Isaiah 10:3

Isa 10:3 And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation [which] shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your glory?

Ver. 3. And what will ye do in the day of visitation.] That is, of vastation by the Assyrians.

To whom will ye flee for help.] Who have denied help to the poor that fled unto you; but sped no better than the sheep that flee to the bush for defence in weather, where he is sure to lose part of his fleece.

And where will ye leave your glory?] Where will ye betrust or bestow your wealth, power, and worldly pomp, purchased by you at too dear a rate? who paid your honesty to get it - O magno emptas, et parum proficuas divitias! - and must now lose not it only, but your liberties and lives also, in the next verse.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isa_10:3

And what will ye do in the day of visitation?

--

The day of visitation

In Scripture style the season in which God is pleased to draw near to a person or people, that He may accomplish various important purposes, is called a day of visitation.

1. Sometimes His visitation is intended to afford deliverance and consolation to the oppressed, by extricating them from servitude and misery, and introducing them into a happy and comfortable condition. In this sense the Lord is said to have visited His people Israel, when He delivered them from Egyptian bondage (Exo_4:31); and to have visited and redeemed His people when He bestowed upon them the greatest mercy (Luk_1:68).

2. Sometimes it is designed to manifest His tender care and constant inspection of His people, over whom He exerciseth the most vigilant attention, that He may effectually promote their best interests (Psa_89:32). Such times are indeed days of visitation, wherein God sensibly draws near with the proofs of His kindness and favour, which He most undeservedly confers; and in which He appears with His rod of correction, that He may administer necessary chastisements, and restore those who had forsaken His laws from their wanderings.

3. At other times, God visits those who have not profited by the many warnings they have received, nor repented of the sins they have committed, notwithstanding the repeated corrections that He hath administered, to execute upon them desolating judgments and terrible vengeance Jer_5:9). In this last sense, I suppose, the day of visitation is here meant. (R. Macculloch.)

The day of visitation

So far from God having abandoned the world, He is continually calling it to account. Not only has He fixed in His eternal mind a period of final visitation, but days of visitation are repeatedly coming. And who knows how many may come to us?

I. THE SOLEMN PERIOD SPOKEN OF. God is said to visit men when He comes to them, or reveals Himself, either in mercy or judgment. Christ Himself calls the days of His ministry among the Jews the day of their visitation--their Gospel day of mercy. But the term, as used in our text, is to be understood in the contrary sense, to denote a period of judgment. There are several periods which are days of Divine visitation.

1. The day of trouble.

2. The day of affliction.

3. The day of death.

4. The day of judgment.

II. THE SOUL-AWAKENING APPEAL MADE. What will ye do? To whom will ye flee for help? This language implies that something has need to be done--that help will be required. Self-sufficient as we may wish to thinkourselves when all is bright, whenever either of the days of Divine visitation comes, we shall find that help will be needed in order to stand the trial well. If so, what will you do?

1. What in the day of trouble? Many are then overwhelmed thereby; in these circumstances many die in despair, fade away in melancholy, or lay violent hands on themselves. When every draught of lifes cup is the very gall of bitterness, where will ye go for sweetness?

2. Should afflictive visitations come on, what then will ye do? You may flee to the physician, but he can do no more than the God means may permit him.

3. And then, when the day of dissolution, that awful day of visitation comes, what will ye do? Will you send for your minister to pray for you? But what avail his prayers, if your do not pray for yourself?

4. And when the last great day--that day of all days--comes, oh, what then shall we do? And where shall we flee for help? Now, bring all this to a point.

(1) Settle it in your minds that days of visitation will come.

(2) How necessary, now in the time of our merciful visitation of Gospel offers and encouragements, to make the Almighty God our friend by faith in Christ.

(3) If we do not, must we not expect to be abandoned and left to everlasting ruin, without help or hope? (Essex Remembrancer.)

What will ye do in the day of visitation?

However wicked men may flatter themselves, or be flattered by others, God will not do it.

I. Let us notice TWO OR THREE PARTICULARS CONTAINED IN THE TEXT, before we pursue the principal inquiry.

1. The persons originally addressed were the children of Israel, a rebellious people; but the words are applicable to sinners of every description.

2. For the people of Israel a day of visitation was appointed, and the same may be said of us. There are days Of visitation to individuals as well as to whole nations.

