Behold, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will lop the boughs with terror. The tall will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low.
Parallel Translations
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Behold, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will lop the boughs with terror. The tall will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low.
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Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.
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Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the boughs with terror; and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the lofty shall be laid low.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Isaiah 10:33 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Amos 2:9 Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
- Isaiah 37:38 As he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.
- Daniel 4:37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven; for all his works are truth, and his ways justice; and those who walk in pride he is able to abase.
- 2 Kings 19:21-37 This is the word that Yahweh has spoken concerning him: ‘The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you. Whom have you defied and blasphemed? Against whom have you exalted your voice and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel! By your messengers, you have defied the Lord, and have said, “With the multitude of my chariots, I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon, and I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees; and I will enter into his farthest lodging place, the forest of his fruitful field. I have dug and drunk strange waters, and I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt with the sole of my feet.” Haven’t you heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps. Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like grain blasted before it has grown up. But I know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against me. Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose, and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came.’ “This will be the sign to you: This year, you will eat that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from that; and in the third year sow, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat its fruit. The remnant that has escaped of the house of Judah will again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go out, and out of Mount Zion those who shall escape. Yahweh’s zeal will perform this. “Therefore Yahweh says concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there. He will not come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it. He will return the same way that he came, and he will not come to this city,’ says Yahweh. ‘For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.’ ” That night, Yahweh’s angel went out, and struck one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and lived at Nineveh. As he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Esar Haddon his son reigned in his place.
- 2 Chronicles 32:21 Yahweh sent an angel, who cut off all the mighty men of valor, and the leaders and captains, in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. When he had come into the house of his god, those who came out of his own body killed him there with the sword.
- Job 40:11-12 Pour out the fury of your anger. Look at everyone who is proud, and bring him low. Look at everyone who is proud, and humble him. Crush the wicked in their place.
- Isaiah 2:11-17 The lofty looks of man will be brought low, the arrogance of men will be bowed down, and Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day. For there will be a day of Yahweh of Armies for all that is proud and arrogant, and for all that is lifted up; and it shall be brought low: for all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, for all the oaks of Bashan, for all the high mountains, for all the hills that are lifted up, for every lofty tower, for every fortified wall, for all the ships of Tarshish, and for all pleasant imagery. The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the arrogance of men shall be brought low; and Yahweh alone shall be exalted in that day.
- Isaiah 10:16-19 Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire. The light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day. He will consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body. It will be as when a standard bearer faints. The remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child could write their number.
- Isaiah 37:24-36 By your servants, you have defied the Lord, and have said, “With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees. I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field. I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt.” “ ‘Have you not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it in ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to destroy fortified cities, turning them into ruinous heaps. Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like a field before its crop has grown. But I know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against me. Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came. “ ‘This shall be the sign to you. You will eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs from it; and in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. The remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah will again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem a remnant will go out, and survivors will escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this.’ “Therefore Yahweh says concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither will he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it. He will return the way that he came, and he won’t come to this city,’ says Yahweh. ‘For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.’ ” 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.
- Luke 14:11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Fear and destruction shall come upon Judah for the…
Fear and destruction shall come upon Judah for the princes and the people shall be all led away captives.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 10:33 Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts,…
Isa 10:33 Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature [shall be] hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled.
Ver. 33. Behold, the Lord shall lop the bough,] i.e., Those of greatest state and stature in the Assyrian army.
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And the haughty shall be humbled.] See Isa 2:11; Isa 2:17.
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 bough; the top bough, Sennacherib; or,
The bough; the top bough, Sennacherib; or,
the boughs, his valiant soldiers or commanders of his army, which he compareth to a forest, Isa 10:18,34.
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With terror; with a most terrible and amazing stroke by an angel.
