Isaiah 10:7

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
But this is not what he intends;this is not what he plans.It is his intent to destroyand to cut off many nations.

Hebrew Names Version
However he doesn't mean so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations.

King James Version
Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.

English Standard Version
But he does not so intend, and his heart does not so think; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few;

New American Standard Bible
Yet it does not so intend, Nor does it plan so in its heart, But rather it is its purpose to destroy And to eliminate many nations.

New Century Version
But Assyria's king doesn't understand that I am using him; he doesn't know he is a tool for me. He only wants to destroy other people and to defeat many nations.

Amplified Bible
Yet it is not Assyria's intention [to do My will], Nor does it plan so in its heart, But instead it is its purpose to destroy And to cut off many nations.

World English Bible
However he doesn't mean so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations.

Geneva Bible (1587)
But he thinketh not so, neither doeth his heart esteeme it so: but he imagineth to destroy and to cut off not a fewe nations.

Legacy Standard Bible
But it does not intend to act in this way,And it does not think in its heart in this way,Rather, what is in its heart is to destroyAnd to cut off many nations.

Berean Standard Bible
But this is not what he intends; this is not what he plans. His purpose is to destroy and cut off many nations.

Contemporary English Version
He has even bigger plans in mind, because he wants to destroy many nations.

Complete Jewish Bible
That is not what Ashur intends, that is not what they think; rather, they mean to destroy, to cut down nation after nation.

Darby Translation
But he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; for it is in his heart to extirpate and cut off nations not a few.

Easy-to-Read Version
"But Assyria does not understand that I will use him. He does not think of himself as my tool. He only wants to destroy other people. He only plans to destroy many nations.

George Lamsa Translation
But he does not look so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and annihilate nations not a few.

Good News Translation
But the Assyrian emperor has his own violent plans in mind. He is determined to destroy many nations.

Lexham English Bible
But he does not think this, and his heart does not plan this. For it is in his heart to destroy and to cut off not a few nations.

Literal Translation
Yet he does not purpose this, nor does his heart think so. For it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Howbeit his meanynge is not so, nether thinketh his harte of this fashion. But he ymagineth only, how he maye ouerthrowe and destroye moch people,

American Standard Version
Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few.

Bible in Basic English
But this is not what is in his mind, and this is not his design; but his purpose is destruction, and the cutting off of more and more nations.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few.

King James Version (1611)
Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart thinke so, but it is in his heart to destroy, and cut off nations not a few.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Howbeit, his meaning is not so, neither thinketh his heart on this fashion: But he imagineth howe he may roote out and destroy muche people.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
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.

English Revised Version
Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe he schal not deme so, and his herte schal not gesse so, but his herte schal be for to al to-breke, and to the sleynge of many folkis.

Update Bible Version
Nevertheless he does not mean so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations.

Webster's Bible Translation
Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but [it is] in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.

New English Translation
But he does not agree with this, his mind does not reason this way, for his goal is to destroy, and to eliminate many nations.

New King James Version
Yet he does not mean so, Nor does his heart think so; But it is in his heart to destroy, And cut off not a few nations.

New Living Translation
But the king of Assyria will not understand that he is my tool; his mind does not work that way. His plan is simply to destroy, to cut down nation after nation.

New Life Bible
But this is not what is in Assyria's mind. It does not plan this in its heart. It plans to destroy and to cut off many nations.

New Revised Standard
But this is not what he intends, nor does he have this in mind; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But as for him, not so, doth he deem, And in his heart, not so, doth he think, - For, to destroy, is in his heart, And to cut off nations, not a few;

Douay-Rheims Bible
But he shall not take it so, and his heart shall not think so: but his heart shall be set to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few.

Revised Standard Version
But he does not so intend, and his mind does not so think; but it is in his mind to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few;

Young's Literal Translation
And he -- he thinketh not so, And his heart reckoneth not so, For -- to destroy [is] in his heart, And to cut off nations not a few.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Yet it does not so intend, Nor does it plan so in its heart, But rather it is its purpose to destroy And to cut off many nations.