II. PURSUE THE PRINCIPAL INQUIRY: What will ye do? etc.

1. Will you plead and expostulate with God? At a throne of grace the sinner may indeed plead with God, but what arguments will avail at the tribunal of His justice?

2. Will you attempt to resist Him!

3. Will you fly from Him! Whither?

4. Will you harden yourselves against Him; and seeing you cannot escape punishment, endeavour to support yourselves under it as well as you can; saying, with impenitent Israel, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it? Jer_10:19). Who can stand before His indignation? (JoelNa 1:2-6).

5. Will you cast yourselves at His feet, and adopt the humble and submissive language of David: If He say, I have no delight in thee, here am I; let Him do to me as seemeth good in His sight? This certainly would be highly proper, before the decree is gone forth, and such humiliation would be accepted; but it cannot be done afterwards, or if done, it would not avail Propose then to yourselves another question: What shall I do before this day of visitation come, that I may avoid the tremendous consequences? (B. Beddome, M. A.)

The day of visitation and preparation for it

I. A DAY OF VISITATION IS COMING UPON ALL MEN.

II. IT IS OF THE GREATEST IMPORTANCE TO BE PREPARED FOR THIS DAY.

1. Because your happiness, when the day of visitation comes, will depend upon it.

2. It will be positive misery to be unprepared.

3. You have an invaluable treasure in peril.

4. If you come to judgment unprepared it will be too late forever.

III. GOD IN HIS MERCY PRESSES THIS SOLEMN QUESTION UPON OUR SERIOUS AND DEVOUT CONSIDERATION.

1. It appears clear that God does sincerely desire the happiness of all men.

2. His thus pressing this solemn thought upon mens consideration shows that they are unwilling to obey God.

3. Mans want of happiness is entirely with himself and not with God. (N. M. Harry.)

Where will ye leave your glory?--

The vanity of earthly glory

The principal word in this short question seems, by its very sound, to bring before the mind indistinctly, a vision of something great and magnificent, yet unsubstantial and vain. When we bring our thoughts upon it more distinctly, we recognise it as the most conspicuous favourite term of heathenism. We mean a heathenism of all times and countries; that action and passion of the human mind, by which notions and feelings of greatness, transcendent value, have been attached to certain things of but imaginary worth; which things have been coveted, adored, toiled for, fought for, lived for, died for--as glory. Glory, therefore, has been the name of vanity turned into a god. And how vast the dominion of this idolatrous delusion! What it consists of--the worlds glory--is readily apprehended. That a man be conspicuous among and above his fellow mortals; be much observed, admired, even envied as being that which they cannot be.

I. Where will ye LEAVE your glory? It is, then, after all, not really united to the man. He expends the ardour of his soul to combine it with his being--to make it his very substance--but it is extraneous still! He may have to go where it will not accompany him.

II. And WHERE will they leave their glory? Where, that it can in any sense continue to be theirs--theirs, for any beneficial or gratifying effect to them? What will it be to them how it falls to other mortals? Nothing is more mournful than parting with what is passionately loved, under a perfect certainty of possessing it no more.

III. As the concluding part of these meditations, let us briefly APPLY THEM TO SEVERAL OF THE FORMS OF THIS WORLDS GLORY. There is presented a Christian, a heavenly, an eternal glory. When the lovers of glory are invited to this, and scorn it, and reject it, what is it that they take?

1. The most common form of the idolised thing is--what may be called the material splendour of life; that which immediately strikes the senses. But they must leave their glory.

2. It is, in part, a different and additional form of the worlds glory, when we mention elevated rank in society. All know how vehemently coveted and envied is this glory,--how elated, for the most part, the possessors of it feel. But the thought of leaving it! With what a grim and ghostly aspect this thought must appear, when it will sometimes intrude!

3. The possession of power is perhaps the idol supreme; to have at control, and in complete subjection, the action and the condition of numbers of mankind; to see the crowd, whether in heart obsequious or rebellious, practically awed, submissive, obedient. But it is not that voice that is long to command!

4. We might have named martial glory,--the object of the most ardent aspiration, and of the most pernicious idolatry. There is often an utter delusion in this expectation.