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 he shall cut down the thickets of the…
And he shall cut down the thickets of the forest with iron,.... The multitude of the common soldiers, the whole body of the army, by means of one of his angels, that excel in strength, for which he is compared to "iron"; and which is explained in the next clause:
and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one; the Assyrian army is compared to the forest of Lebanon, for the multitude of trees in it, and the tallness of its cedars, it abounding not only with common soldiers, but with great men; so it is compared to a forest, and to Carmel, or a fruitful field, in Isa 10:18 and the Assyrian monarch is said to be a cedar in Lebanon, Eze 31:3 which fell by the hands of one of the mighty angels, Kg2 19:35 some, because of this last clause, think that this and the preceding verse Isa 10:33 are to be understood of the calamities that should come upon the Jews, at the time of the Babylonish captivity; for though Sennacherib should stop at Nob; and proceed no further, however should not be able to take Jerusalem, yet hereafter a successor of his should; and, according to this sense, by the "bough" lopped may be meant Jeconiah, or Zedekiah king of Judah; by the "high ones of stature", and the "haughty" ones, his children, the princes of the blood, and the nobles of the land; and by the "thickets of the forest", the common people, who were either killed or carried captive; and by Lebanon, the temple, Zac 11:1 and by the "mighty one", Nebuchadnezzar that burnt it. And some of the ancient Jews interpret this last clause of the destruction of the temple by Vespasian; they observe upon this passage in one place (m), there is no mighty one but a king, as in Jer 30:21 and there is no Lebanon but the house of the sanctuary, according to Deu 3:25 wherefore when a certain Jew saluted Vespasian as a king, and he replied that he was no king, the Jew made answer, if thou art not a king, thou shall be one; for this house (meaning the temple) shall not be destroyed but by the hands of a king, as it is said, "and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one" (n).
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(m) T. Bab. Gittin, fol. 56. 2. (n) Midrash Echa Rabbati, fol 46. 4.
Next: Isaiah Chapter 11
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 bough - The top-bough, Sennacherib, with a most…
The bough - The top-bough, Sennacherib, with a most terrible stroke.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 33. Shall lop the bough with terror] פארה…
Verse 33. Shall lop the bough with terror] פארה purah; but פורה purah, wine-press, is the reading of twenty-six of Kennicott's and twenty-three of De Rossi's MSS., four ancient editions, with Symmachus, Theodotion, and the Chaldee.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Isa 10:33-34. The Lord of hosts shall lop the…
Isa 10:33-34. The Lord of hosts shall lop the bough — The top bough, Sennacherib; with terror — Hebrew, במערצהbemagnaratza, with a dreadful crash, as Bishop Lowth renders it, expressed by the very sound of the Hebrew word; by a most terrible and unexpected blow; and the high ones, &c. — The lofty boughs, Hebrew, ורמי הקומהexcelsi statura, the high of stature: that is, his valiant soldiers, or the great commanders of his army, compared to the tall trees of a forest; shall be hewn down — By a sudden and irresistible stroke; and the haughty — The proud, self- confident boasters, elati animo, the high-minded, as חגבהיםsignifies; shall be humbled — Shall be laid motionless in the dust, namely, by the invisible power of the destroying angel. And he shall cut down the thickets, &c., with iron — Or, as with iron, as the trees of the forest are cut down with instruments of iron; and Lebanon — Or, his Lebanon, the Assyrian army, which being before compared to a forest, and being called his Carmel in the Hebrew text, (Isa 10:18,) may very fitly, upon the same ground, be called his Lebanon here. Shall fall by a mighty one — By a mighty angel, Isa 37:36.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Behold, the Lord ... - The prophet had described,…
Behold, the Lord ... - The prophet had described, in the previous verses, the march of the Assyrians toward Jerusalem, station by station. He had accompanied him in his description until he had arrived in full sight of the city, which was the object of all his preparation. He had described the consternation which was felt at his approach in all the smaller towns. Nothing had been able to stand before him; and now, flushed with success, and confident that Jerusalem would fall, he stands before the devoted city. But here, the prophet announces that his career was to close; and here his arms to be stayed. Here he was to meet with an overthrow, and Jerusalem would still be safe. This is the design of the prophecy, to comfort the inhabitants of Jerusalem with the assurance that they still would be safe.
Will lop the bough - The word “bough” here (פארה pû'râh) is from פאר pâ'ar to adorn, to beautify; and is given to a branch or bough of a tree on account of its beauty. It is, therefore, descriptive of that which is beautiful, honored, proud; and is applied to the Assyrian on account of his pride and magnificence. In Isa 10:18-19, the prophet had described the army of the Assyrian as a magnificent forest. Here he says that the glory of that army should be destroyed, as the vitality and beauty of the waving bough of a tree is quickly destroyed when it is lopped with an axe. There can scarcely be conceived a description, that would more beautifully represent the fading strength of the army of the Assyrian than this.
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With terror - In such a way as to inspire terror.
The high ones of stature - The chief men and officers of the army.
