Isaiah 10:4

Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. WITHOUT ME - Not having me to 'flee to' (Isaiah 10:3). THEY SHALL BOW DOWN - bereft of strength, they shall fall; or else, they shall lie down fettered. UNDER THE PRISONERS ... UNDER THE SLAIN - rather, among (literally, in the place of) (Horsley). The "under" [ tachat (H8478)] may be, however, explained in the ordinary sense, 'trodden under the (feet of the) prisoners going into captivity,' and 'overwhelmed under the heaps of slain on the battlefield.' Compare Isaiah 10:6...

4._If they shall not fall down. _As the meaning of the particle בלתי (_bilti_) is ambiguous, various interpretations of it have been given by commentators. Some take it in an exclusive sense, as in many other passages of Scripture; as if he had said, _Only he shall fall down among the bound and slain_; that is, because all will be condemned and given up either to captivity or to death. Others render it, _Without me they shall fall_. If this rendering be preferred, the Prophet shows that the cause of their destruction is, that they have revolted from God; and unquestionably the cause of all our distresses is, to forsake the fountain of life and of salvation, and of all blessings. In this manner he sharply reproves the madness of the ungodly, who vaunt of having been forsaken by God, as if nothing were more desirable or pleasant than to withdraw to the greatest distance from him; and thus...

1-4 These verses are to be joined with the foregoing chapter. Woe to the superior powers that devise and decree unrighteous decrees! And woe to the inferior officers that draw them up, and enter them on record! But what will sinners do? Whither will they flee?...

Verse Isaiah 10:4. _WITHOUT ME_] That is, without my aid: they shall be taken captive even by the captives, and shall be subdued even by the vanquished. "The י _yod_ in בלתי _bilti_ is a pronoun, as in Hosea 13:4." - _Kimchi_ on the place. One MS. has לבלתי _lebilti_. As the people had hitherto lived _without God_ in worship and obedience; so they should now be _without_ his help, and should perish in their transgressions....

WITHOUT ME - בלתי _biltı̂y_. There has been a great variety of interpretation affixed to this expression. The sense in which our translators understood it was, evidently, that they should be forsaken of God; and that, as the effect of this, they should bow down under the condition of captives, or among the slain. The Vulgate and the Septuagint, however. and many interpreters understand the word bore as a simple negative. ‘Where will you flee for refuge? Where will you deposit your wealth so as not to bow down under a chain?’ Vulgate, _Ne incurvemini sub vinculo_. Septuagint, Τοῦ μὴ ἐμπεσεῖν εἰς ἀπαγωνήν _tou_ _mē_ _empesein_ _eis_ _apagōnēn_ - ‘Not to fall into captivity.’ The Hebrew will bear either mode of construction. Vitringa and Lowth understand it as our translators have done, as meaning that God would forsake th

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 10:1 The prophecy begun in Isaiah 9:8 terminates with this stanza, which contains a warning against injustice and oppression, addressed to Israel and Judah equally, and accompanied by the threat of a "day of desolation," when those who have refused to make God their Refuge will have no resource, but to go into captivity with the "prisoners," or to perish with the "slain." A foreign conquest, accompanied by slaughter, and the deportation of captives, is not obscurely intimated. ISAIAH 10:1 WOE UNTO THEM THAT DECREE UNRIGHTEOUS DECREES (comp. Isaiah 1:17

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 s

CHAPTER 10 The Assyrian, His invasion of Immanuel's land, and His end 1. _The first four verses belong to the preceding chapter. A description of the Assyrian enemy (Isaiah 10:5)_ 2. _The overthrow of his army announced (Isaiah 10:12)_ 3. _The punishment (Isaiah 10:16)_ 4. _The return of the remnant (Isaiah 10:20)_ 5. _The faithful remnant comforted (Isaiah 10:24)_ 6. The Assyrians march against Jerusalem (Isaiah 10:28

ISAIAH 9:8 TO ISAIAH 10:4. YAHWEH SMITES EPHRAIM WITH STROKE AFTER STROKE. It is generally agreed that Isaiah 5:26 formed the closing strophe of this poem (p. 440). The date is probably before the coalition of Syria and Ephraim (Isaiah 9:11 f.), _i.e._ between 740 and 735. It is one of Isaiah's earliest prophecies. It is very uncertain whether the whole is a prediction of the future, or whether, with the exception of the conclusion, it describes calamities that have already overtaken the people. On the whole the former view is preferable. It is that adopted in RV, the tenses being taken as prophetic perfects, the alternative view being given in

BOW DOWN UNDER THE PRISONERS. captives will be enough to make you bow down. FALL UNDER THE SLAIN. mortally wounded ones [will be enough] to make you fall. FOR, &C. See note on Isaiah 9:12....