5. In the last place might be named intellectual glory,--that of knowledge, talent, and great mental performance. If, in that passion for renown, you have exerted great powers of mind to do fatal mischief--to overwhelm truth--to corrupt the morals--to explode religion--to degrade the glory of the Redeemer--what then? If you can, in that world, have any vital sympathy with your fame, your influence remaining in this, the consequence would but be a quick continual succession of direful shocks, conveyed to your living spirit from what your works are doing here. Contrast with all them forms of folly, the predominant aim of a Christian--which is glory still; but a glory which he will not have to leave; aglory accumulating for him in the world to which he is going. (John Foster.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isa 10:3-4. What will ye do — To save yourselves? in the day of visitation? — When I shall come to visit you in wrath, as the next words limit the expression. The desolation which shall come from far — From the Assyrians. This he adds, because the Israelites, having weakened the Jews, and being in amity with the Syrians, their next neighbours, were secure. To whom will ye flee for help — To the Syrians, as now you do? But they shall be destroyed together with you, 2Ki 16:9; and where will you leave your glory — To be kept safe for your use, and to be restored to you when you call for it? By their glory, he means, either, 1st, their power and authority, which now they so wickedly abused; or, 2d, their wealth, gotten by injustice, as glory sometimes means: see Gen 31:1; Psa 49:16-17. Without me — Without my favour and help, which you have forfeited, and do not seek to recover; they shall bow down — Notwithstanding all their succours; under the prisoners — Or among the prisoners; and they shall fall under the slain — Or among the slain. The meaning is, that it was in vain for the Israelites to trust in their own strength, or in the assistance of the Syrians, or any other allies, since it was from God alone they could obtain deliverance, without whose aid, or when he deserted them, they should all bow down under the yoke of the Assyrians. In the Septuagint, and vulgar Latin, these words are joined to the foregoing verse, to this sense: “Whither will this people flee for refuge to preserve themselves, that they may not bow down, or be subdued among the captives, or destroyed among the slain?”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE DAY OF VISITATION

Isa_10:3. And what will ye do in the day of visitation, &c.

These questions were addressed to men who were living lives of ungodliness, and who were rich and strong in the results of their iniquity. To such men I put the same questions. Do not resent them; answer them, at least to yourselves. All the warnings of the Bible are warnings of true and intelligent friendship, all its threatenings “are but the hoarse voice of God’s love, crying, Do thyself no harm!” (H. E. I., 604, 605). Let self-love, which has been your governing motive all through life, move you to consider, before it is too late, what you will do in “the day of visitation.” It will not always be with you as it is to-day.

1. There will probably come to you a “day of visitation” in the shape of AFFLICTION. You have known little of it, but, if life be prolonged, it will certainly come to you (Job_5:7; H. E. I., 47). In how many forms it may come upon you! Broken health—blasted reputation—poverty—bereavement: these things may come upon you singly, or in various combinations, or all together. Men quite as strong as you have been overtaken and overthrown by them (H. E. I., 3991, 4403–4406, 4975–4989). What will you do in the day of visitation and desolation? To whom will you flee for help? To man? You will then find what worldly friendship is worth (H. E. I., 2106–2112, 2131–2137). To God? But will He then hear you? He does not necessarily listen to men merely because they are in trouble (Jdg_10:14; Jer_7:16; Pro_1:26-31). It is the penitent’s suppliant only that God will hear and answer, and your very pain and terror may incapacitate you for the exercise of genuine repentance; that consists, not in dread of the consequences of sin, but in disgust of sin itself. As your friend I counsel you (Job_22:21-28). It is a mean and miserable thing to have recourse to God only when in trouble (H. E. I., 3877–3879).

II. But if your lot be different from that of all other men, and no day of sorrow ever dawns upon you, there will come to you a “day of visitation” in the shape of DEATH. That is certain! What will you do then? To whom and to what will you flee for help? Friends, wealth—what will be their power or value then? And “to whom will you leave your glory?” For you will have to leave it (Psa_49:16-17; Ecc_5:15; 1Ti_6:7). And when you have left it, what will become of you! Prepare for that which is at once so inevitable and so momentous (H. E. I., 1562–1566).

