Isaiah 10:13 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 10:13
For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:
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
Deuteronomy 8:17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.
Daniel 4:30 The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the ho…
2 Kings 15:29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-beth-maachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and…
2 Kings 16:8 And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent it for a prese…
2 Kings 17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by…
2 Kings 17:24 And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in th…
2 Kings 18:11 And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria, and put them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of t…
2 Kings 18:15 And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasures of the king’s house.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 10:5-19
The destruction of the kingdom of Israel by Shalmaneser king of Assyria was foretold in the foregoing chapter, and it had its accomplishment in the sixth year of Hezekiah, Kg2 18:10. It was total and final, head and tail were all cut off. Now the correction of the kingdom of Judah by Sennacherib king of Assyria is foretold in this chapter; and this prediction was fulfilled in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, when that potent prince, encouraged by the successes of his predecessor against the ten tribes, came up against all the fenced cities of Judah and took them, and laid siege to Jerusalem (Kg2 18:13, Kg2 18:17), in consequence of which we may well suppose Hezekiah and his kingdom were grea…
I am prudent--He ascribes his success to his own prudence, not to God's providence.
removed the bounds--set aside old, and substituted new boundaries of kingdoms at will. A criminal act, as Jehovah Himself had appointed the boundaries of the nations (Deu 32:8).
treasures--"hoarded treasures" [HORSLEY].
put down . . . inhabitants like, &c.--rather, "as a valiant man, I have brought down (from their seats) those seated" (namely, "on thrones"; as in Psa 2:4; Psa 29:10; Psa 55:19. The Hebrew for "He that abideth," is He that sitteth on a throne); otherwise, "I have brought down (as captives into Assyria, which lay lower than Judea; therefore 'brought down,' compare Isa 36:1, Isa 36:10), th…
For he saith, by the strength of my hand I have done it,.... Meaning either that by the power of his army, which was under his command, or by his own personal valour, he had subdued kings, taken their kingdoms and chief cities, and ascribes nothing to the power aud providence of God; and if such arrogance and haughtiness, in things of a civil nature, is an instance of vanity, and is resented by the Lord, then much more such conduct in things of a religious nature, when men ascribe regeneration, conversion, and salvation, to the power of their free will, and to the works of their hands, and not to the power and grace of God:
and by my wisdom, for I am prudent; attributing his conquests partl…
The Church Fathers
These are the words of God's antagonist, boasting in the strength of his wickedness, as he threatens to steal and obliterate the divisions of the nations delivered by the Most High to the angels. And loudly [he] cries that he will spoil the earth, and shake the whole human race, and change them from their former good order.
"For he said, 'By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom I have understood it. I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and have plundered their princes. I have brought down the inhabitants as if they were mighty.'" They have interpreted the LXX for profit, meaning, or great understanding. For the Assyrian, boasting with swelling pride, said that with the strength of his hands he has conquered all nations and has possessed the borders with incredible wisdom.
And by the prophet, "the enemy said, I will pursue and overtake," and again by another, "I will grasp the whole world in my hand as a nest, and take it up as eggs that have been left." Such, in a word, are their boasts and professions that they may deceive the godly. But not even then ought we, the faithful, to fear his appearance or give heed to his words. For he is a liar and speaks of truth never a word. And though speaking words so many and so great in his boldness, without doubt, like a dragon he was drawn with a hook by the Savior, and as a beast of burden he received the halter round his nostrils, and as a runaway his nostrils were bound with a ring, and his lips bored with an armlet. And he was bound by the Lord as a sparrow, that we should mock him. LIFE OF ST.
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
Assyria, Asshur — was a great and powerful country lying on the Tigris, (Genesis 2:14) the capital of which was Nineveh. (Genesis 10:11) etc. It derived its name apparently from Asshur, the son of Shem, (Genesis…
Nineveh — First mentioned in Gen. 10:11, which is rendered in the Revised Version, “He [i.e., Nimrod] went forth into Assyria and builded Nineveh.” It is not again noticed till the days of Jonah, when it is…
Pride · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Providence Of God, The · Danger of denying — Danger of denying
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).
For he hath said, By the strength of my hand I have done it. The Prophet again repeats the highly blasphemous words which the Assyrian uttered; for he ascribes to his power and wisdom all the victories which he obtained. By strength of hand he means vast armies collected out of various nations. Yet at the same time he boasts of being a warlike king, as those blusterers are wont to claim the praise of everything that was done under their direction, though they were enjoying the luxury and ease of a retired life. Afterwards he boasts that he was cautious and wary, to use an ordinary phrase of our own, (J'ay este bien entendu et expert,) I was very skillful and clever. But there can be no doubt…
When Jehovah had punished to such an extent that He could not go any further without destroying Israel - a result which would be opposed to His mercy and truth - His punishing would turn against the instrument of punishment, which would fall under the curse of all ungodly selfishness. "For he hath said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my own wisdom; for I am prudent: and I removed the bounds of the nations, and I plundered their stores, and threw down rulers
(Note: Thronende, lit., those who sat (on thrones).)
like a bull. And my hand extracted the wealth of the nations like a nest: and as men sweep up forsaken eggs, have I swept the whole earth; there was none that moved t…
my own powerful arm . . . my own shrewd wisdom (cp. 10:5): God alone is all-powerful and wise. He plans the future, and he determines which nations will rise to power and which will be defeated.
Rashi on Isaiah 10:13
For he said, With the strength of my hand I accomplished this None of my might is from the Holy One, blessed be He.
I am clever [More exactly,] I have become clever.
and their positions Heb. וַעֲתוּדֹתֵיהֶם, their stand and their position.
and I lowered I lowered them from their greatness.
many inhabitants Heb. כַּאבִּיר יוֹשְׁבִים, plousors in O.F., several.
