Isaiah 10:7-11
New English Translation
7 But he does not agree with this;
his mind does not reason this way,[a]
for his goal is to destroy,
and to eliminate many nations.[b]
8 Indeed,[c] he says:
‘Are not my officials all kings?
9 Is not Calneh like Carchemish?
Hamath like Arpad?
Samaria like Damascus?[d]
10 I overpowered kingdoms ruled by idols,[e]
whose carved images were more impressive than Jerusalem’s or Samaria’s.
11 As I have done to Samaria and its idols,
so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.”[f]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 10:7 tn Heb “but he, not so does he intend, and his heart, not so does it think.”
- Isaiah 10:7 tn Heb “for to destroy [is] in his heart, and to cut off nations, not a few.”
- Isaiah 10:8 tn Or “For” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).
- Isaiah 10:9 sn Calneh…Carchemish…Hamath…Arpad…Samaria…Damascus. The city states listed here were conquered by the Assyrians between 740-717 b.c. The point of the rhetorical questions is that no one can stand before Assyria’s might. On the geographical, rather than chronological arrangement of the cities, see J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:264, n. 4.
- Isaiah 10:10 tn Heb “Just as my hand found the kingdoms of the idol[s].” The comparison is expanded in v. 11a (note “as”) and completed in v. 11b (note “so”).
- Isaiah 10:11 tn The statement is constructed as a rhetorical question in the Hebrew text: “Is it not [true that] just as I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols?’”sn This statement indicates that the prophecy dates sometime between 722-701 b.c.
Isaiah 10:13
New English Translation
13 For he says:
“By my strong hand I have accomplished this,
by my strategy that I devised.
I invaded the territory of nations,[a]
and looted their storehouses.
Like a mighty conqueror,[b] I brought down rulers.[c]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 10:13 tn Heb “removed the borders of nations”; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV “boundaries.”
- Isaiah 10:13 tc The consonantal text (Kethib) has כְּאַבִּיר (keʾabbir, “like a strong one”); the marginal reading (Qere) is כַּבִיר (kavir, “mighty one”).
- Isaiah 10:13 tn Heb “and I brought down, like a strong one, ones sitting [or “living”].” The participle יוֹשְׁבִים (yoshevim, “ones sitting”) could refer to the inhabitants of the nations, but the translation assumes that it refers to those who sit on thrones, i.e., rulers. See BDB 442 s.v. יָשַׁב and HALOT 444 s.v. ישׁב.
Isaiah 10:14
New English Translation
14 My hand discovered the wealth of the nations, as if it were in a nest,
as one gathers up abandoned eggs,
I gathered up the whole earth.
There was no wing flapping,
or open mouth chirping.”[a]
Footnotes
- Isaiah 10:14 sn The Assyrians’ conquests were relatively unopposed, like robbing a bird’s nest of its eggs when the mother bird is absent.
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