For though your people, Israel, are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.
Parallel Translations
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For though your people, Israel, are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.
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For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
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For though thy people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them shall return; an extermination is determined, overflowing with righteousness.
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to Isaiah 10:22 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Romans 9:27-28 Isaiah cries concerning Israel, “If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant who will be saved; for He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth.”
- Isaiah 6:13 If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed, as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stump remains when they are cut down; so the holy seed is its stock.”
- Daniel 9:27 He will make a firm covenant with many for one week. In the middle of the week he will cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease. On the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate; and even to the full end, and that determined, wrath will be poured out on the desolate.”
- Romans 11:5-6 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
- Revelation 20:8 and he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
- Genesis 18:25 May it be far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?”
- 1 Kings 4:20 Judah and Israel were numerous as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry.
- Isaiah 6:11 Then I said, “Lord, how long?” He answered, “Until cities are waste without inhabitant, houses without man, the land becomes utterly waste,
- Isaiah 8:8 It will sweep onward into Judah. It will overflow and pass through. It will reach even to the neck. The stretching out of its wings will fill the width of your land, Immanuel.
- Isaiah 27:10-11 For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness. The calf will feed there, and there he will lie down, and consume its branches. When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.
- Isaiah 28:15-22 “Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and we are in agreement with Sheol. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it won’t come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood.’ ” Therefore the Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. He who believes shall not act hastily. I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place. Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it. As often as it passes through, it will seize you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be nothing but terror to understand the message.” For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in. For Yahweh will rise up as on Mount Perazim. He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his unusual work, and bring to pass his act, his extraordinary act. Now therefore don’t be scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, on the whole earth.
- Hosea 1:10 Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can’t be measured or counted; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’
- Acts 17:31 because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.”
- Romans 2:5 But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God;
- Romans 3:5-6 But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what will we say? Is God unrighteous who inflicts wrath? I speak like men do. May it never be! For then how will God judge the world?
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain This small number which seemed to be consumed, and…
This small number which seemed to be consumed, and yet according to God’s decree is saved, shall be sufficient to fill all the world with righteousness.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 10:22 For though thy people Israel be as…
Isa 10:22 For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, [yet] a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
Ver. 22. Yet a remnant of them shall return,] i.e., Shall be saved from Sennacherib, but especially from Satan, that old man slayer. {Rom 9:27; Rom 9:29; Rom 11:5} The greater part of the Jews were then cut off by the Assyrians; and so they are spiritually still by the evil spirits which hold them in their hardness of heart, and hinder them from embracing the Christian faith. But this befalleth them by God’s holy decree {Rom 9:27-28} and just judgment.
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The consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness,] i.e., The utter destruction of this perverse people, both temporal and spiritual, {Rom 9:27} for the generality of them, is not to be accounted cruelty, but overflowing righteousness. For God could not in justice but thus rigorously deal with them; and then for his promise sake to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, reserving a "remnant," show favour to them again.
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 Israel; or, O Israel; to whom by an apostrophe…
Israel; or, O Israel; to whom by an apostrophe he directeth his speech.
A remnant; or, a remnant only, as before; for that this is a threatening in respect of some, as well as a promise in respect of others, is evident from the rest of this and from the following verse.
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The consumption decreed shall overflow; the destruction of the people of Israel was already decreed or determined (as it is in the next verse) by the fixed counsel of God, and therefore must needs be executed, and like a deluge overflow them.
With righteousness, as this word is rendered, Rom 9:28; the preposition in or with being here understood, as it is every where. And this is added, to show, that although this judgment of God may seem very severe, yet it is most just, not only by the laws of strict and rigid justice, but even by the rules of equity and clemency, as this word oft signifies, inasmuch as he hath spared a considerable remnant of them, when he might have destroyed, them utterly. And so this word is added as a reason why a remnant, and why but a remnant, should return, because God would both glorify his justice, and manifest his mercy. And in this mixed sense the apostle seems to expound this place, Rom 9:27,28.
