Isaiah 1:9

Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Except	לוּלֵי֙ lu.Lei	H3884	if not · particle
LORD	יְהוָ֣ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
hosts	צְבָא֔וֹת tze.va.'ot	H6635	a mass of persons (or figuratively · noun, common feminine plural absolute
left	הוֹתִ֥יר ho.Tir	H3498	to jut over or exceed · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
small	כִּמְעָ֑ט kim.'At	H4592	a little or few (often adverbial or compar.) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
remnant	שָׂרִ֖יד sa.Rid	H8300	a survivor · noun, common masculine singular absolute
been	הָיִ֔ינוּ ha.Yi.nu	H1961	to exist · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common plural
Sodom	כִּסְדֹ֣ם kis.Dom	H5467	Sedom · preposition + proper noun, a place name
like	דָּמִֽינוּ da.Mi.nu	H1819	to compare · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common plural
Gomorrah	לַעֲמֹרָ֖ה la.'a.mo.Rah	H6017	Amorah · preposition + proper noun, a place name

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Romans 9:29 And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.
Isaiah 37:31-32 And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:
Genesis 19:24 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;
Lamentations 3:22 It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
Amos 4:11 I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not r…
Romans 11:4-6 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
Genesis 18:32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will no…
Isaiah 6:13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when the…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 1:2-9

We will hope to meet with a brighter and more pleasant scene before we come to the end of this book; but truly here, in the beginning of it, every thing looks very bad, very black, with Judah and Jerusalem. What is the wilderness of the world, if the church, the vineyard, has such a dismal aspect as this? I. The prophet, though he speaks in God's name, yet, despairing to gain audience with the children of his people, addresses himself to the heavens and the earth, and bespeaks their attention (Isa 1:2): Hear, O heavens! and give ear, O earth! Sooner will the inanimate creatures hear, who observe the law and answer the end of their creation, than this stupid senseless people. Let the lights o…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 1:9

Jehovah of Sabaoth, that is, God of the angelic and starry hosts (Psa 59:5; Psa 147:4; Psa 148:2). The latter were objects of idolatry, called hence Sabaism (Kg2 17:16). God is above even them (Ch1 16:26). "The groves" were symbols of these starry hosts; it was their worship of Sabaoth instead of the Lord of Sabaoth, which had caused the present desolation (Ch2 24:18). It needed no less a power than His, to preserve even a "remnant." Condescending grace for the elect's sake, since He has no need of us, seeing that He has countless hosts to serve Him.

John Gill on Isaiah 1:9

Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant,.... This is an instance of the super abounding goodness of the Lord of hosts, as the Targum expresses it; that he should, in those very wicked and calamitous times, leave and reserve a few from being defiled with the sins of the age, and from being involved in the general calamity of it; which was true of the Christian Jews at the time of Jerusalem's destruction; for that this prophecy belongs to these times is clear from the application of it by the Apostle Paul, Romans 9:29 and which confirms the sense given of the above passages: "the very small remnant" are the remnant according to the election of grace, the little flock, th…

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The Church Fathers

Beware, O Christian, beware of pride. For though you are a follower of the saints, ascribe it always wholly to grace. That there should be any "remnant" in you, the grace of God has brought it to pass, not your own merits.
— Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 100.4

For all the Gentiles were "desolate" of the true God, serving the works of their hands; but the Jews and Samaritans, having the word of God delivered to them by the prophets, and always expecting the Christ, did not recognise Him when He came, except some few, of whom the Spirit of prophecy by Isaiah had predicted that they should be saved. He spoke as from their person: "Except the Lord had left us a seed, we should have been as Sodom and Gomorrah."
— Justin Martyr, The First Apology, Chapter LIII

And besides, they beguile themselves and you, supposing that the everlasting kingdom will be assuredly given to those of the dispersion who are of Abraham after the flesh, although they be sinners, and faithless, and disobedient towards God, which the Scriptures have proved is not the case. For if so, Isaiah would never have said this: "And unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah." And Ezekiel: "Even if Noah, and Jacob, and Daniel were to pray for sons or daughters, their request should not be granted." But neither shall the father perish for the son, nor the son for the father; but every one for his own sin, and each shall be saved for his own righteousness.
— Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter CXL

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Gomorrah — Submersion, one of the five cities of the plain of Siddim (q.v.) which were destroyed by fire (Gen. 10:19; 13:10; 19:24, 28). These cities probably stood close together, and were near the northern…
Isaiah, The Book of — Consists of prophecies delivered (Isa. 1) in the reign of Uzziah (1-5), (2) of Jotham (6), (3) Ahaz (7-14:28), (4) the first half of Hezekiah’s reign (14:28-35), (5) the second half of Hezekiah’s…
Poetry — Has been well defined as “the measured language of emotion.” Hebrew poetry deals almost exclusively with the great question of man’s relation to God. “Guilt, condemnation, punishment, pardon,…
Sodom — Burning; the walled, a city in the vale of Siddim (Gen. 13:10; 14:1-16). The wickedness of its inhabitants brought down upon it fire from heaven, by which it was destroyed (18:16-33; 19:1-29; Deut.…
Gomorrah · General references — General references

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Isaiah 1:9

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 1:2-9

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 1:9

John Gill on Isaiah 1:9

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Isaiah 1:9

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Isaiah 1:2-9

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 1:9

John Gill on Isaiah 1:9

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Isaiah 1:9

Keil & Delitzsch on Isaiah 1:9

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Isaiah 1:9

Rashi on Isaiah 1:9