Isaiah 10:4

Isa 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.

Ver. 4. Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners,] i.e., Without any fault of mine. {Hos 13:9} Or, as some render it, Ne corruat inter vinctos, et inter occisos cadant; that it, your glory, should not bow down under the prisoners, and they fall under the slain; i.e., that ye be not some of you captivated, and others slain by the enemy. And yet behold a worse matter.

For all this his anger is not turned away.] Endless torments will follow, unless ye prevent them by repentance, and all your present sufferings are nothing else but a typical hell. {a} Ecce quot mala a contemptu Dei proveniunt.

{a} Hac oratione vir sanctus impios crueatat, et vulaerat. - Osor.

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.

Because they have forsaken me, some shall go into captivity, and the rest shall be slain.

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

Without me--not having Me to "flee to" (Isa 10:3).

bow down--Bereft of strength they shall fall; or else, they shall lie down fettered.

under . . . under--rather, "among" (literally, "in the place of") [HORSLEY]. The "under" may be, however, explained, "trodden under the (feet of the) prisoners going into captivity," and "overwhelmed under the heaps of slain on the battlefield" [MAURER].

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

Verse 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 Ho 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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(4) Without me they shall bow down . . .—The Hebrew text is obscure, but these words were probably intended as the answer to the taunting question that had preceded them. Dropping the direct address, and passing to the third person, the prophet seems to say as with a kind of ominous “aside,” “No, there is no ally, no hiding-place but this, except they bow down among the captives or fall among the slain.” Exile or death, that was their only alternative. When that sentence has been uttered, the doom-bell, as we have called it, “For all this . . .” tolls once more. If we adopt the Authorised version we have the same fact asserted, with the suggested thought that there was a refuge to be found in God.

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

4. Without me … slain] This clause is very difficult. The easiest explanation perhaps is to take it as the answer to the questions of Isa_10:3 : (they can do nothing) except crouch under the captives and fall under the slain. Another is “Except one (here and there) crouch among captives, they must fell under the slain.” Objections to both occur readily enough to anyone who reads the Hebrew, especially the abrupt changes from singular to plural. An ingenious conjecture of Lagarde’s gives the sense “Beltis crouches, Osiris is broken (חַת אֹסִיר כֵּלְתִּי כֹּרַעַת cf. Isa_46:1; Jer_50:2), they fall, &c.”; i.e. the heathen gods shall be unable to give protection to their votaries. But there is no evidence that Egyptian deities (Osiris) were worshipped in Israel in Isaiah’s time; and in any case their sudden introduction here would be surprising.

his hand is stretched out still] See on ch. Isa_5:25 ff.

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.

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 Isa 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 (i) 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 Isa 10:1 seem more properly to belong to the preceding chapter Isa 9:1, and this should begin with the next verse Isa 10:5.

(i) Ebr. Concord. Part. p. 201, 771.

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

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 them, and that without him, that is, deprived of his aid, they would be destroyed.

They shall bow down - They shall be subdued, as armies are that are taken captive.

Under the prisoners - That is, under the “condition” of prisoners; or as prisoner. Some understand it to mean, that they should bear down “in the place of prisoners;” that is, in prison, But it evidently means, simply, that they should be captives.

They shall fall under the slain - They shall be slain. Gesenius renders it, “‘Among the prisoners, and “among” the slain.’” The Chaldee reads it, ‘You shall be east into chains out of your own land, and beyond your own cities you shall be cast out slain.’ Vitringa supposes that the prophet, in this verse, refers to the custom, among the ancients, of placing prisoners in war under a yoke of wood to indicate their captivity. That such a custom obtained, there can be no doubt; but it is not probable that Isaiah refers to it here. The simple idea is, that many of them should be taken captive, and many of them slain. This prediction was fulfilled in the invasion of Tiglath-pileser; 2 Kings 15; 16.

For all this - Notwithstanding these calamities. The cup of punishment is not filled by these, but the divine judgment shall still be poured out further upon the nation. The anger of God shall not be fully expressed by these minor inflictions of his wrath, but his hand shall continue to be stretched out until the whole nation shall be overwhelmed and ruined; see the note at Isa 10:12.

