Isaiah 10:17

Brenton's Septuagint

And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and he shall sanctify him with burning fire, and it shall devour the wood as grass.

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
The Light of Israel will be like a fire. The Holy One will be like a flame. He will be like a fire that first begins to burn the weeds and thorns

New Living Translation
The Lord , the Light of Israel, will be a fire; the Holy One will be a flame. He will devour the thorns and briers with fire, burning up the enemy in a single night.

Update Bible Version
And 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.

New Century Version
God, the Light of Israel, will be like a fire; the Holy One will be like a flame. He will be like a fire that suddenly burns the weeds and thorns.

New English Translation
The Light of Israel will become a fire, their Holy One will become a flame; it will burn and consume the Assyrian king's briers and his thorns in one day.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;

World English Bible
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.

Amplified Bible
And the Light of Israel will become a fire and His Holy One a flame, And it will burn and devour Assyria's thorns and briars in a single day.

English Standard Version
The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the liyt of Israel schal be in fier, and the hooli of it in flawme; and the thorn of him and brere schal be kyndlid and deuourid in o dai.

English Revised Version
And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day.

Berean Standard Bible
And the Light of Israel will become a fire, and its Holy One a flame. In a single day it will burn and devour Assyria's thorns and thistles.

Contemporary English Version
The holy God, who is the light of Israel, will turn into a fire, and in one day you will go up in flames, just like a thornbush.

American Standard Version
And 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.

Bible in Basic English
And the light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: wasting and burning up his thorns in one day.

Complete Jewish Bible
The light of Isra'el will become a fire and his Holy One a flame, burning and devouring his thorns and briars in a single day.

Darby Translation
and the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briars in one day,

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day.

King James Version (1611)
And the light of Israel shall bee for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burne and deuoure his thornes and his briers in one day:

New Life Bible
The light of Israel and his Holy One will become a fire. And it will burn and destroy his thorns and thistles in one day.

New Revised Standard
The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And the light of Israel shalbe as a fire, and the Holy one thereof as a flame, and it shall burne, and deuoure his thornes & his briers in one day:

George Lamsa Translation
And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So shall, the Light of Israel, become, a fire, And his Holy One, a flame, Which shall burn and consume his thorns and his briars, in one day;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the light of Israel shall be as a fire, and the Holy One thereof as a flame: and his thorns and his briers shall be set on fire, and shall be devoured in one day.

Revised Standard Version
The light of Israel will become a fire, and his Holy One a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the light of Israel shalbe that fire, and his holy one shalbe the flambe: and it shall kindle and burne vp his thornes and bryers in one day.

Good News Translation
God, the light of Israel, will become a fire. Israel's holy God will become a flame, which in a single day will burn up everything, even the thorns and thistles.

Christian Standard Bible®
Israel’s Light will become a fire,and its Holy One, a flame.In one day it will burn and consume Assyria’s thorns and thistles.

Hebrew Names Version
The light of Yisra'el 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.

King James Version
And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;

Lexham English Bible
And the light of Israel will become like a fire, and his holy one like a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.

Literal Translation
And the Light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it shall burn and devour his thorns and briers in one day.

Young's Literal Translation
And the light of Israel hath been for a fire, And his Holy One for a flame, And it hath burned, and devoured his thorn And his brier in one day.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But the light of Israel shalbe yt fyre, and his Sanctuary shalbe the flame, and it shal kyndle, and burne vp his thornes and breyers in one daye,

New American Standard Bible
And the Light of Israel will become a fire and Israel's Holy One a flame, And it will burn and devour his thorns and his briars in a single day.

New King James Version
So the Light of Israel will be for a fire, And his Holy One for a flame; It will burn and devour His thorns and his briers in one day.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
And the light of Israel will become a fire and his Holy One a flame, And it will burn and devour his thorns and his briars in a single day.

Legacy Standard Bible
And the light of Israel will become a fire and his Holy One a flame,And it will burn and devour his thorns and his briars in a single day.

Contextual Overview

⁵ Woe to the Assyrians; the rod of my wrath, and anger are in their hands. ⁶ I will send my wrath against a sinful nation, and I will charge my people to take plunder and spoil, and to trample the cities, and to make them dust. ⁷ But he meant not thus, neither did he devise thus in his soul: but his mind shall change, and that to destroy nations not a few. ⁸ And if they should say to him, Thou alone art ruler; ⁹ then shall he say, Have I not taken the country above Babylon and Chalanes, where the tower was built? and have I not taken Arabia, and Damascus, and Samaria? ¹⁰ As I have taken them, I will also take all the kingdoms: howl, ye idols in Jerusalem, and in Samaria. ¹¹ For as I did to Samaria and her idols, so will I do also to Jerusalem and her idols. ¹² And it shall come to pass, when the Lord shall have finished doing all things on Mount Sion and Jerusalem, that I will visit upon the proud heart, even upon the ruler of the Assyrians, and upon the boastful haughtiness of his eyes. ¹³ For he said, I will act in strength, and in the wisdom of my understanding I will remove the boundaries of nations, and will spoil their strength. ¹⁴ And I will shake the inhabited cities: and I will take with my hand all the world as a nest: and I will even take them as eggs that have been left; and there is none that shall escape me, or contradict me.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the light: Isaiah 60:19, Psalms 27:1, Psalms 84:11, Revelation 21:23, Revelation 22:5

