Isaiah 10:3
in Isaiah 10What will you do on the day of reckoning when devastation comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
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?
KJV
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?
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This verse in Isaiah 10
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
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.
This site's exposition
Woe to those who enact
on Isaiah 10:1-4
The woe turns to Judah's courts, those who "enact unjust statutes," making "widows their prey and orphans their plunder" under color of law. The judges are asked what they will do "on the day of reckoning when devastation comes from afar," a courtroom question turned on themselves.
This site's exposition
the day of reckoning
Jerome rendered the day of reckoning as a visitation. Barnes identified the devastation from afar as the Assyrian invasion that answers the crimes of verses 1 and 2. The three questions leave the rulers nowhere to store the wealth they took from the poor.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
A commentator
Gregory of NazianzusON HIS FATHER'S SILENCE, ORATION 16:8 · Written before 390.
proposed
"What shall we do in the day of visitation?" One of the prophets terrifies me [with this question], whether that of the righteous sentence of God against us or that upon the mountains and hills, of which we have heard. Whatever and whenever it may be, he will reason with us and oppose us and set before us those bitter accusers, which are our sins, contrasting our wrongdoings with our benefits, striking thought with thought, scrutinizing action with action and calling us to account for the image that has been blurred and spoiled by wickedness. He will finally lead us away self-convicted and self-condemned, no longer able to say that we are being unjustly treated—a thought that is able even here sometimes to console in their condemnation those who are suffering.
[Christ] said to Peter, the prince of the apostles, "Simon, [son] of John, do you love me more than these?" He answered, "Lord, you know I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs." He asked him a second time, "Simon [son] of John, …
"What will you do on the day of visitation and the calamity that comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your glory?" Those who are asked what they will do, when the day of either captivity or judgment comes, and the calamity from afar, which was foretold long before. To whom, he says, will you flee for help, when you offend God, who is the true helper, and where will you leave your glory?
The Medieval Church1 voice
What will you do? Here he threatens punishment, and first, he takes away the remedy of escape. And this is threefold: confidence in their own power: what will you do in the day of visitation, and of the calamity which comes from afar, as to …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And what will ye do in the day of visitation,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
If our souls be our glory, as they ought to be, and we make them our chief care, we know where to leave them, and into whose hands to commit them, even those of a faithful Creator. It concerns us all seriously to consider what we shall do in the day of visitation, in a day of affliction, in the day of death and judgment, and to provide that we may do well.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
what will ye do--what way of escape will there be for you? visitation--of God's wrath (Isa 26:14; Ho 9:7). from far--from Assyria. leave . . . glory--rather, "deposit (for safekeeping) your wealth" [LOWTH].
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּמַֽה־ | umah- | and what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| תַּעֲשׂוּ֙ | taasu | will you do | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| לְי֣וֹם | leyom | to [the] day of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| פְּקֻדָּ֔ה | pekudah | punishment | H6486 → | 32 times |
| וּלְשׁוֹאָ֖ה | uleshoah | and to [the] devastation | H7722 → | |
| מִמֶּרְחָ֣ק | mimerchak | [which] from a distance | H4801 → | 18 times |
| תָּב֑וֹא | tavo' | it will come | H935 → | 2568 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | to | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| מִי֙ | mi | whom? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| תָּנ֣וּסוּ | tanusu | will you flee | H5127 → | 159 times |
| לְעֶזְרָ֔ה | leezrah | for help | H5833 → | 26 times |
| וְאָ֥נָה | veanah | and where? | H575 → | |
| תַעַזְב֖וּ | taazvu | will you leave | H5800 → | 215 times |
| כְּבוֹדְכֶֽם׃ | kevodkhem | abundance your | H3519 → | 200 times |
וּמַֽה־and what?
umah-H4100 →752 times
תַּעֲשׂוּ֙will you do
taasuH6213 →2628 times
לְי֣וֹםto [the] day of
leyomH3117 →2304 times
פְּקֻדָּ֔הpunishment
pekudahH6486 →32 times
וּלְשׁוֹאָ֖הand to [the] devastation
uleshoahH7722 →
מִמֶּרְחָ֣ק[which] from a distance
mimerchakH4801 →18 times
תָּב֑וֹאit will come
tavo'H935 →2568 times
עַל־to
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
מִי֙whom?
miH4310 →423 times
תָּנ֣וּסוּwill you flee
tanusuH5127 →159 times
לְעֶזְרָ֔הfor help
leezrahH5833 →26 times
וְאָ֥נָהand where?
veanahH575 →
תַעַזְב֖וּwill you leave
taazvuH5800 →215 times
כְּבוֹדְכֶֽם׃abundance your
kevodkhemH3519 →200 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Proverbs 11:4Riches are worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness brings deliverance from death.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 7:19
They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will seem unclean. Their silver and gold cannot save them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Zephaniah 1:18
Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the Day of the LORD’s wrath. The whole earth will be consumed by the fire of His jealousy.” For indeed, He…
- Proverbs 10:2
Ill-gotten treasures profit nothing, but righteousness brings deliverance from death.
- Genesis 7:1
Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.
- 1 Timothy 4:8
For physical exercise is of limited value, but godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for the present life and for the one to come.
- Ezekiel 7:19
Through
Luke 19:44They will level you to the ground—you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”
it leads to
- Luke 13:34–35
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you…
- Luke 21:6
“As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
- Luke 13:34–35
Through
Zephaniah 1:18Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the Day of the LORD’s wrath. The whole earth will be consumed by the fire of His jealousy.” For indeed, He…
it leads to
- Zephaniah 3:8
Therefore wait for Me,” declares the LORD, “until the day I rise to testify. For My decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them My indignation—all My burning anger.…
- Zephaniah 3:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Gregory of Nazianzus, ON HIS FATHER'S SILENCE, ORATION 16:8; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Oresiesis-Heru-sa Ast, THE TESTAMENT OF HORSIESI 18 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.