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

Without me they shall bow down: the words thus translated seem to contain an answer to the foregoing questions: In vain do you seek for a refuge and help from others; for without me, without my favour and help which you have forfeited, and do not seek to recover, and which I shall withdraw from you, or because you are without me, or forsaken by me,

you shall bow down, notwithstanding all your succours. In the Hebrew here is a change of the person and number, which is very usual in prophetical writings. The LXX., and some others, join these words to the foregoing verse, and translate them thus, that you may not bow down: so the sense of the place is, What will you do to prevent your captivity or slaughter? And it is true, that the first word is elsewhere taken for a negative particle. But the former translation seems more genuine.

Under the prisoners; or rather, in the place (as this particle signifies, and is rendered by interpreters, Gen 30:2; 50:19; Exo 16:29; Jos 5:8, and elsewhere) of the prisoners, or among the prisoners; and so in the next clause, among or in the place of the slain.

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

4. Without me — Apart from my help. The moral is, Leave all else, and flee to me. There is no other door to safety.

They shall bow down — Sinking for very shame and self-reproach lower than other captives, or even to lie beneath the slain in war. The refrain is again chanted, and the series of strophes pointing to the captivity of Israel closes. But black as the prophecy is for Israel, it becomes blacker for Assyria, its foe and captor, in the next piece recited by Isaiah. However dark the shades settle on Israel — God’s own chosen but erring ones — somehow they retire, measurably in virtue of a better few still preserved among them.

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

Without me. That this is a possible rendering of the word used seems proved by Hos_13:4. But here it scarcely suits the context. God does not speak directly, in the first person, elsewhere in the entire prophecy, (Isa_9:8-21; Isa_10:1-4) but is spoken of in the third person throughout, as even in the present verse, where we have "his anger," "his hand." It is better, therefore, to give the word its ordinary meaning "except." Have they anywhere to flee to, unless they shall crouch amid the captives that are being carried off, or fall amid the slain? In other words, there is no escape for them; they must either submit to captivity or death. For all this, etc. Even when the two kingdoms were destroyed, and the captivity of both was complete, God"s wrath was not fully appeased, his anger was not wholly turned away. Both peoples suffered grievous things in their captivity, as appears from the Book of Daniel (Isa 3:, Isa_3:6) and other places. It took seventy years for God"s anger to be appeased in the case of Judah, (2Ch_36:21) while in the case of Israel it was never appeased. Crushed beneath the iron heel of their conquerors, Israel ceased to exist as a nation.

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

Without me - Without my favour and help, which you have forfeited. Shall bow down - Notwithstanding all your succors.

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

“It (your glory) does not bow beneath the prisoners, and (yet) they shall fall beneath the slain” (i.e., if they do not bow under the captives they shall fall under the slain), or, such of them as do not bow, etc. ‘Beneath’ may either be strictly understood as meaning under their feet, or simply among them. The most natural interpretation of this difficult and much disputed verse is that which explains it as a solemn declaration that their glory and especially their noble chiefs must either go into captivity or fall in battle. The concluding formula (for all this his wrath is not turned back and still his hand is stretched out) again suggests the fearful thought that all these accumulated judgments would be insufficient to arrest the progress of the sinner or appease the wrath of God.

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

Where he never knelt In the place where none of you ever knelt or lay down, where there was no kneeling to lie down, in that place you shall be prisoners, i.e., to say, outside of your land you shall be imprisoned, and so did Jonathan render: Outside of your land you shall be bound as prisoners.

in that place Heb. תַּחַת, a place. Comp. (Exodus 16:29) “Let every man stay in his place (תַּחְתָּיו).”

and in that place they will fall slain Heb. וְתַחַתהֲרוּגִים יִפֹּלוּ, and in that place they will fall slain.

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.

All this you have done. בלתי וגו׳ Except they bow down, etc. None will escape except those that will bow down amongst the captives, or throw themselves amongst the slain, as if they were slain with them.

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.