same prophetic block, Isaiah condemns those who accumulate wealth and live in luxury and announces God's corrective judgment—provides immediate prophetic context and a parallel indicting prosperity followed by divine wrath.
Alternative generated candidates
- Therefore the Lord GOD of hosts will send among his fat ones a wasting; and under his glory he will kindle a burning like the blaze of fire.
- Therefore the Lord God of hosts will send among his fat ones a leanness; and under his glory he will kindle a burning like the burning of fire.
Isa.10.17 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- והיה: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,m,sg
- אור: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ישראל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לאש: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- וקדושו: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
- ללהבה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ובערה: CONJ+VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg+PRON,3,f,sg
- ואכלה: VERB,qal,impv,2,m,sg
- שיתו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
- ושמירו: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
- ביום: PREP
- אחד: NUM,card,m,sg
Parallels
- Judges 9:15-16 (verbal): Parable of the bramble: a bramble threatens that 'let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars' — shares imagery of fire issuing from a thorn/bramble and devouring stronger growth, echoing 'burn and devour his thorns and briers.'
- Isaiah 5:24 (verbal): Isaiah's judgment language: 'as the fire devoureth the stubble' — same prophetic motif of fire consuming vegetation as an image of divine judgment.
- Deuteronomy 4:24 (verbal): Describes Yahweh as 'a consuming fire' — parallels Isaiah's depiction of Israel's light/Holy One as a flame and the idea of divine fire as agent of judgment.
- Hebrews 12:29 (quotation): New Testament citation: 'our God is a consuming fire' (echoing Deut 4:24) — applies the same 'consuming fire' language to God's presence and judgment, resonant with Isaiah 10:17.
- Malachi 3:2-3 (thematic): Speaks of the Lord as 'like a refiner's fire' who will purify by fire — thematic affinity to Isaiah's flame imagery that burns and consumes what is undesirable.
Alternative generated candidates
- The light of Israel will be for a fire, and his holy ones for a flame; it will burn and devour their thorns and briers in a single day.
- The light of Israel shall be a fire, and his holy one a flame; it will burn and consume his thorns and briers in one day.
Isa.10.18 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- וכבוד: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יערו: VERB,qal,perf,3,pl
- וכרמלו: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs+3ms
- מנפש: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ועד: CONJ+PREP
- בשר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יכלה: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- והיה: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,m,sg
- כמסס: PREP+ADJ,m,sg
- נסס: VERB,qal,perf,3,ms
Parallels
- Hosea 4:3 (verbal): Speaks of the land mourning and wasting away and explicitly notes that wild animals and birds will be wiped out—language and consequence closely parallel Isa. 10:18's wasting of forest/field and removal of beasts.
- Joel 1:12 (verbal): Declares that 'all the trees of the field are withered' and the vine/fig/tree fruitlessness after devastation, paralleling the image of the forest's glory and fruitful field being wasted.
- Ezekiel 31:6-12 (allusion): Uses the image of a great tree/forest (the cedar) felled as divine judgment on a nation (Assyria/Egypt); parallels Isa. 10:18's trope of a forest's glory and fruitfulness destroyed as punishment.
- Isaiah 5:6 (structural): In the same prophetic framework Isaiah describes a vineyard/field turned into a desolation as judgment—a structural parallel in theme and rhetorical use of agricultural/forest imagery to depict ruin.
- Jeremiah 12:4 (thematic): Portrays the land mourning, herbs withered and beasts taken away—a thematic match to the devastation of forest and field and removal of living creatures in Isa. 10:18.
Alternative generated candidates
- The splendor of his forest and his fruitful field shall be consumed—both soul and body—and it shall be like the wasting of the sick.
- And the glory of his forest and his fruitful land shall be consumed — life and flesh alike — and it shall be like the wasting of a sick man.
Isa.10.19 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ושאר: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עץ: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יערו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- מספר: VERB,qal,impf,1,m,sg
- יהיו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- ונער: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יכתבם: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Isaiah 10:20-22 (structural): Immediate context/continuation: the tiny remnant image leads into the promise that only a remnant of Israel will return—same argument about few survivors after judgment.
- Isaiah 1:9 (verbal): Uses the same theme and wording of a 'very small remnant' preserved after divine judgment—similar emphasis on severe reduction to a few.
- Romans 9:27 (quotation): Paul cites Isaiah's remnant tradition (cf. Isa. 10:22) — 'a remnant shall be saved'—linking Isaiah's motif of a surviving remnant to NT theology.
- Romans 11:5 (thematic): Paul's doctrine of a present 'remnant according to the election of grace' echoes Isaiah's motif of a small faithful remnant preserved through judgment.
- Isaiah 37:31-32 (thematic): Parallel prophetic imagery of a surviving remnant of Judah that 'takes root' and bears fruit—another passage stressing preservation of a few after calamity.
Alternative generated candidates
- And the remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few; a child may write them down.
- A remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few; a child may write them down.
Woe to Assyria—the rod of my anger; the staff of my wrath is in their hand.
I will send him against a godless nation, and I will give him charge over a people marked by my wrath—to take spoil and plunder, to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
Yet he does not so intend in his heart, nor does he plan so; rather, it is in his heart to destroy and to cut off nations not a few.
For he says, 'Are not my princes all kings together?'
Is not Calneh like Carchemish, Hamath like Arpad, Samaria like Damascus?
As my hand has found for the kingdom of idols and for their images in Jerusalem and in Samaria.
Shall I not do to Jerusalem and to her images as I did to Samaria and to her idols? And it shall be, when the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, that I will punish the fruit of the proud heart of the king of Assyria and the splendor of his haughty eyes.
For he says, 'By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent; I have removed the boundaries of peoples and plundered their stores, I have humbled those who sat in safety like a mighty one.'
As one finds a nest—my hand found the riches of the nations; like one who gathers deserted eggs I gathered all the earth—no wing stirred, no mouth opened, no chirp was heard.
Can the ax boast over the one who wields it, or the saw exalt itself against the one who swings it? Can the rod lift up the one who lifts it, or the staff lift him who is not wood?
Therefore the Lord GOD of hosts will send among his fat ones leanness, and under his glory a burning like the burning of fire.
The light of Israel will be for a fire, and his glory for a flame; it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in a single day.
The glory of his forest and his fruitful field—from life even to flesh—will be consumed; it will be like the wasting of the sick. And the remnant of the trees of his forest will be few, so that a child may write them down.