The remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child could write their number.
Parallel Translations
-
The remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child could write their number.
-
And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.
-
And the remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them down.
Cross-references (2)
Passages linked to Isaiah 10:19 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 21:17 and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, will be few; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has spoken it.”
- Isaiah 37:36 Then Yahweh’s angel went out and struck one hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 10:19 And the rest of the trees of…
Isa 10:19 And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.
Ver. 19. And the rest of the trees … shall be few.] Heb., A number; methe mispar, a poor few, and inconsiderable company, that may soon be told.
Read full note →
That a child may write them.] The Hebrews say that Sennacherib escaped home with ten only in his company.
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.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The rest of the trees of his forest; the…
The rest of the trees of his forest; the remainders of that mighty host.
That a child may write them; that they may be easily numbered by the meanest accountant. A child may be their muster-master.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And it shall come to pass in that day,....…
And it shall come to pass in that day,.... Here begins a prophecy relating to the people of Israel, and concerns things that should befall them after the destruction of the Babylonish monarchy, which after Nebuchadnezzar did not last long; there were but two kings after him mentioned in Scripture, Evilmerodach, and Belshazzar; so that its tall trees, its kings, were very few, so few that a child might count them; and what is after said is for the comfort of that people, and seems to refer to the times of the Gospel, as appears by some words in the context cited by the Apostle Paul:
that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob; who should return from the Babylonish captivity, and be settled in their own land:
Read full note →
shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; either on the kings of Egypt, who were originally their oppressors, and in whom they had been so foolish as to put their trust and confidence, they being but a broken staff and reed, Isa 30:2 or on the king of Assyria, in the time of Ahaz, who made him pay tribute, and afterwards fought against him:
but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth; that is, upon Christ, the Lord of all, and King of saints; the Lord their righteousness, and from whom they have their holiness: to stay or lean on him is expressive of faith in him, of reliance and dependence on him, and trust in him; which is done in sincerity and uprightness of soul, unfeigned and without dissimulation; not in profession only, but in reality, and as nakedly revealed in the Gospel, without type and figure; for this respects Gospel times, in which the shadows of the law are gone, and Christ, as the object of faith, appears unveiled, being come a High Priest of good things to come. The Targum is they
"shall no more lean on the people whom they served; but they shall lean upon the Word of the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth;''
that is, on the essential Word, the Messiah: this was the case of a few of them, a remnant according to the election of grace, as the following words show.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The rest - The remainder of that mighty host.
The rest - The remainder of that mighty host.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain And the rest of the trees ... - Keeping…
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. A child can number or count but few; yet the number of those who would be left, would be so very small that even a child could count them with ease. It is probable that a few of the army of Sennacherib escaped (see the note at Isa 37:37); and compared with the whole army, the remnant might bear a striking resemblance to the few decaying trees of a once magnificent forest of cedars.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain
CHAPTER X.
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain rest--those who shall survive the destruction of the host.
rest--those who shall survive the destruction of the host.
his forest--same image as in Isa 10:18, for the once dense army.
Read full note →
child . . . write--so few that a child might count them.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 19. And the rest of the trees — The…
19. And the rest of the trees — The few men that are left after the consumption of the army, the “forest” figure being still kept up.
That a child may write them — Or, number them. That is, the “trees” are so few as scarcely to exceed the digits; in poetry not an extravagant expression.
Read full note →
Thus much concerning the divine judgments on Assyria in return for its selfish part in the punishments of Israel, but probably a prophetic description in the gross; that is, genuine account of all punishments that ever came on the great world-kingdom in the East. The picture is seen in spaces, with its nearer parts distinct, but its remoter, shaded, yet clear enough for a full and complete end, or limit, to be observed. Still other views of this picture are to be given, and many details presented.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (19) And the rest of the trees of his…
(19) And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few.—To number the host of an army, to count killed and wounded after a battle, was commonly the work of the royal scribe, who appears so often as in that employment in Assyrian sculptures. Here the survivors (the “remnant” as before) were to be so few (literally, a number) that even the boy who could hardly count but on his fingers would be skilled enough to number them.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The rest of the trees; i.e. these that escape…
The rest of the trees; i.e. these that escape the burning shall be few; literally, a number; i.e. so few that their number shall be apparent.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.