III. But that is not all. Beyond, there is a supreme “day of visitation,” the DAY OF JUDGMENT (H. E. I. 3054, 3055, 3061; P. D. 2100, 2103, 2106, 2107). You will be in that countless multitude which will stand before the “great white throne.” And you will not be overlooked or forgotten then; you will be judged according to the records in “the books” that will then be opened (Rom_14:12). Help—who can then render it to you? Your “glory”—it will have disappeared, or it may reappear as your shame. None of the things which secure for your consideration now will have a shadow of importance then. Do I speak to you as a foe or as a friend when I urge you to prepare for this inevitable meeting with God? (H. E. I., 3062–3066). The time to prepare is now. The way to prepare, you know; put into practice that which you have been taught. Then all these days of visitation will be transformed and stripped of their terrors. In the day of sorrow you will have a Friend who will know how to comfort you; in the day of death that Friend will be with you, upholding you in all that may be involved in that profound mystery; in the day of judgment that Friend will be the occupant of the throne, and He will speak to you, not words that will blast you for ever, but words that will fill you with eternal joy.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

10:3 The implied answer to Isaiah’s rhetorical questions was that there would be no one to turn to when God punished Judah. • Disaster came first from the distant land of Assyria and later from Babylon.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Your riches and authority, that they may be safe, and that ye may receive them again.

To wit, from Assyria.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

what will ye do--what way of escape will there be for you?

visitation--of God's wrath (Isa 26:14; Job 35:15; Hos 9:7).

from far--from Assyria.

leave . . . glory--rather, "deposit (for safekeeping) your wealth" [LOWTH]. So Psa 49:17.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(3) And what will ye do in the day of visitation . . .?—The question was not without a certain touch of irony. Had those corrupt judges asked themselves what they would do when the Supreme Judge should call them to account? Had they an ally who could protect them against Jehovah? Or had they found a hiding-place for the treasures which they had made their “glory”? Had they made a covenant with Hades and with death? (Isa_28:18).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. The unjust lawgivers are reminded that there is a day of revision, when they must answer to the Supreme Judge.

And what will ye do?] cf. Hos_9:5. day of visitation] cf. Hos_9:7; Mic_7:4; Jer_11:23; Jer_23:12, &c.

desolation] or, storm; the word is only employed here by Isaiah. The “storm” of invasion “comes from far”; cf. ch. Isa_5:26, Isa_30:27.

leave your glory] i.e. “your wealth”; Gen_31:1; Isa_61:6; Isa_66:12.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And what will ye do in the day of visitation,.... Not in a way of grace and mercy, but of wrath and anger, as the following clause explains it, when God should come and punish them for their sins; and so the Targum,

"what will ye do in the day that your sins shall be visited upon you?''

it designs the Babylonish captivity, as the next words show; the same phrase is used of the destruction of the Jews by the Romans, Luk 19:44,

and in the desolation which shall come from far? from Assyria, which was distant from the land of Judea: the word (h) for "desolation" signifies a storm, tumult, noise, and confusion; referring to what would be made by the Assyrian army, when it came upon them:

to whom will ye flee for help? Rezin king of Syria, their confederate, being destroyed; and Syria, with whom they were in alliance, now become their enemy, see Isa 9:11,

and where will ye leave your glory? either their high titles, and ensigns of honour, as princes, judges, and civil magistrates, which they should be stripped of; or rather their mammon, as Aben Ezra interprets it, their unrighteous mammon, which they got by perverting the judgment of the poor and needy, the widow and the fatherless, of which they gloried; and which now would be taken away from them, when they should go into captivity.

(h) "sub procella, quae a longinquo veniet", Cocceius; so the Targum renders it, "in tumult of tribulation".

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And what will ye do - The prophet here proceeds to denounce the judgment, or punishment, that would follow the crimes specified in the previous verses. That punishment was the invasion of the land by a foreign force. ‘What will ye do? To whom will you fly? What refuge will them be?’ Implying that the calamity would be so great that there would be no refuge, or escape.

In the day of visitation - The word “visitation” (פקדה peqûddâh) is used here in the sense of God’s coming to punish them for their sins; compare Job 31:14; Job 35:15; Isa 26:14; Eze 9:1. The idea is probably derived from that of a master of a family who comes to take account, or to investigate the conduct of his servants, and where the visitation, therefore, is one of reckoning and justice. So the idea is applied to God as designing to visit the wicked; that is, to punish them for their offences; compare Hos 9:7.

And in the desolation - The destruction, or overthrowing. The word used here - שׁואה shô'âh - usually denotes a storm, a tempest Pro 1:27; and then sudden destruction, or calamity, that sweeps along irresistibly like a tempest; Zep 1:15; Job 30:3, Job 30:14; Psa 35:8.

Which shall come from far - That is, from Assyria, Media, Babylonia. The sense is, ‘a furious storm of war is about to rage. To what refuge can you then flee? or where can you then find safety?’