Contextual Overview

⁵"Doom to Assyria, weapon of my anger. My wrath is a cudgel in his hands! I send him against a godless nation, against the people I'm angry with. I command him to strip them clean, rob them blind, and then push their faces in the mud and leave them. But Assyria has another agenda; he has something else in mind. He's out to destroy utterly, to stamp out as many nations as he can. Assyria says, ‘Aren't my commanders all kings? Can't they do whatever they like? Didn't I destroy Calno as well as Carchemish? Hamath as well as Arpad? Level Samaria as I did Damascus? I've eliminated kingdoms full of gods far more impressive than anything in Jerusalem and Samaria. So what's to keep me from destroying Jerusalem in the same way I destroyed Samaria and all her god-idols?'" ¹²When the Master has finished dealing with Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he'll say, "Now it's Assyria's turn. I'll punish the bragging arrogance of the king of Assyria, his high and mighty posturing, the way he goes around saying, "‘I've done all this by myself. I know more than anyone. I've wiped out the boundaries of whole countries. I've walked in and taken anything I wanted. I charged in like a bull and toppled their kings from their thrones. I reached out my hand and took all that they treasured as easily as a boy taking a bird's eggs from a nest. Like a farmer gathering eggs from the henhouse, I gathered the world in my basket, And no one so much as fluttered a wing or squawked or even chirped.'" Does an ax take over from the one who swings it? Does a saw act more important than the sawyer? As if a shovel did its shoveling by using a ditch digger! As if a hammer used the carpenter to pound nails! Therefore the Master, God -of-the-Angel-Armies, will send a debilitating disease on his robust Assyrian fighters. Under the canopy of God's bright glory a fierce fire will break out. Israel's Light will burst into a conflagration. The Holy will explode into a firestorm, And in one day burn to cinders every last Assyrian thornbush. God will destroy the splendid trees and lush gardens. The Assyrian body and soul will waste away to nothing like a disease-ridden invalid. A child could count what's left of the trees on the fingers of his two hands. And on that Day also, what's left of Israel, the ragtag survivors of Jacob, will no longer be fascinated by abusive, battering Assyria. They'll lean on God , The Holy—yes, truly. The ragtag remnant—what's left of Jacob—will come back to the Strong God. Your people Israel were once like the sand on the seashore, but only a scattered few will return. Destruction is ordered, brimming over with righteousness. For the Master, God -of-the-Angel-Armies, will finish here what he started all over the globe. Therefore the Master, God -of-the-Angel-Armies, says: "My dear, dear people who live in Zion, don't be terrorized by the Assyrians when they beat you with clubs and threaten you with rods like the Egyptians once did. In just a short time my anger against you will be spent and I'll turn my destroying anger on them. I, God -of-the-Angel-Armies, will go after them with a cat-o'-nine-tails and finish them off decisively—as Gideon downed Midian at the rock Oreb, as Moses turned the tables on Egypt. On that day, Assyria will be pulled off your back, and the yoke of slavery lifted from your neck." Assyria's on the move: up from Rimmon, on to Aiath, through Migron, with a bivouac at Micmash. They've crossed the pass, set camp at Geba for the night. Ramah trembles with fright. Gibeah of Saul has run off. Cry for help, daughter of Gallim! Listen to her, Laishah! Do something, Anathoth! Madmenah takes to the hills. The people of Gebim flee in panic. The enemy's soon at Nob—nearly there! In sight of the city he shakes his fist At the mount of dear daughter Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. But now watch this: The Master, God -of-the-Angel-Armies, swings his ax and lops the branches, Chops down the giant trees, lays flat the towering forest-on-the-march. His ax will make toothpicks of that forest, that Lebanon-like army reduced to kindling. ¹⁴You Who Legislate Evil Doom to you who legislate evil, who make laws that make victims— Laws that make misery for the poor, that rob my destitute people of dignity, Exploiting defenseless widows, taking advantage of homeless children. What will you have to say on Judgment Day, when Doomsday arrives out of the blue? Who will you get to help you? What good will your money do you? A sorry sight you'll be then, huddled with the prisoners, or just some corpses stacked in the street. Even after all this, God is still angry, his fist still raised, ready to hit them again. "Doom to Assyria, weapon of my anger. My wrath is a cudgel in his hands! I send him against a godless nation, against the people I'm angry with. I command him to strip them clean, rob them blind, and then push their faces in the mud and leave them. But Assyria has another agenda; he has something else in mind. He's out to destroy utterly, to stamp out as many nations as he can. Assyria says, ‘Aren't my commanders all kings? Can't they do whatever they like? Didn't I destroy Calno as well as Carchemish? Hamath as well as Arpad? Level Samaria as I did Damascus? I've eliminated kingdoms full of gods far more impressive than anything in Jerusalem and Samaria. So what's to keep me from destroying Jerusalem in the same way I destroyed Samaria and all her god-idols?'" When the Master has finished dealing with Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he'll say, "Now it's Assyria's turn. I'll punish the bragging arrogance of the king of Assyria, his high and mighty posturing, the way he goes around saying, "‘I've done all this by myself. I know more than anyone. I've wiped out the boundaries of whole countries. I've walked in and taken anything I wanted. I charged in like a bull and toppled their kings from their thrones. I reached out my hand and took all that they treasured as easily as a boy taking a bird's eggs from a nest. Like a farmer gathering eggs from the henhouse, I gathered the world in my basket, And no one so much as fluttered a wing or squawked or even chirped.'" ¹⁵Does an ax take over from the one who swings it? Does a saw act more important than the sawyer? As if a shovel did its shoveling by using a ditch digger! As if a hammer used the carpenter to pound nails! Therefore the Master, God -of-the-Angel-Armies, will send a debilitating disease on his robust Assyrian fighters. Under the canopy of God's bright glory a fierce fire will break out. Israel's Light will burst into a conflagration. The Holy will explode into a firestorm, And in one day burn to cinders every last Assyrian thornbush. God will destroy the splendid trees and lush gardens. The Assyrian body and soul will waste away to nothing like a disease-ridden invalid. A child could count what's left of the trees on the fingers of his two hands.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