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 Vessel. Like Gideon, when he attacked Madian, ver. 26.,…
Vessel. Like Gideon, when he attacked Madian, ver. 26., and Judges vii. 19. Septuagint, "the nobles." (Haydock) --- Hebrew, "their beauty." The empire of Assyria shall presently fall. (Calmet)
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 bough--literally, the "beauty" of the tree; "the beautiful branch."
bough--literally, the "beauty" of the tree; "the beautiful branch."
high ones of stature--"the upright stem," as distinguished from the previous "boughs" [HORSLEY].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 33, 34. Just when the Assyrian is in sight…
33, 34. Just when the Assyrian is in sight of his goal, Jehovah smites him down. The description naturally passes into figurative and somewhat vague language. The image is that of a stately forest laid low by the axe-man.
Isa_10:33. The Lord Jehovah of Hosts, as in Isa_10:16.
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The “high ones of stature,” and the “lofty ones” (R.V.) are the great trees; the epithets keep within the limits of the figure. For be humbled read lie low.
Isa_10:34. the thickets of the forest (R.V.) cf. ch. Isa_9:18. The verb in the first clause is probably passive: “shall be cut down.” Lebanon] Better, the Lebanon. Lebanon means “the white (mountain)”—either from its snows or its chalk cliffs—and in Hebr. prose always retains the art.; here, however, the reference is to its forests, which supply a figure for the Assyrian army.
a mighty one] or “a majestic One”—Jehovah Himself.
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 (33) Behold, . . . the Lord of hosts…
(33) Behold, . . . the Lord of hosts . . .—The sudden change of tone indicates another pressure of the “strong hand” of Jehovah (Isa_8:11), another burst of intensest inspiration. So far shalt thou go, the prophet says to Sargon, as he said afterwards to Sennacherib (Isa_37:28-32), and no farther. In the “boughs” that are to be lopped, and the “thickets of the forest” that are to be cut down, we have the same imagery as in Isa_10:17-19. The constant boasts of the Assyrian kings that they cut down the forests of the nations they conquered, gave a special fitness to this emblem of the work of the Divine Nemesis. High as the cedars of Lebanon might rise in their majesty, the “Mighty One” of Israel (better, Glorious One; comp. Isa_10:18, Isa_33:21; Psa_93:4) would lay them low.
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 Lord... shall lop the bough with terror. A…
The Lord... shall lop the bough with terror. A check to the Assyrian arms is intended, but of what nature is not clear. The "lopping of the bough with terror" might indicate a panic, such as that which seized the Syrians and made Benhadad II raise the siege of Samaria. (2Ki_7:6, 2Ki_7:7) But the expressions used later on," hewn down," "cut down," "shall fall," rather imply a defeat.
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 This can be translated as "Look" or "Listen" or…
Behold
This can be translated as "Look" or "Listen" or "Pay attention to what I am about to tell you."
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Yahweh of hosts
See how you translated this in Isaiah 1:9.
will lop off the boughs ... and Lebanon in his majesty will fall
Isaiah speaks of the army of Assyria as if it were the tall trees in Lebanon. God will destroy the army like people cutting down the mighty trees of Lebanon. This emphasizes that though the army is strong, God has the power to destroy it. (See: Metaphor)
will lop off the boughs
"will cut off the big branches of the trees." In order to make it clear that this refers to the army of Assyria, it can be translated as a simile: He will destroy the army of Assyria like strong men cutting off the big branches of trees. (See: Metaphor)
with a terrifying crash
This can be reworded so that the abstract noun "crash" is expressed as the verb "make a noise." AT: "and the branches will crash down on the ground and make a terrifying noise" or "and the branches will fall to the ground with a very loud noise" (See: Abstract Nouns)
the tallest trees will be cut down
This can be stated in active form. AT: "he will cut down the tallest trees" (See: Active or Passive)
the tallest trees
This is a metaphor for "the strongest soldiers." (See: Metaphor)
the lofty will be brought low
This can be stated in active form. AT: "he will bring down the lofty people" (See: Active or Passive)
lofty
proud
the thickets of the forest
"the dense shrubs in the forest." This is possibly a metaphor for those people who are not well known. (See: Metaphor)
Lebanon in his majesty will fall
"the forests of Lebanon will no longer be so grand." This is possibly a metaphor for the Assyrian army. AT: "Yahweh will defeat the army of Assyria, as mighty as it is" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
lord
Yahweh of hosts
ax
Lebanon
majesty
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.