for a flame: Isaiah 30:27, Isaiah 30:28, Isaiah 33:14, Isaiah 64:1, Isaiah 64:2, Isaiah 66:15, Isaiah 66:16, Isaiah 66:24, Numbers 11:1-3, Numbers 16:35, Psalms 18:8, Psalms 21:9, Psalms 50:3, Psalms 83:14, Psalms 83:15, Jeremiah 4:4, Jeremiah 7:20, Malachi 4:1-3, Matthew 3:12, 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9, Hebrews 12:29

devour: Isaiah 27:4, Isaiah 37:36, Psalms 97:3, Nahum 1:5, Nahum 1:6, Nahum 1:10

Reciprocal: Isaiah 9:5 - burning Isaiah 9:14 - in one day Obadiah 1:18 - shall be Zechariah 12:6 - like an hearth Revelation 8:7 - the third

Cross-References

Genesis 34:2
And Sychem the son of Emmor the Evite, the ruler of the land, saw her, and took her and lay with her, and humbled her.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the light of Israel shall be for a fire,.... That is, the Lord, who is the light of his people; who enlightens them by his word and Spirit, and by his grace effectually calls them out of darkness into marvellous light, to the light of grace here, and to the light of glory hereafter; and who comforts and refreshes them with his gracious presence, and with the light of his countenance when in affliction and distress, which is sometimes signified by darkness; and the same Lord, who is as light to his people, and gives light and comfort to them, is as a consuming fire to others:

and his Holy One for a flame; that is, the Holy One of Israel, the God of Israel, who is holy in himself, and the sanctifier of others; the Syriac version reads, "his Holy Ones": so Jarchi observes it as the sense of some, that the righteous of that generation are meant; the Targum is,

"and there shall be the Lord, the light of Israel, and his Holy One; and his word strong as fire, and his word as a flame;''

see Jeremiah 23:29 so Jarchi interprets it of the law Hezekiah studied:

and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day; the Targum interprets it, his rulers and governors; and so Jarchi, his princes and mighty men; the chief in the Assyrian army, called briers and thorns, because mischievous and hurtful, and caused grief; but rather the multitude of the common soldiers is designed, who were all destroyed in one night, 2 Kings 19:35 by an angel; who, according to Aben Ezra, is the light and Holy One of Israel here spoken of.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the light of Israel - That is, Yahweh. The word “light” here, אור 'ôr, is used also to denote a “fire,” or that which causes light and heat; see Ezekiel 5:2; Isaiah 44:16; Isaiah 47:14. Here it is used in the same sense, denoting that Yahweh would be “the fire” אור 'ôr that would cause the “flame” (אשׁ 'êsh) which would consume the Assyrian. Jehovah is often compared to a burning flame, or fire; Deuteronomy 4:24; Deuteronomy 9:3; Hebrews 12:29.

Shall be for a fire - By his power and his judgment he shall destroy them.

His Holy One - Israel’s Holy One; that is, Yahweh - often called in the Scriptures the Holy One of Israel.

And it shall burn - That is, the flame that Yahweh shall kindle, or his judgments that he shall send forth.

And devour his thorns and his briers - An expression denoting the utter impotency of all the mighty armies of the Assyrian to resist Yahweh. As dry thorns and briers cannot resist the action of heat, so certainly and speedily would the armies of Sennacherib be destroyed before Yahweh; compare the note at Isaiah 9:18. Lowth supposes, that by ‘briers and thorns’ here, the common soldiers of the army are intended, and by ‘the glory of his forest’ Isaiah 10:18, the princes, officers, and nobles. This is, doubtless, the correct interpretation; and the idea is, that all would be completely consumed and destroyed.

In one day - The army of Sennacherib was suddenly destroyed by the angel; see the notes at Isaiah 37:36.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 10:17. And it shall burn and devour his thorns - "And he shall burn and consume his thorn."] The briers and thorns are the common people; the glory of his forest are the nobles and those of highest rank and importance. Isaiah 9:17, and compare Ezekiel 20:47. The fire of God's wrath shall destroy them, both great and small; it shall consume them from the soul to the flesh; a proverbial expression; soul and body, as we say; it shall consume them entirely and altogether; and the few that escape shall be looked upon as having escaped from the most imminent danger; "as a firebrand plucked out of the fire," Amos 4:11; ὡς δια πυρος, so as by fire, 1 Corinthians 3:15; as a man when a house is burning is forced to make his escape by running through the midst of the fire.

I follow here the reading of the Septuagint, כמאש נסס kemash noses, ὡς ὁ φευγων απω φλογος χαιομενης, as he who flees from the burning flame. Symmachus also renders the latter word by φευγων, flying.