Isaiah 10:14 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 10:14
And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.
a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix
found
וַתִּמְצָ֨אva.tim.Tza'
H4672
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
nest
כַקֵּ֤ןkha.Ken
H7064
a nest (as fixed) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
riches
לְחֵ֣ילle.Cheil
H2428
probably a force · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
people
הָֽעַמִּ֔יםha.'a.Mim
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
gathereth
וְכֶאֱסֹף֙ve.khe.'e.Sof
H622
to gather for any purpose · conjunction + preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
eggs
בֵּיצִ֣יםbei.Tzim
H1000
an egg (from its whiteness) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
left
עֲזֻב֔וֹתa.zu.Vot
H5800
to loosen · verb, qal passive participle, feminine plural absolute
gathered
אָסָ֑פְתִּי'a.Sa.fe.ti
H622
to gather for any purpose · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
earth
הָאָ֖רֶץha.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
moved
נֹדֵ֣דno.Ded
H5074
properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
wing
כָּנָ֔ףka.Naf
H3671
an edge or extremity · noun, common feminine singular absolute
opened
וּפֹצֶ֥הu.fo.Tzeh
H6475
to rend · conjunction + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
mouth
פֶ֖הfeh
H6310
the mouth (as the means of blowing) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
peeped
וּמְצַפְצֵֽףu.me.tzaf.Tzef
H6850
to coo or chirp (as a bird) · conjunction + verb, piel active participle, masculine singular absolute
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
Job 31:25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;
Proverbs 18:12 Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honour is humility.
Proverbs 21:6-7 The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death.
Isaiah 5:8 Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the e…
Jeremiah 49:16 Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height o…
Hosea 12:7-8 He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand: he loveth to oppress.
Obadiah 1:4 Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.
Nahum 2:9-3:1 Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture.
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…
nest--implying the ease with which he carried off all before him.
left--by the parent bird.
none . . . moved . . . wing--image from an angry bird resisting the robbery of its "nest."
peeped--chirped even low (Isa 8:19). No resistance was offered me, of deed, or even word.
John Gill on Isaiah 10:14
And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people,.... With that ease as a man finds a nest of birds, and takes them:
and as one gathereth eggs that are left; by the bird, who not sitting upon them, there is none to protect them; whereas, when they are sat upon by the bird, she will flutter with her wings, and strike with her bill, and preserve them as well as she can:
have I gathered all the earth; the kingdoms and inhabitants of it, there being none to resist, or that dared to do it, as follows:
and there was none that moved the wing; as a bird will do, when its young or eggs are taken away from it:
or opened the mouth, or peeped; chattered, clucked, or expressed any grief, une…
And my hand hath found as a nest. He adds, that it cost him no trouble to vanquish kings and amass their wealth; and he illustrates this by a comparison. As if one were to seek a nest and find one deserted by the birds, and consequently to take the eggs without difficulty; for if the parent birds were sitting on the eggs, having an instinctive desire to protect their nest, they would either fly at the robber, and attack him with their bill, or by loud and unpleasant noises endeavor to drive him away. But this tyrant boasts that there was no one who ventured so much as to open the mouth against him, and therefore that he had no difficulty in bringing all the kingdoms under his dominion. Accor…
The Church Fathers
Behold, then, how the Maker of the universe has always shown a loving care for humanity, not merely for the race of the descendants of Abraham but for all the descendants of Adam; through one tribe he has led all tribes to a knowledge of himself. He used them for this purpose both when they were religious and when they were paying the penalty for their sins. For instance, Nebuchadnezzar, the arrogant tyrant, who raised up the golden image and called on all to adore it, said, "I will gather in my hand the whole earth as a nest, as eggs that lie abandoned will I gather it."
And so God, the Creator and Healer of all, knowing that pride is the cause and fountain head of evils, has been careful to heal opposites with opposites, that those things which were ruined by pride might be restored by humility. For the one says, "I will ascend into heaven," and the other, "My soul was brought low even to the ground." … The one says, "As eggs are gathered together which are left, so have I gathered all the earth"; the other says, "I am like a pelican of the wilderness … and am become as a sparrow dwelling alone on a roof." … If we look at the reason for our original fall and the foundations of our salvation, and [if we] consider by whom and in what way the latter were laid and the former originated, we may learn, either through the fall of the devil, or through the example of Christ, how to avoid so terrible a death from pride.
"My hand found the strength of the people like a nest. And like abandoned eggs are collected, so I gathered all the earth. No one moved a wing, or opened a mouth, or chirped." "You sent your Spirit and the sea covered them; they descended to the depths like lead in the mighty water." When the Spirit of the Lord was sent, the Egyptians were immersed in the waters of the sea. Although we desire to see ourselves there in the word of the Lord, which is also fulfilled in us, we would do better to apply this passage to the Gentiles, who were filled with the knowledge of the truth when they received the Spirit of God. To this the prophet bore witness: "All the earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, like the waters covering the sea.""They descended to the depths like lead in the mighty water." The "depths" are to be understood as carnal living, which tosses them to and fro on waves of sin. It drowns their self-absorbed souls and sends them to the bottom. Gossip, jealousy, depravity, cruelty and envy are the waves of worldly vice.
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…
Egg — (Heb. beytsah, “whiteness”). Eggs deserted (Isa. 10:14), of a bird (Deut. 22:6), an ostrich (Job 39:14), the cockatrice (Isa. 59:5). In Luke 11:12, an egg is contrasted with a scorpion, which is said…
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).
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 10:14
like a nest like nests of ownerless birds.
and as one gathers abandoned eggs And as one gathers abandoned eggs which their mother abandoned, and no one protests against him by covering them.
and no one moved a wing, or opened his mouth or chirped This entire expression is apropos to birds; since he compared those exiles to a bird’s nest and to abandoned eggs, he used this expression, saying that neither the father nor the mother chirped about them.