Where will ye leave your glory - By the word “glory” here, some have understood the prophet as referring to their aged men, their princes and nobles, and as asking where they would find a safe place for them. But he probably means their “riches, wealth, magnificence.” Thus Psa 49:17 :

For when he dieth, he shall carry nothing away;

His glory shall not descebd after him.

See also Hos 9:2; Isa 66:12. The word “leave” here, is used in the sense “of deposit,” or commit for safe keeping; compare Job 39:14. ‘In the time of the invasion that shall come up like a tempest on the land, where will you deposit your property so that it shall be safe?’

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Afar. When Salmanasar shall come from Ninive to destroy Samaria, to punish the people for their idolatry (Calmet) and oppressions. (Haydock) --- Glory. Golden calves, (Osee viii. 5., and x. 5.) or possessions, chap. ix. 8.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

What will ye do to save yourselves? In the day of visitation: when I shall come to visit you in wrath, as the next words limit it, and as this phrase is oft used; although sometimes it signifies a visitation in mercy, as Luk 19:14, and elsewhere.

From far; from the Assyrians. This he adds, because the Israelites, having weakened the Jews, and being in amity with the Syrians their next neighbours, were secure.

To whom will ye flee for help? to the Syrians, as now you do? But they shall be destroyed together with you, as they were, 2Ki 16.

Where will you leave, to be kept safe for your use, and to be restored to you when you call for it, your glory? either,

1. Your power and authority, which now you so wickedly abuse; or,

2. Your wealth, got by injustice, as glory is taken, Gen 31:1; Psa 49:16,17, &c.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. Day of visitation — Jer_13:21. A coming inspection with a view of ascertaining the character of the case.

And in the desolation — In the sudden loud crash of ruin. Pro_1:27.

Come from far — But certainly and swiftly.

Where… leave… glory — So as to find it again. “Glory,” here, means that which is weighty and valuable: money, possessions, any thing placed on deposit for safety. The answer implied is, nowhere.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

What will ye do in the day of visitation? "The day of visitation" is the day when God reckons with his servants, and demands an account from each of the work done in his vineyard, being prepared to recompense the good and punish the bad. (comp. Hos_9:7) It is oftenest used in a bad sense because, unhappily, so many more are found to deserve punishment than reward. The desolation which shall come from far; rather, the crashing ruin (Cheyne). It is sudden, and complete destruction, rather than mere desolateness, that is threatened. Previous prophecies, especially Isa_7:17-20, had informed the Jews that it was to "come from far," "by them that were beyond the river." To whom will ye flee? The prophet speaks in bitter irony. Is there any one to whom ye can flee? any one who can protect you from the wrath of God? Ye well know there is no one. Where will ye leave your glory? With whom will ye deposit your riches, your magnificence, your jewels, your grand apparel? You cannot save them. They will all make to themselves wings, and "fly away like a bird". (Hos_9:11)

Ver. 3. God is man"s only sure Refuge in the day of calamity.

"God is our Refuge and Strength, a very present Help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof". (Psa_46:1-3) So sang the psalmist, and so Israel and Judah felt, so long as they clung to the worship of Jehovah, and served him, and strove to keep his laws. As their fidelity wavered, and they grew cold in his service, and allowed themselves to be attracted by the sensuous religions of the nations around them, their trust in Jehovah departed, and they could no longer look to him as a Refuge. Whither, then, should they look? Should it be to the gods of the nations? or to foreign alliances? or to their own strong arms and dauntless hearts?

I FALSE GODS NO SURE REFUGE. Ahaz at one time sacrificed to the gods Of Damascus which smote him", (2Ch_28:23) thinking to obtain help from them; but "they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel." Other kings of Judah and Israel trusted in Baal, or Chemosh, or Moloch, or Beltis, or Ashtoreth. But none found any of them a" sure refuge." Indeed, how should false gods help, when they are either fictions of the imagination, mere nonentities, or else evil spirits, rebels against the Almighty, cast down by him from heaven? If the former, they can have no power at all, for how should something come out of nothing? If the latter, they are powerless, at any rate against God, who has proved their inability to resist him, and could at any time annihilate them by a word.