he meaneth: Genesis 50:20, Micah 4:11, Micah 4:12, Acts 2:23, Acts 13:27-30

in his heart: Isaiah 36:18-20, Isaiah 37:11-13

Reciprocal: Exodus 21:13 - God 1 Kings 16:7 - because he killed him 2 Kings 19:23 - With the multitude 1 Chronicles 10:14 - he slew 2 Chronicles 32:1 - win them Psalms 9:6 - thou hast Psalms 10:3 - boasteth Psalms 66:7 - let Proverbs 20:24 - how Proverbs 24:8 - General Ecclesiastes 1:16 - communed Isaiah 16:8 - the lords Isaiah 29:8 - as when Isaiah 33:11 - conceive Jeremiah 49:30 - for Jeremiah 50:11 - ye destroyers Jeremiah 51:53 - from Ezekiel 9:1 - Cause Ezekiel 29:20 - served Ezekiel 31:8 - nor any Ezekiel 38:10 - that at Daniel 11:12 - his heart Nahum 1:11 - one Habakkuk 2:5 - who Mark 15:26 - the superscription John 19:24 - They parted Romans 3:7 - why yet Romans 9:19 - Why doth

Cross-References

1 Kings 10:1
The queen of Sheba heard about Solomon and his connection with the Name of God . She came to put his reputation to the test by asking tough questions. She made a grand and showy entrance into Jerusalem—camels loaded with spices, a huge amount of gold, and precious gems. She came to Solomon and talked about all the things that she cared about, emptying her heart to him. Solomon answered everything she put to him—nothing stumped him. When the queen of Sheba experienced for herself Solomon's wisdom and saw with her own eyes the palace he had built, the meals that were served, the impressive array of court officials and sharply dressed waiters, the lavish crystal, and the elaborate worship extravagant with Whole-Burnt-Offerings at the steps leading up to The Temple of God , it took her breath away.

