Isaiah 10 · Verse 17

Isaiah 10:17

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;

Isaiah 10:17, King James Version

Isaiah 10:17 in other translations

BSB	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.
WEB	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.
ASV	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.
YLT	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.
DARBY	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,
BBE	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.
Webster	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;

What does Isaiah 10:17 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Isaiah 10:17-18

17-18. light of Israel--carrying out the image in the end of Is 10:16. Jehovah, who is a light to Israel, shall be the "fire" (De 4:24; He 12:29) that shall ignite the "thorns," (the Assyrians, like dry fuel, a ready prey to flame).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 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. See note on Isa 9:17, and compare Eze 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," Amo 4:11; ὡς δια πυρος, so as by fire, 1Cor 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.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 10:5-19

See what a change sin made. The king of Assyria, in his pride, thought to act by his own will. The tyrants of the world are tools of Providence. God designs to correct his people for their hypocrisy, and bring them nearer to him; but is that Sennacherib's design? No; he designs to gratify his own covetousness and ambition. The Assyrian boasts what great things he has done to other nations, by his own policy and…

Read the full comment on Isaiah 10:5-19 →

Isaiah 10:17 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וְהָיָ֤הve.ha.Yahand it will becomeH1961

אֽוֹר\־'or-[the] light ofH216

יִשְׂרָאֵל֙Yis.ra.'ElIsraelH3478

לְאֵ֔שׁle.'Esh<into> a fireH784

וּקְדוֹשׁ֖וֹu.ke.do.Shoand holy [one] itsH6918

לְלֶהָבָ֑הle.le.ha.Vah<into> a flameH3852

וּבָעֲרָ֗הu.va.'a.Rahand it will burnH1197

וְאָֽכְלָ֛הve.'a.khe.Lahand it will consumeH398

שִׁית֥וֹshi.Tobush[es] hisH7898

וּשְׁמִיר֖וֹu.she.mi.Roand thorn[s] hisH8068

בְּי֥וֹםbe.Yomin a dayH3117

אֶחָֽד\׃'e.ChadoneH259

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Isaiah 10:17

Isaiah 27:4
Fury is not in me: who would set the briers and thorns against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.
Isaiah 37:23
Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel.
Revelation 22:5
And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
Jeremiah 7:20
Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
Numbers 11:1-3
And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched. And he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the Lord burnt among them.
Numbers 16:35
And there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.
Jeremiah 4:4
Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
Nahum 1:10
For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.
Hebrews 12:29
For our God is a consuming fire.
Psalms 83:14-15
As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire; So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm.
Malachi 4:1-3
For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.
Revelation 21:23
And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

the light.
60:19; Ps 27:1; 84:11; Re 21:23; 22:5
for a flame.
30:27,28; 33:14; 64:1,2; 66:15,16,24; Nu 11:1-3; 16:35; Ps 18:8
Ps 21:9; 50:3; 83:14,15; Jer 4:4; 7:20; Mal 4:1-3; Mt 3:12
2Th 1:7-9; Heb 12:29
devour.
27:4; 37:36; Ps 97:3; Na 1:5,6,10

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Isaiah 10:16
Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire.
Isaiah 10:17
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;
Isaiah 10:18
And shall consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as when a standardbearer fainteth.

Read all of Isaiah 10

Isaiah 10:17 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Y la luz de Israel será por fuego, y su Santo por llama que abrase y consuma en un día sus cardos y sus espinas.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Et la lumière d’Israël sera un feu, et son Saint, une flamme; et il brûlera et dévorera ses épines et ses ronces, en un seul jour;
German Elberfelder 1871	Und das Licht Israels wird zum Feuer werden, und sein Heiliger zur Flamme, die seine Dornen und seine Disteln in Brand setzen und verzehren wird an einem Tage.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Et erit lumen Israël in igne, et Sanctus ejus in flamma; et succendetur, et devorabitur spina ejus et vepres in die una.