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 For the Lord God of hosts shall make a…
For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption,.... Not of the land of Judea, as at the destruction of Jerusalem; but the meaning is, that he that is Lord of all, who does what he pleases in the armies above and below, will execute and accomplish a precise and absolute decree of his, concerning the salvation of the remnant of his people; which is his decree of election, and that standing sure, not upon the foot of works, but his own sovereign will: hence their salvation is sure and certain, and not precarious;
even determined, in the midst of all the land; that is, the determined decree should be executed in the several parts of the land of Judea, where this remnant was; for which reason the Gospel was preached in the several cities of Judah, in order to accomplish it, both by Christ and his apostles.
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 A remnant - Or, a remnant only. The consumption…
A remnant - Or, a remnant only. The consumption - The destruction of Israel was already decreed by the fixed counsel of God, and therefore must needs be executed, and like a deluge overflow them. Righteousness - With justice, and yet with clemency, inasmuch as he has spared a considerable remnant of them, when he might have destroyed them utterly.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 22. For though thy people Israel] I have…
Verse 22. For though thy people Israel] I have endeavoured to keep to the letter of the text as nearly as I can in this obscure passage; but it is remarkable that neither the Septuagint, nor St. Paul, Ro 9:28, who, except in a few words of no great importance, follows them nearly in this place, nor any one of the ancient Versions, take any notice of the word שטף shoteph, overflowing; which seems to give an idea not easily reconcilable with those with which it is here joined. I. S. Maerlius (Schol. Philolog. ad Selecta S. Cod. loca) conjectures that the two last letters of this word are by mistake transposed, and that the true reading is שפט shophet, judging, with strict justice. The Septuagint might think this sufficiently expressed by εν δικαιοσυνη, in righteousness. One MS., with St. Paul and Septuagint Alex., omits בו bo in Isa 10:22; sixty-nine of Kennicott's and seventeen of De Rossi's MSS. and eight editions, omit כל col, all, in Isa 10:23; and so St. Paul, Ro 9:28.
The learned Dr. Bagot, dean of Christ Church, Oxford, afterwards Bishop of Bristol and Norwich, in some observations on this place, which he has been so kind as to communicate to me, and which will appear in their proper light when he himself shall give them to the public, renders the word כליון kilayon by accomplishment, and makes it refer to the predictions of Moses; the blessing and the curse which he laid before the people, both conditional, and depending on their future conduct. They had by their disobedience incurred those judgments which were now to be fully executed upon them. His translation is, The accomplishment determined overflows with justice; for it is accomplished, and that which is determined the Lord God of hosts doeth in the midst of the land. - L. Some think that the words might be paraphrased thus: The determined destruction of the Jews shall overflow with righteousness, (צדקה tsedakah,) justification, the consequence of the Gospel of Christ being preached and believed on in the world. After the destruction of Jerusalem this word or doctrine of the Lord had free course, - did run, and was glorified.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For though ... - In this verse, and in…
For though ... - In this verse, and in Isa 10:23. the prophet expresses positively the idea that “but” a remnant of the people should be preserved amidst the calamities. He had said Isa 10:20-21, that a remnant should return to God. He now carries forward the idea, and states that only a remnant should be preserved out of the multitude, however great it was. Admitting that the number was then very great, yet the great mass of the nation would be cut off, and only a small portion would remain.
Thy people Israel - Or rather, ‘thy people, O Israel,’ making it a direct address to the Jews, rather than to God.
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Be as the sand of the sea - The sands of the sea cannot be numbered, and hence, the expression is used in the Bible to denote a number indefinitely great: Psa 119:18; Gen 22:17; Gen 41:49; Jos 11:4; Jdg 7:12; 1Sa 13:5, ...
Yet a remnant - The word “yet” has been supplied by the translators, and evidently obscures the sense. The idea is, that a remnant only - a very small portion of the whole, should be preserved. Though they were exceedingly numerous as a nation, yet the mass of the nation would be cut off, or carried into captivity, and only a few would be left.
