Isaiah 10:19
in Isaiah 10The remaining trees of its forests will be so few that a child could count them.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child may write them.
KJV
And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.
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This verse in Isaiah 10
Commentary
6 notes on this verseAs to their small number, and they that remain of the trees, for Sennacherib literally fled with few, namely, with ten: you shall remain few in number, who before were as the stars of heaven for multitude (Deut 28:62).
This site's exposition
And the Light of Israel
on Isaiah 10:17-19
The Light of Israel becomes "a fire, and its Holy One a flame," the title turned against the invader. Assyria's host, pictured as forest, is consumed until a child could count the trees. The imagery prepares the next chapter, a stump left behind, out of which the Branch will grow.
This site's exposition
a child could count them
The image of the forest carries on from verse 18, and Barnes read the remaining trees as the few survivors of the Assyrian army. The king who boasted of gathering the earth is left with a number a child can reckon. Sennacherib went home to Nineveh, as 37:37 records.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 16 and following) Therefore, the Lord of hosts will send wasting sickness among his fat ones, and under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire. And the light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day. The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land the Lord will destroy, both soul and body, and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
And the rest of the trees ... - Keeping up still the image of a large and once dense forest, to which he had likened the Assyrian army. ‘The rest’ here means that which shall be left after the threatened judgment shall come upon them. That a child may write them - That a child shall be able to number them, or write their names; that is, they shall be very few.
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּשְׁאָ֥ר | ushear | and [the] remnant of | H7605 → | 26 times |
| עֵ֛ץ | ʾetz | [the] tree[s] of | H6086 → | 328 times |
| יַעְר֖וֹ | ya'ro | forest his | H3293 → | 59 times |
| מִסְפָּ֣ר | mispar | a number | H4557 → | 134 times |
| יִֽהְי֑וּ | yihyu | they will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| וְנַ֖עַר | venaar | and a child | H5288 → | 239 times |
| יִכְתְּבֵֽם׃ פ | yikhtevem | he will record them | H3789 → | 224 times |
וּשְׁאָ֥רand [the] remnant of
ushearH7605 →26 times
עֵ֛ץ[the] tree[s] of
ʾetzH6086 →328 times
יַעְר֖וֹforest his
ya'roH3293 →59 times
מִסְפָּ֣רa number
misparH4557 →134 times
יִֽהְי֑וּthey will be
yihyuH1961 →3559 times
וְנַ֖עַרand a child
venaarH5288 →239 times
יִכְתְּבֵֽם׃ פhe will record them
yikhtevemH3789 →224 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
Isaiah 37:36Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!
it leads to
- Isaiah 10:12
So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud…
- 2 Kings 19:35
And that very night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the…
- Isaiah 31:8
“Then Assyria will fall, but not by the sword of man; a sword will devour them, but not one made by mortals. They will flee before the sword, and their young men will be…
- 1 Thessalonians 5:2–3
For you are fully aware that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
- Isaiah 10:33–34
Behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts will lop off the branches with terrifying power. The tall trees will be cut down, the lofty ones will be felled.
- Isaiah 10:12
Through
Isaiah 21:17The remaining archers, the warriors of Kedar, will be few.” For the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.
it leads to
- Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
- Zechariah 1:6
But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? They repented and said, ‘Just as the LORD of Hosts purposed to do to us according…
- Matthew 24:35
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
- Numbers 23:19
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Isaiah
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Isaiah; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Isaiah.