Isaiah 9:8

God’s Judgment Intensifies

9:8 ¹ The sovereign master ²  decreed judgment ³  on Jacob,

and it fell on Israel. ⁴ 

Isaiah 31:3

31:3 The Egyptians are mere humans, not God;

their horses are made of flesh, not spirit.

The Lord will strike with ⁵  his hand;

the one who helps will stumble

and the one being helped will fall.

Together they will perish. ⁶ 

Isaiah 31:8

31:8 Assyria will fall by a sword, but not one human-made; ⁷ 

a sword not made by humankind will destroy them. ⁸ 

They will run away from this sword ⁹ 

and their young men will be forced to do hard labor.

[9:8]  ¹ sn The following speech (9:8-10:4) assumes that God has already sent judgment (see v. 9), but it also announces that further judgment is around the corner (10:1-4). The speech seems to describe a series of past judgments on the northern kingdom which is ready to intensify further in the devastation announced in 10:1-4. It may have been written prior to the Assyrian conquest of the northern kingdom in 734-733 b.c., or sometime between that invasion and the downfall of Samaria in 722 b.c. The structure of the speech displays four panels, each of which ends with the refrain, “Through all this, his anger did not subside; his hand remained outstretched” (9:12b; 17b; 21b; 10:4b): Panel I: (A) Description of past judgment (9:8); (B) Description of the people’s attitude toward past judgment (9:9-10); (C) Description of past judgment (9:11-12a); (D) Refrain (9:12b); Panel II: (A) Description of the people’s attitude toward past judgment (9:13); (B) Description of past judgment (9:14-17a); (C) Refrain (9:17b); Panel III: (A) Description of past judgment (9:18-21a); (B) Refrain (9:21b); Panel IV: (A) Woe oracle announcing future judgment (10:1-4a); (B) Refrain (10:4b).

[9:8]  ² tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here and in v. 17 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[9:8]  ³ tn Heb “sent a word” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV); NASB “sends a message.”

[9:8]  ⁴ tn The present translation assumes that this verse refers to judgment that had already fallen. Both verbs (perfects) are taken as indicating simple past; the vav (ו) on the second verb is understood as a simple vav conjunctive. Another option is to understand the verse as describing a future judgment (see 10:1-4). In this case the first verb is a perfect of certitude; the vav on the second verb is a vav consecutive.

[31:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “will extend”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV “stretch out.”

[31:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “together all of them will come to an end.”

[31:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “Assyria will fall by a sword, not of a man.”

[31:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and a sword not of humankind will devour him.”

[31:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he will flee for himself from before a sword.”