Shall return - That is, shall be saved from destruction, and return by repentance unto God, Isa 10:21. Or, if it has reference to the approaching captivity of the nation, it means that but a few of them would return from captivity to the land of their fathers.
The consumption - The general sense of this is plain. The prophet is giving a reason why only a few of them would return, and he says, that the judgment which God had determined on was inevitable, and would overflow the land in justice. As God had determined this, their numbers availed nothing, but the consumption would be certainly accomplished. The word “consumption” כליון kilāyôn from כלה kâlâh to complete, to finish, to waste away, vanish, disappear) denotes a languishing, or wasting away, as in disease; and then “destruction,” or that which “completes” life and prosperity. It denotes such a series of judgments as would be a “completion” of the national prosperity, or as should terminate it entirely.
Decreed - צריץ chârı̂yts. The word used here is derived from חרץ chârats, to sharpen, or bring to a point; to rend, tear, lacerate; to be quick, active, diligent; and then to decide, determine, decree; because that which is decreed is brought to a point, or issue. - “Taylor.” It evidently means here, that it was fixed upon or decreed in the mind of God, and that being thus decreed, it must certainly take place.
Shall overflow - שׁטף shoṭēph. This word is usually applied to an inundation, when a stream rises above its banks and overflows the adjacent land; Isa 30:28; Isa 66:12; Psa 78:20. Here it means evidently, that the threatened judgment would spread like an overflowing river through the land, and would accomplish the devastation which God had determined.
With righteousness - With justice, or in the infliction of justice. justice would abound or overflow, and the consequence would be, that the nation would be desolated.
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 Converted. This was partly verified in the children of…
Converted. This was partly verified in the children of Israel who remained after the devastations of the Assyrians, in the time of king Ezechias: and partly in the conversion of a remnant of the Jews to the faith of Christ. (Challoner) --- 4 Kings xviii. 3., and Romans ix. 27. The apostle follows the Septuagint, (Calmet) "and if the people of Israel be." --- Converted. Septuagint, "saved, for perfecting the word and abridging in justice. Because God, the Lord of hosts, will make an abridged word in the universe." (Haydock) --- As the apostle has explained this passage, "every other interpretation must cease." (St. Jerome) --- The few who were converted under Ezechias were a figure of those who should embrace the faith of Christ. (Calmet) --- Consumption. That is, the number of them cut short, and reduced to few, shall flourish in the abundance of justice. (Challoner) --- Hebrew, "the desolation is decreed, justice shall overflow." God will treat all with rigour, Nahum i. 8. The incredulous Jews shall be rejected, ver. 23., and Romans ix.
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 yet--rather in the sense in which Paul quotes it…
yet--rather in the sense in which Paul quotes it (Rom 9:27), "Though Israel be now numerous as the sand, a remnant only of them shall return"--the great majority shall perish. The reason is added, Because "the consumption (fully completed destruction) is decreed (literally, decided on, brought to an issue), it overfloweth (Isa 30:28; Isa 8:8) with justice"; that is, the infliction of just punishment (Isa 5:16) [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.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 22. The use of the word remnant, though connected…
22. The use of the word remnant, though connected with a threatening, is attended with promise.
Though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea — So numerous as to be impossible to count them, yet only a “remnant” shall return — This is the threatening. But they, the few, shall certainly “return,” and in penitence. This is the promise. A visible Church shall remain, even on the plains of Babylon. And St. Paul (Rom_11:12) reveals a mystery contained in this promise, namely, its enlargement in the upheaval of the Gentile world, whose destiny was so long unexplained. Israel’s abasement becomes thus the occasion of the riches of the Gentiles. Israel revolts. Its consumption is decreed — determined on in the divine mind — and through the fidelity of the few a great world of new people shall be brought in. The consumption is the result of an overflow with righteousness.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 22. “For though thy population, O Israel, should be…
22. “For though thy population, O Israel, should be as the sand of the sea, (only) a remnant in it shall turn (and be saved).” (Cf. Hos_1:10; Gen_22:17.)