II THE KINGS OF THE EARTH NO SURE REFUGE. Put not your trust in princes, nor in any child of man, for there is no help in them". (Psa_146:3) Hoshea trusted in Shebek of Egypt (So), Hezekiah in Tirhakah, Zedekiah in Pharaoh-Hophra (Apries); but all were equally disappointed. Even Ahaz obtained no real advantage from his appeal to Tiglath-Pileser, who "distressed him, but strengthened him not". (2Ch_28:20) Foreign aid is always a poor thing to trust to; for the foreigner necessarily consults mainly his own interest, which he may find to conflict with ours at any moment. Let all go well, and an obligation is incurred, which it may cost us more than we bargained for to repay. Let things go ill, and we experience perhaps the fate of the horse when he called in man"s aid against the stag. In the best case, foreign powers can help us only against man, not against God. They can never be a "sure refuge." "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?". (Isa_2:22)

III MEN"S OWN STRONG ARMS AND STOUT HEARTS NO SURE REFUGE. Better certainly to trust to these than to false gods or fickle princes. In many a strait, these will help us a long way. But let there come a time of serious trouble, of overpowering hostile force pressing upon a nation, or deep grief or dangerous sickness upon an individual, and their weakness and insufficiency is at once shown. In the one case, the strong man has met with a stronger, and all his struggles do but add to his sufferings. In the other, the heart and hands fail when the call is made on them. The stalwart frame is bowed down with grief or illness; the heart is "withered like grass", (Psa_102:4) or become "like wax that is melted". (Psa_22:14) Man discovers under these circumstances that he has no strength and "himself," and, unless he can find an external, refuge, is lost absolutely. Happy they who at such times can feel with David, The Lord is my Rock, and nay Fortress, and my Deliverer; nay God, nay Strength, in whom I will trust; my Buckler, and the Horn of nay salvation, and nay high Tower". (Psa_18:2) "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his Name"s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me". (Psa_23:1-4)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

From far - From the Assyrians. This he adds, because the Israelites, having weakened the Jews and being in amity with the Assyrians their next neighbours, were secure. Leave - To be kept safe for your use. Glory - Your wealth.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The wicked rulers are themselves addressed, and warned of an approaching crisis, when they must be deprived of all that they now glory in. “And (though you are now powerful and rich) what will ye do in the day of visitations and in the ruin (which) shall come from far (though all may appear safe at home)? To whom will ye flee for help, and where will ye leave your glory (for safe-keeping)?” The questions imply negation, as if he had said, you can do nothing to protect yourselves, there is no place of concealment for your glory. According to the usage of the Old Testament, the day of visitation is a time when God manifests His presence specially, whether in mercy or in wrath, but most frequently the latter. The word translated ruin originally signifies a noise or tumult, and is therefore peculiarly appropriate to the ruin caused by foreign invasions, such as those of the Assyrians and Babylonians, which appear to be alluded to. By glory we are to understand whatever they now boasted of and trusted in.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

What will you do on judgment day ... away?

Isaiah uses a question to scold those in Judah who harm the poor and weak people. AT: "You will be able to do nothing on judgment day ... away!" (See: Rhetorical Question)

judgment day

"the day when Yahweh comes to judge you" or "the day when Yahweh punishes you"

To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth?

Isaiah uses a question to scold those in Judah who harm the poor and weak people. AT: "You have nowhere to run for help, and you will have nowhere to hide your riches!" (See: Rhetorical Question)

Nothing remains, and you crouch

Possible meanings are 1) "None of your wealth remains as you crouch" or 2) "You can do nothing else but crouch."

you crouch among the prisoners or fall among the killed

"your enemies will either take you as a prisoner or will kill you"

In all these things, his anger does not subside

"Even though all these things have happened, he is still angry." See how you translated this in Isaiah 5:25.

his hand is still stretched out

Isaiah speaks as if Yahweh were a person about to hit another person with his fist. This is a metaphor for Yahweh punishing Israel. See how you translated this in Isaiah 5:25. AT: "he will still be ready to punish them" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

prison

Yahweh

anger

hand

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

for the day of visitation when the Holy One, blessed be He, visits upon you your iniquities.

and for the destruction Heb. וּלְשׁוֹאָה, an expression of destruction.

To whom will you flee for aid The Holy One, blessed be He, will afford you no aid.

and where will you leave all the riches you are accumulating from robbery, when you go into exile?

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

And what, etc. All this you have done, but what do you think to do in future, when the Lord will visit your iniquities?

כבודכם Your Glory. Your army.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.