Isaiah 21:13
A Message concerning Arabia: You'll have to camp out in the desert badlands, you caravans of Dedanites. Haul water to the thirsty, greet fugitives with bread. Show your desert hospitality, you who live in Tema. The desert's swarming with refugees escaping the horrors of war.

Ezekiel 27:15
"‘The people of Rhodes did business with you. Many far-off islands traded with you in ivory and ebony.

Ezekiel 27:22
"‘Traders from Sheba and Raamah in South Arabia carried on business with you in premium spices, precious stones, and gold.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so,.... His purposes, intentions, and thoughts, were not as the Lord's; he did not imagine that he was only the rod of his anger, and the staff of his indignation, a minister of his wrath, and the executioner of his vengeance; he thought he was his own lord and master, and acted by his own power, and according to his own will, and was not under the direction and restraints of another; his intention was not to chastise and correct the people of the Jews, but utterly to destroy them, and not them only, but many other nations; as follows:

but [it is] in his heart to destroy and cut off nations, not a few; not the nation of the Jews only, but many others, and so establish an universal monarchy; and what flushed him with hope and expectation of success were the magnificence of his princes, and the conquests he had already made.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Howbeit he meaneth not so - It is not his purpose to be the instrument, in the hand of God, of executing his designs. He has a different plan; a plan of his own which he intends to accomplish.

Neither doth his heart think so - He does not intend or design it. The “heart” here, is put to express “purpose, or will.”

It is “in his heart to cut off nations - Utterly to destroy or to annihilate their political existence.

Not a few - The ambitious purpose of Sennacherib was not confined to Judea. His plan was also to invade and to conquer Egypt; and the destruction of Judea, was only a part of his scheme; Isaiah 20:1-6. This is a most remarkable instance of the supremacy which God asserts over the purposes of wicked people. Sennacherib formed his own plan without compulsion. He devised large purposes of ambition, and intended to devastate kingdoms. And yet God says that he was under his direction, and that his plans would be overruled to further his own purposes. Thus ‘the wrath of man would be made to praise him;’ Psalms 76:10. And from this we may learn

(1) That wicked people form their plans and devices with perfect freedom. They lay their schemes as if there were no superintending providence; and feel, correctly, that they are not under the laws of compulsion, or of fate.

(2) That God presides over their schemes. and suffers them to be formed and executed with reference to his own purposes.

(3) That the plans of wicked people often, though they do not intend it, go to execute the purposes of God. Their schemes result in just what they did not intend - the furtherance of his plans, and the promotion of his glory

(4) That their plans are, nevertheless, wicked and abominable. They are to be judged according to what they are in themselves, and not according to the use which God may make of them by counteracting or overruling them. “Their” intention is evil; and by that they must be judged. That God brings good out of them, is contrary to their design, and a thing for which “they” deserve no credit, and should receive no reward.

(5) The wicked are in the hands of God.

(6) There is a superintending providence; and people cannot defeat the purposes of the Almighty. This extends to princes on their thrones; to the rich, the great, and the mighty, as well as to the poor and the humble - and to the humble as well as to the rich and the great. Over all people is this superintending and controlling providence; and all are subject to the direction of God.

(7) It has often happened, “in fact,” that the plans of wicked people have been made to contribute to the purposes of God. Instances like those of Pharaoh, of Cyrus, and of Sennacherib; of Pontius Pilate, and of the kings and emperors who persecuted the early Christian church, show that they are in the hand of God, and that he can overrule their wrath and wickedness to his glory. The madness of Pharaoh was the occasion of the signal displays of the power of God in Egypt. The wickedness, and weakness, and flexibility of Pilate, was the occasion of the atonement made for the sins of the world. And the church rose, in its primitive brightness and splendor, amid the flames which persecution kindled, and was augmented in numbers, and in moral loveliness and power, just in proportion as the wrath of monarchs raged to destroy it.