the consumption decreed … righteousness] Render: extermination is decreed overflowing in righteousness. The “extermination” is the judgment which reduces the teeming population of Israel to a mere remnant; this will be an overwhelming manifestation of Jehovah’s judicial righteousness (see on ch. Isa_1:27). It seems impossible to take this clause in a consolatory sense, as if the verb “decreed” expressed the limitation fixed for the judgment. The very similar phraseology of the next verse, compared with ch. Isa_28:22, shews that the threatening aspect of the decree is prominent.
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Isa_10:23. The verse reads: For an extermination and a decisive work is the Lord Jehovah of Hosts about to execute in the midst of the whole earth (or land): cf. ch. Isa_28:22. The phrase “extermination and decisive work” is repeated in Dan_9:27 (cf. Dan_11:36). The word for “decisive” is from the verb rendered “decreed” in last verse.
Isa_10:24-27. In view of this ultimate prospect, the prophet turns with a message of consolation to the believing kernel of the nation.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (22) Though thy people Israel be as the sand…
(22) Though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea.—The word “remnant” has, however, its aspect of severity as well as of promise. Men are not to expect that they, the hypocrites and evil-doers, shall escape their punishment. The promise of restoration is for the remnant only. (Comp. St. Paul’s application of the text in Rom_9:27-28).
The consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.—Literally, a finished (or final) work, decisive, overflowing with righteousness. A like phrase meets us again in Isa_28:22; Dan_9:27. The “finished work” is that of God’s judgment, and it “overflows with righteousness” at once punitive and corrective.
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 Vers. 22, 23. These verses are exegetical of the…
Vers. 22, 23. These verses are exegetical of the term "remnant," and bring out its full force. The promise had been made to Abraham that his seed should be "like the sand of the sea for multitude". (Gen_22:17) This promise had been fulfilled; (1Ki_4:20) but now the sins of the people would produce a reversal of it. It would be a remnant, and only a remnant, of the nation that would escape. Judah would have to make a fresh start as from a new beginning. (see Ezr_2:64)
The consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness; rather, the consummation (Dan_9:27) determined on is one that overflows with righteousness. (comp. Isa_28:22) The prophet means that God is about to visit the land in such a spirit of severe justice that it cannot be expected that more than a remnant will survive the awful visitation.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 your people, Israel, are
your people, Israel, are
Here "your" is singular. Possible interpretations are 1) God is speaking to Isaiah and "your" refers to Isaiah. AT: "your people Israel are" or 2) Isaiah or God is speaking to the nation of Israel and "your" refers to the nation. AT: "your people, O Israel, are" (See: Forms of You)
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are like the sand of the seashore
This emphasizes that there were a great number of people of Israel. AT: "are too many to count, like the sand on the seashore" (See: Simile)
Destruction is decreed
This can be stated in active form. AT: "Yahweh has decreed that he will destroy most of those who live in Israel" (See: Active or Passive and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
as overflowing righteousness demands
This can be translated as a new sentence. AT: "This must be done for the sake of perfect righteousness" or "Yahweh must do this because he is completely righteous"
carry out the destruction determined throughout the land
This can be translated in active form. Possible meanings are 1) AT: "destroy everything in the land just as he has determined to do" or 2) AT: "destroy the people in the land just as he has determined to do." (See: Active or Passive)
determined
"decided"
translationWords
people of God
Israel
remnant
decree
righteous
lord
Yahweh of hosts
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 10:22 God had similarly promised descendants as numerous as…
10:22 God had similarly promised descendants as numerous as the sand of the seashore to Abraham (Gen 22:17). • rightly decided to destroy: God’s decision was a just response to the people’s persistent wickedness.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.